On the 216th and final snap, No. 5 Baylor notched the 21st and final score of a four-and-half hour game to take its first and final lead, a 28-yard Chris Callahan field goal as time expired to give the Bears a 61-58 win over a stunned No. 9 TCU squad.
Before we talk about how Baylor won the game, we first must talk about how they nearly lost it. TCU stormed out of the gate by forcing a turnover on downs on Baylor’s first possession, immediately responding with a 35-yard touchdown pass from Trevone Boykin to Kolby Listenbee, then forcing a Shock Linwood fumble, and capitalizing on the turnover with a 3-yard B.J. Catalon scoring dash to take an early 14-0 lead.
Baylor spent the rest of the evening playing catchup, pulling to a 24-24 tie only to immediately allow a 94-yard kickoff return for a touchdown by Catalon, then pulling within four at 31-27 and 34-30 only to watch the Horned Frogs take control of the game with a 24-7 run over a seven-and-a-half minute span in the late third and early fourth quarters. Marcus Mallet gave TCU a 58-37 lead with 11:38 to play by stepping in front of a Bryce Petty pass and taking it 49 yards for a touchdown.
From that moment forward, the Baylor offense never left the field without a score, and its TCU counterparts seemingly loaded the bus for Fort Worth.
The comeback started one minute later as the Bears scored in only four plays, punctuated by a seven-yard Devin Chafin touchdown run. Exactly four minutes later, Petty hit Antwan Goodley for his second touchdown of the game, this one from 28 yards out and pulling the Bears to within 58-51 with 6:39 remaining.
After a TCU three-and-out (with two passes), Baylor raced 91 yards in five plays, with Petty hitting Corey Coleman from 25 yards out to tie the game with 4:42 to go.
Memo to future opponents: all Baylor needed to erase a 21-point deficit was 14 plays and three minutes and 21 seconds of all possession (and, of course, a willing accomplice in the TCU offense.)
With the game tied at 58-58, TCU moved to midfield but was forced to punt when faced with a 4th-and-8. Then the Bears were flagged for having 12 men on the field, and after two timeouts and what felt like 15 minutes of real time, Gary Patterson elected to go for it on a 4th-and-3 from the Baylor 45. Boykin’s pass to Josh Doctson.
Baylor then took over at its own 45 with 1:11 to play and, after moving to the TCU 43, was seemingly faced with its own 4th down decision after a Petty pass fell incomplete, but Corry O’Meally was flagged for pass interference on a strikingly similar play to the one on TCU’s final possession that did not draw a flag.
Five plays later, Callahan knocked in a 29-yarder and thousands of green and gold faithful rushed the field.
No 61-58 game is without controversy, and Patterson’s decision to eschew the punt on 4th-and-3 and the no-call/call pass interference decisions will live in Baylor-TCU infamy, a series that now stretches 110 games and saw Baylor take a 52-51-7 lead.
Petty simultaneously trashed and resurrected his Heisman Trophy campaign after completing 28-of-55 passes for 510 yards with six touchdowns and two interceptions while adding 10 rushes for 23 yards. Linwood rushed 29 times for 178 yards, and Bears receivers Goodley, Coleman and K.D. Cannon combined for 22 receptions for 426 yards and five touchdowns.
Boykin hit 21-of-45 passes for 287 yards with a touchdown with 45 rushing yards, but Catalon was the Frogs’ standout with 48 rushing yards and two touchdowns, 71 receiving yards and the 94-yard kickoff return touchdown.
The win undoubtedly puts Baylor in the drivers’ seat for the Big 12 title and a College Football Playoff berth, but also sets up another possible three-way tie scenario with TCU beating Oklahoma, Baylor beating TCU and Oklahoma beating Baylor in Norman on Nov. 8, but that’s a worry for another day. The Bears first must focus on their trip to West Virginia on Saturday.
TCU, meanwhile, will look to pick up the pieces of 85 shattered hearts before No. 16 Oklahoma State comes to Fort Worth on Saturday.