I totally understand what it looks like from the outside: we were 8 point favorites, at home, in the middle of the season: It shouldn’t have been that exciting.
Here’s why I think it happened, and why I’m not mad about it.
Baylor fans have a history of leaving at the first sight of danger. Saturday, that didn’t happen. We packed the stadium and kept it packed. When it needed to get louder in order for us to make stops, it roared louder than I’ve ever heard any stadium. McLane, Floyd Casey, DKR, Gaylord, even AT&T.
We were down by 21 points with 10 minutes left, and managed to pull it off. It is was just another win, that would merely be awesome. But, if TCU won, they would win the conference. I say that with confidence. We didn’t only come back to win this game, we potentially came back to win our slot in the playoffs.
People here don’t like A&M. I don’t know why, and I’ve asked, but they don’t. Unless you’re a super senior who saw a Baylor vs. A&M game, I don’t get the rivalry. People here don’t like Texas. I think Texas is a great school, and I almost went there. They’re a rival, but I don’t hate them. Texas brings PR to the Big 12. People here HATE TCU. It’s an ancient rivalry that was tied 51-51-7 coming into this game. When we won, we won the series back. For how long, who knows, but it’s the first time we’ve led it since 2006.
We didn’t JUST win a regular season game against a lower-ranked team. We won a series. We beat our biggest rivals. We demonstrated our ability to hang with other big teams. We made a comeback. We, and I’m knocking on wood here, potentially won a slot in the first college football playoff. There was an energy in the air that I’ve never experienced. Having been in attendance for the massive Kansas State upset my freshman year, the Oklahoma and Texas games last year, and every bowl game for the past three years, this was the best game I’ve ever been to.
Two days later, I’m still thinking about “The Kick.” I’m thinking about the touchdown when we got so excited that we broke the bench below our boots. I’m thinking about the goosebumps I had on every third down. And I’m thinking about celebrating with Coach on the field.
I’ll always remember. Hopefully TCU never forgets.
-Houston junior Matt Chelf
Journalism major
