Baylor Football Falls to No. 4 TCU on Senior Day
WACO, Texas — Baylor football (6-5) falls to No. 4 TCU (11-0) on senior day 29-28 as the Horned Frogs' hopes of a College Football Playoff birth stay alive.
This game was a classic. Couple the 40°F air with drizzling rain and you get a rabidly charged fanbase. Couple a rabidly charged fanbase with a team playing loose and you get magic... almost.
In the last decade, no Big 12 team has started 11-0. All who have tried have fallen in game 11 to the Baylor Bears. TCU is now the exception.
The Bears dominated multiple facets of the game. After scrutiny from all sides following his poor performance, Blake Shapen tallied 269 yards and a touchdown. Baylor rushed for 232 yards to add on. That looked like plenty.
It was the Hypnotoad magic, though, that gave the frogs a 29-28 victory via a 41-yard field goal as time expired.
Touching on the first half, the real story is missed opportunities. TCU punted twice, but Baylor could not score on either. The Bears ran a toss sweep on fourth-and-one in TCU territory. It went backward. And Shapen tossed an interception from the Horned Frog 11-yard line with four seconds left in the half.
This also happened. One pass interference does not define the half, but it doesn't help.
So Baylor went into halftime with a 319-190 lead in yards gained, a 153-32 advantage in rushing yards and 18 first downs to TCU's seven, but it was tied 14-14 at the break.
The second half started slowly with the two teams combining for three punts and an interception. Then TCU drew up its favorite play — the long touchdown.
The game was quickly resembling every other TCU game this season. The Horned Frogs are one of the best second-half teams in America, but Baylor was unphased.
The Bears responded with a Shapen touchdown strike to Kelsey Johnson, a defensive stop and Richard Reese one-yard score to take a 28-20 lead.
Alas, this game could not end so quietly. With 2:07 left in the fourth quarter, the Horned Frogs scored a touchdown to cap a 10-play, 87-yard drive.
But, lest ye forget, TCU needed a two-point conversion to tie things. A dropped pass fell harmlessly to the turf, and the Bears took the ball to seal it.
And the Bears gave it right back to TCU. The Horned Frogs had 1:34 to march 69 yards to win it with a field goal.
The Horned Frogs lined up for a 41-yard field goal, and Griffin Kell nailed it.
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