FIGHT TO THE END
11/30/2025 9:27:00 AM | Football
FB: Bears show ‘grit, toughness’ in season-ending loss to Houston
By Jerry Hill
Baylor Bear Insider
WACO, Texas – While Saturday's frustrating 31-24 loss to Houston wasn't the way anyone wanted to see the season end, quarterback Sawyer Robertson hopes the Bears laid a foundation "for future years to come with Baylor Football."
"You always want to leave places better than you found it, both on and off the football field," said Robertson, who threw for 309 yards and a touchdown and added a two-point conversion run in Saturday's season finale at McLane Stadium.
"Even though the season was what it was this year, I fought, I tried my hardest to do that. At the very least, just showing that fight, showing that grit, the toughness, no matter the result, hopefully that is the foundation that is laid."
The Bears (5-7, 3-6) certainly fought to the end, rallying from a 15-point fourth-quarter deficit to tie it on Robertson's 31-yard TD pass to fellow senior Josh Cameron with 8:53 left in the game. That was the duo's 18th touchdown connection over the past two seasons, tying for the fourth-most productive combo in program history with Seth Russell and Corey Coleman.
Even after Houston (9-3, 6-3) regained the lead with a 15-play, 74-yard drive that took almost seven minutes off the clock, Baylor quickly got in position to tie it back up or take its first lead when Robertson hit Alabama transfer Kobe Prentice for a 48-yard pass to the Cougars' 27.
But the final threat fizzled on four-straight incompletions, including two throws into the end zone where the Cougars were not flagged for what appeared to be obvious pass interference calls.
"There was a point in the game where the explanation I got was that when our defense is defending versus their offense, we're not looking back for the ball, and we're getting penalized," said Aranda, whose team was flagged four times for pass interference, including a critical one on Houston's last scoring drive.
"And when it was vice versa . . . they're not getting called because they're looking back for the ball. That's something I'll have to look back on tape. It's just very frustrating. In critical moments, it was all kind of hitting us at the same time."
Similar to Aranda, Robertson said the Bears' fifth loss in their last six games was "kind of par for the course this season, just being in the fight and kind of swimming upstream, it felt like."
Indicative of that, Baylor drove into the red zone (inside the opponents' 20-yard line) six times and scored only one touchdown. And that doesn't even include Robertson's second turnover of the day, when linebacker Brandon Mack hit him from behind and forced a fumble that the Cougars' Sione Fotu recovered at the Cougars' 31.
After the long pass to Prentice on the Bears' final drive, Robertson said he "absolutely" thought they were going to tie the game in the final minute of regulation.
"I thought that was definitely going to happen," he said. "Credit to them, they did a good job keeping us out of the end zone all game. We drove it on them all game long, but they played well, and they made more plays than we did."
Another obvious sign of Baylor's fight was the situation at running back. With Dawson Pendergrass out for the season, Michael Turner ruled out for the game and Bryson Washington lost to an injury on the second play, the Bears lost true freshman running back Caden Knighten on a "scary" play late in the third quarter, when he was carted off the field on a stretcher.
Taken to the hospital in an ambulance, Knighten was "getting movement in upper body and lower body," Aranda updated.
"The tests are not done yet, but I think it's positive right now with him," Aranda said. "It was way scary. The team and so many guys are so concerned, I pulled them up and told them what the injury was. And then I said, 'Hey, this is precautionary. They're going to take him in and look at him, because they don't know. But his family is with him, and we're also going to say a prayer for him.' So, we were able to do that. But I know that was heavy on the guys' hearts after that."
Linebacker Keaton Thomas, who had a game-high 11 tackles, said an injury like that "should always push you further, because that's your brother. You go to war with him."
"We're all out here sacrificing," Thomas said. "We don't have people going home for holidays, people who aren't from here, people who miss a lot of stuff going on with family. So, when somebody goes down, you want to go harder for them, just because you know what they're going through. You feel what they feel."
Including Pendergrass, the Bears were essentially down to their fifth running back. But redshirt freshman Joseph Dodds responded with a career-high 61 yards on 12 carries and scored his first-career touchdown.
"We had however many running backs down, and we were kind of down to it," Aranda said. "Joseph Dodds has a personal tragedy in the morning, so we were consoling him prior to it, didn't even know if he was going to play. So, he's playing through it, just inspired to try to represent. There's just so much that guys are carrying. To have guys continue to step up and give to the team is way inspiring."
Turning his attention to the offseason and next year, Aranda said the Bears have to "look at building this team from the inside-out" after losing a group of 20 seniors that includes Robertson, Cameron, receivers Kole Wilson, Ashtyn Hawkins and Kobe Prentice and tight end Michael Trigg.
"I think we have to look at how we're going to build this team," Aranda said. "There's a fair amount of movement with a big senior class leaving. We've got to look at building this team from the inside-out, in terms of money spent with the portal and everything. There's a fair amount with the skill players, and the rich get richer in certain spots.
"I think it has to be more on line-of-scrimmage play and big people. And that's going to be our goal, is to be really effective in recruiting that way and developing a team that way."
This Wednesday, Dec. 3, is national signing day for high school seniors. Baylor has a class of commitments that's ranked 31st in the country by On3 Rivals.
Baylor is scheduled to open the 2026 season with a neutral-site matchup against Auburn in the Aflac Kickoff Game on Sept. 5 at Atlanta's Mercedes-Benz Stadium. This will be the second-straight year that the two teams meet in the season opener after the Tigers' 38-24 win on Aug. 29 at McLane Stadium.
Baylor Bear Insider
WACO, Texas – While Saturday's frustrating 31-24 loss to Houston wasn't the way anyone wanted to see the season end, quarterback Sawyer Robertson hopes the Bears laid a foundation "for future years to come with Baylor Football."
"You always want to leave places better than you found it, both on and off the football field," said Robertson, who threw for 309 yards and a touchdown and added a two-point conversion run in Saturday's season finale at McLane Stadium.
"Even though the season was what it was this year, I fought, I tried my hardest to do that. At the very least, just showing that fight, showing that grit, the toughness, no matter the result, hopefully that is the foundation that is laid."
The Bears (5-7, 3-6) certainly fought to the end, rallying from a 15-point fourth-quarter deficit to tie it on Robertson's 31-yard TD pass to fellow senior Josh Cameron with 8:53 left in the game. That was the duo's 18th touchdown connection over the past two seasons, tying for the fourth-most productive combo in program history with Seth Russell and Corey Coleman.
Even after Houston (9-3, 6-3) regained the lead with a 15-play, 74-yard drive that took almost seven minutes off the clock, Baylor quickly got in position to tie it back up or take its first lead when Robertson hit Alabama transfer Kobe Prentice for a 48-yard pass to the Cougars' 27.
But the final threat fizzled on four-straight incompletions, including two throws into the end zone where the Cougars were not flagged for what appeared to be obvious pass interference calls.
"There was a point in the game where the explanation I got was that when our defense is defending versus their offense, we're not looking back for the ball, and we're getting penalized," said Aranda, whose team was flagged four times for pass interference, including a critical one on Houston's last scoring drive.
"And when it was vice versa . . . they're not getting called because they're looking back for the ball. That's something I'll have to look back on tape. It's just very frustrating. In critical moments, it was all kind of hitting us at the same time."
Similar to Aranda, Robertson said the Bears' fifth loss in their last six games was "kind of par for the course this season, just being in the fight and kind of swimming upstream, it felt like."
Indicative of that, Baylor drove into the red zone (inside the opponents' 20-yard line) six times and scored only one touchdown. And that doesn't even include Robertson's second turnover of the day, when linebacker Brandon Mack hit him from behind and forced a fumble that the Cougars' Sione Fotu recovered at the Cougars' 31.
After the long pass to Prentice on the Bears' final drive, Robertson said he "absolutely" thought they were going to tie the game in the final minute of regulation.
"I thought that was definitely going to happen," he said. "Credit to them, they did a good job keeping us out of the end zone all game. We drove it on them all game long, but they played well, and they made more plays than we did."
Another obvious sign of Baylor's fight was the situation at running back. With Dawson Pendergrass out for the season, Michael Turner ruled out for the game and Bryson Washington lost to an injury on the second play, the Bears lost true freshman running back Caden Knighten on a "scary" play late in the third quarter, when he was carted off the field on a stretcher.
Taken to the hospital in an ambulance, Knighten was "getting movement in upper body and lower body," Aranda updated.
"The tests are not done yet, but I think it's positive right now with him," Aranda said. "It was way scary. The team and so many guys are so concerned, I pulled them up and told them what the injury was. And then I said, 'Hey, this is precautionary. They're going to take him in and look at him, because they don't know. But his family is with him, and we're also going to say a prayer for him.' So, we were able to do that. But I know that was heavy on the guys' hearts after that."
Linebacker Keaton Thomas, who had a game-high 11 tackles, said an injury like that "should always push you further, because that's your brother. You go to war with him."
"We're all out here sacrificing," Thomas said. "We don't have people going home for holidays, people who aren't from here, people who miss a lot of stuff going on with family. So, when somebody goes down, you want to go harder for them, just because you know what they're going through. You feel what they feel."
Including Pendergrass, the Bears were essentially down to their fifth running back. But redshirt freshman Joseph Dodds responded with a career-high 61 yards on 12 carries and scored his first-career touchdown.
"We had however many running backs down, and we were kind of down to it," Aranda said. "Joseph Dodds has a personal tragedy in the morning, so we were consoling him prior to it, didn't even know if he was going to play. So, he's playing through it, just inspired to try to represent. There's just so much that guys are carrying. To have guys continue to step up and give to the team is way inspiring."
Turning his attention to the offseason and next year, Aranda said the Bears have to "look at building this team from the inside-out" after losing a group of 20 seniors that includes Robertson, Cameron, receivers Kole Wilson, Ashtyn Hawkins and Kobe Prentice and tight end Michael Trigg.
"I think we have to look at how we're going to build this team," Aranda said. "There's a fair amount of movement with a big senior class leaving. We've got to look at building this team from the inside-out, in terms of money spent with the portal and everything. There's a fair amount with the skill players, and the rich get richer in certain spots.
"I think it has to be more on line-of-scrimmage play and big people. And that's going to be our goal, is to be really effective in recruiting that way and developing a team that way."
This Wednesday, Dec. 3, is national signing day for high school seniors. Baylor has a class of commitments that's ranked 31st in the country by On3 Rivals.
Baylor is scheduled to open the 2026 season with a neutral-site matchup against Auburn in the Aflac Kickoff Game on Sept. 5 at Atlanta's Mercedes-Benz Stadium. This will be the second-straight year that the two teams meet in the season opener after the Tigers' 38-24 win on Aug. 29 at McLane Stadium.
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