By Kevin Lonnquist
Publisher
Baylor officially fell out of the Big 12 title game chase on Saturday with heartbreaking 29-28 loss to TCU at McLane Stadium. The Horned Frogs perfectly executed a fire drill field goal at the gun at when TCU’s Griffin Kell drilled a 40-yarder.
The Bears were unable to run out the clock on their final possession when quarterback Blake Shapen was stopped two yards short of the first down and had to punt. TCU then traveled from its 31 to the Baylor 23 in the final 1:34 to escape and keep its national college football playoff hopes alive. TCU has won the last against the Bears.
Baylor (6-5, 4-4) finishes the regular season at 11:00 am Friday at Texas. The game will be shown on ESPN.
SicEmSports provides reflections, observations and three Golden Bears from this one.
Upon Reflection
The final 2:07 of this game will be what this game is all about. That’s after TCU scored and missed the tying 2-point attempt. Instead, the Bears clung to a 28-26 lead.
Let’s start with Baylor’s final possession. Everybody in the building knows they’re going to run the ball. Baylor is one first down away from putting this game away and fans storming the field.
TCU crowds the line of scrimmage. Baylor runs two off tackle plays. One to Sqwirl Williams that goes for two yards. The second to Qualan Jones that loses two yards. They burn about 10 total seconds between two TCU timeouts.
In that sequence, Baylor does what it’s supposed to do. Ball security is the No. 1 goal. You run a toss sweep and it goes awry, McLane becomes the Bastille in France during the French Revolution.
Perhaps you run RPO where Shapen reads the defensive end and either keeps or gives to Sqwirl or Jones. Maybe those two plays go for big yardage. Maybe they have the same outcome.
I don’t have the issue with those plays because I agree with Baylor head coach Dave Aranda. Baylor’s offensive line had done very well throughout game. This line has played well in the second half of the season and finished the game 232 yards.
Now, the third down call is where you can have the issue on the Shapen keeper. You need to throw it there. I don’t have a problem leaving TCU with one timeout if the Bears don’t make it. You have to play to win it.
I saw a picture where Shapen had a wide-open Ben Sims – who has disappeared in the last four games with just five catches for 48 yards – in the middle of the field and perhaps didn’t see him. Or if he did, Shapen has a defender coming at him and didn’t want to deliver the ball.
I don’t think the call was bad. That play is on Shapen. He’s got to throw it to win the game. If it’s incomplete, then you do what Baylor did anyway when Shapen was stopped short. And it would have been nice for someone to ask Aranda what they were looking for on that play. Of course, we didn’t get that.
Now, to the fire drill field goal. If you didn’t see my posts in the game story thread, my succinct point is that if I’m Baylor, I do the same all over again.
Why? Let’s begin with the substitutions. When you’re Baylor and you see the field goal unit run on for TCU you can run your field goal block team out there. But in the chaos, you risk getting flagged for too many men on the field. One player did run off for the Bears and one other came on for him.
Yet if TCU misses, it gets to try again on an untimed down. Maybe Baylor calls a timeout to ice, but we’re going down a long path.
Still, if Baylor tries to slow play that sequence with running that unit out there, the officials have every right to stop the clock. I’ve seen that.
Who is on the field for Baylor at that time? Well, a bunch of veterans in Apu Ika, Chidi Ogbonnaya, TJ Franklin, Dillon Doyle and Matt Jones. You got some big bodies out there.
Some of those guys are on special teams. Some of them aren’t. However, they’re not football idiots. They understand situations. Franklin has blocked kicks in his career.
The clock is running away from TCU. The Horned Frogs have no timeouts. The onus is on them to execute this play, which TCU head coach Sonny Dykes says they work on every Thursday. Everything has to go right. Unfortunately, it did.
It’s a terrible way to lose. However, that’s the game.
Missed opportunities
Of course, if Baylor converts any of its three opportunities in the first half, the entire second half is played differently.
The John Mayers’ 46-yard field goal that fell short stunned me because I thought he drilled it. That was his first miss between 40-49 this year. That would have made it 10-0.
When Baylor runs the toss at TCU 36 mid-second quarter, Sqwirl is dumped for a 3-yard loss. The people who complained about that play are the same ones who complained about the runs up the middle on the final possession. Baylor’s run that toss play a lot. The offensive line just didn’t block it well. That possession is iffy anyway because it wasn’t as if the Bears were at ground zero.
The biggest miss was Shapen’s end zone interception right before the end of the half. Baylor has three points in its pocket. He just underthrows Monaray Baldwin on a ball that needs to be thrown to where Baldwin is the only one who can catch it. Instead, TCU safety Bud Clark picks it. Baylor’s quarterback has 11 turnovers in the last seven games.
One last thought
The shame of this is that Baylor responded like I thought it would. It played a really good game. Did a lot of things well. Had more than 500 yards of total offense. Shapen completed 70 percent of his passes. Very balanced. Made TCU sweat.
By like so many times this year, it didn’t finish in tight games. Baylor is 2-3 in one-score affairs in 2022. And true to form, when Baylor needed its defensive line to be a difference maker, it wasn’t. The season’s biggest disappointment recorded no sacks and just two QB hurries.
Golden Bears
The yearly tradition returns where SicEmSports highlights the three players who stood out in their performance on a weekly basis. Win or lose, they deserve the recognition.
The following are from Baylor’s 29-28 home loss to TCU.
Kelsey Johnson, TE, Fr.: The future at this position is going to be exciting for the Bears between him and Drake Dabney. Johnson is athletic and could be as a hybrid wide receiver if Baylor wanted him to be. Heck, you don’t see a lot of jet sweeps to tight ends at the goal line.
Notable – Receiving: 3-30 1 TD; Rushing: 1-2 TD
Monaray Baldwin, WR, Soph.: The home run hitter is back. Give him a little space and he can take it the distance. Baldwin nearly did on the 74-yard play that set up the Bears final touchdown.
Notable – Receiving: 6-123; Rushing: 3-10
Sqwirl Williams, RB, Jr.: Ever since he returned from the concussion, he’s run with purpose and strength and fearlessness. Credit to him and running backs coach Justin Johnson getting him to play at another level. Sqwirl had his second 100-yard game in his last three.
Notable – Rushing: 19-112; Receiving: 3-5
Publisher
Baylor officially fell out of the Big 12 title game chase on Saturday with heartbreaking 29-28 loss to TCU at McLane Stadium. The Horned Frogs perfectly executed a fire drill field goal at the gun at when TCU’s Griffin Kell drilled a 40-yarder.
The Bears were unable to run out the clock on their final possession when quarterback Blake Shapen was stopped two yards short of the first down and had to punt. TCU then traveled from its 31 to the Baylor 23 in the final 1:34 to escape and keep its national college football playoff hopes alive. TCU has won the last against the Bears.
Baylor (6-5, 4-4) finishes the regular season at 11:00 am Friday at Texas. The game will be shown on ESPN.
SicEmSports provides reflections, observations and three Golden Bears from this one.
Upon Reflection
The final 2:07 of this game will be what this game is all about. That’s after TCU scored and missed the tying 2-point attempt. Instead, the Bears clung to a 28-26 lead.
Let’s start with Baylor’s final possession. Everybody in the building knows they’re going to run the ball. Baylor is one first down away from putting this game away and fans storming the field.
TCU crowds the line of scrimmage. Baylor runs two off tackle plays. One to Sqwirl Williams that goes for two yards. The second to Qualan Jones that loses two yards. They burn about 10 total seconds between two TCU timeouts.
In that sequence, Baylor does what it’s supposed to do. Ball security is the No. 1 goal. You run a toss sweep and it goes awry, McLane becomes the Bastille in France during the French Revolution.
Perhaps you run RPO where Shapen reads the defensive end and either keeps or gives to Sqwirl or Jones. Maybe those two plays go for big yardage. Maybe they have the same outcome.
I don’t have the issue with those plays because I agree with Baylor head coach Dave Aranda. Baylor’s offensive line had done very well throughout game. This line has played well in the second half of the season and finished the game 232 yards.
Now, the third down call is where you can have the issue on the Shapen keeper. You need to throw it there. I don’t have a problem leaving TCU with one timeout if the Bears don’t make it. You have to play to win it.
I saw a picture where Shapen had a wide-open Ben Sims – who has disappeared in the last four games with just five catches for 48 yards – in the middle of the field and perhaps didn’t see him. Or if he did, Shapen has a defender coming at him and didn’t want to deliver the ball.
I don’t think the call was bad. That play is on Shapen. He’s got to throw it to win the game. If it’s incomplete, then you do what Baylor did anyway when Shapen was stopped short. And it would have been nice for someone to ask Aranda what they were looking for on that play. Of course, we didn’t get that.
Now, to the fire drill field goal. If you didn’t see my posts in the game story thread, my succinct point is that if I’m Baylor, I do the same all over again.
Why? Let’s begin with the substitutions. When you’re Baylor and you see the field goal unit run on for TCU you can run your field goal block team out there. But in the chaos, you risk getting flagged for too many men on the field. One player did run off for the Bears and one other came on for him.
Yet if TCU misses, it gets to try again on an untimed down. Maybe Baylor calls a timeout to ice, but we’re going down a long path.
Still, if Baylor tries to slow play that sequence with running that unit out there, the officials have every right to stop the clock. I’ve seen that.
Who is on the field for Baylor at that time? Well, a bunch of veterans in Apu Ika, Chidi Ogbonnaya, TJ Franklin, Dillon Doyle and Matt Jones. You got some big bodies out there.
Some of those guys are on special teams. Some of them aren’t. However, they’re not football idiots. They understand situations. Franklin has blocked kicks in his career.
The clock is running away from TCU. The Horned Frogs have no timeouts. The onus is on them to execute this play, which TCU head coach Sonny Dykes says they work on every Thursday. Everything has to go right. Unfortunately, it did.
It’s a terrible way to lose. However, that’s the game.
Missed opportunities
Of course, if Baylor converts any of its three opportunities in the first half, the entire second half is played differently.
The John Mayers’ 46-yard field goal that fell short stunned me because I thought he drilled it. That was his first miss between 40-49 this year. That would have made it 10-0.
When Baylor runs the toss at TCU 36 mid-second quarter, Sqwirl is dumped for a 3-yard loss. The people who complained about that play are the same ones who complained about the runs up the middle on the final possession. Baylor’s run that toss play a lot. The offensive line just didn’t block it well. That possession is iffy anyway because it wasn’t as if the Bears were at ground zero.
The biggest miss was Shapen’s end zone interception right before the end of the half. Baylor has three points in its pocket. He just underthrows Monaray Baldwin on a ball that needs to be thrown to where Baldwin is the only one who can catch it. Instead, TCU safety Bud Clark picks it. Baylor’s quarterback has 11 turnovers in the last seven games.
One last thought
The shame of this is that Baylor responded like I thought it would. It played a really good game. Did a lot of things well. Had more than 500 yards of total offense. Shapen completed 70 percent of his passes. Very balanced. Made TCU sweat.
By like so many times this year, it didn’t finish in tight games. Baylor is 2-3 in one-score affairs in 2022. And true to form, when Baylor needed its defensive line to be a difference maker, it wasn’t. The season’s biggest disappointment recorded no sacks and just two QB hurries.
Golden Bears
The yearly tradition returns where SicEmSports highlights the three players who stood out in their performance on a weekly basis. Win or lose, they deserve the recognition.
The following are from Baylor’s 29-28 home loss to TCU.
Kelsey Johnson, TE, Fr.: The future at this position is going to be exciting for the Bears between him and Drake Dabney. Johnson is athletic and could be as a hybrid wide receiver if Baylor wanted him to be. Heck, you don’t see a lot of jet sweeps to tight ends at the goal line.
Notable – Receiving: 3-30 1 TD; Rushing: 1-2 TD
Monaray Baldwin, WR, Soph.: The home run hitter is back. Give him a little space and he can take it the distance. Baldwin nearly did on the 74-yard play that set up the Bears final touchdown.
Notable – Receiving: 6-123; Rushing: 3-10
Sqwirl Williams, RB, Jr.: Ever since he returned from the concussion, he’s run with purpose and strength and fearlessness. Credit to him and running backs coach Justin Johnson getting him to play at another level. Sqwirl had his second 100-yard game in his last three.
Notable – Rushing: 19-112; Receiving: 3-5
