In a little more than three hours, Baylor Big 12 title game appearance...and Big 12 title hopes...went from precarious to a position of strength.
A dominating defensive performance limited Oklahoma to 260 yards, recorded five sacks, forced a quarterback switch and never gave the Sooners a true look in the second half Saturday at McLane Stadium.
No. 13 Baylor (8-2, 5-2) defeated No. 8 Oklahoma (9-1, 6-1), 27-14, in a noteworthy performance. It's Baylor only fourth victory in 32 all-time meetings with the Sooners. But all four have come since 2011. The Bears snapped Oklahoma's 17-game winning streak.
Then it got a little chaotic at the end. In the final seconds, Baylor led 24-14 but head coach Dave Aranda called a timeout with three seconds remaining. Thinking the game was over, fans stormed the field and had to be told to leave.
Most of the Oklahoma players and staff headed toward their locker room. After several minutes, Oklahoma's defense returned. Aranda then had place-kicker Isaiah Hankins deliver a 32-yard field goal on the final play. Aranda said he did that for Big 12 tiebreaker purposes.
"It was something that was talked about early in the week,'' Aranda said. "We were really trying to not let them score. That was really when it came up again. Unfortunately that didn’t happen. When that happened, we wanted to get back on the scoreboard to help with that differential....I think they're not happy with it.''
Said Oklahoma head coach Lincoln Riley: "It became a a safety issue. I care about the safety of my players ... And I know why Dave tried to kick field goal. I don’t agree with it. I still think above all else, there’s a a code of sportsmanship that I believe in, I wouldn’t have done it. But that’s his decision, that’s his football team. How the officials don’t give us, enforce a 15 yard penalty when you’ve probably got 5,000 people on the field is unbelievable to me. So it is what it is. That’s his decision, that’s the official’s decision. I don’t agree.''
Baylor now stands one game behind the Sooners and owns the head-to-head tiebreaker. Oklahoma State is now tied for the lead in the Big 12 following its 63-17 victory over TCU.
But this game turned into a physical performance by the Bears, especially in the later stages of the third quarter and in the fourth. Leading 10-7 and on their first offensive play in the fourth quarter, running back Abram Smith scampered 75 yards from the Baylor 18 to the Sooner 8-yard line. Bohanon scored three plays later to extend it to 17-7.
Oklahoma's offense fizzled to where the running game was held to just 78 yards and quarterback Caleb Williams was benched for Spencer Rattler. Both were ineffective completing a combined 14 passes for just 182 yards and no touchdowns.
The Bears put this one away later in the fourth on a Bohanon 14-yard touchdown run at 24-7 with 3:57 remaining. He rushed for 86 of his 107 yards in the second half. Smith finished with 148 yards as the conference's leading running team finished with 296. Oklahoma's rushing defense was third in the Big 12 allowing just 108.
The Bears are on the road for the last time next week in Manhattan, KS to play Kansas State (7-3, 4-3) at 4:30 p.m. (FS1). Winners of four straight, the Wildcats handled West Virginia, 34-17.
