By Foster Nicholas | Sports Editor, Claire Marie Scott | LTVN Sports Reporter
Baylor football racked up 603 yards as it stormed past Kansas, 45-17, on Saturday afternoon at McLane Stadium. It marked the first time the Bears accumulated more than 600 yards against a Big 12 opponent since Nov. 25, 2016, when the green and gold totaled 634 against Texas Tech.
The Bears rebounded from a 2-4 start, winning six-straight to cap off an 8-4 season. LTVN’s Claire Marie Scott has the highlights from Baylor’s 45-17 win over the Jayhawks.
Head coach Dave Aranda led the Bears to a Big 12 title in 2021, but on Saturday he achieved something elusive during that historic season. With a win over Kansas, the Bears (8-4, 6-3 Big 12) extended their winning streak to six, marking the longest single-season winning streak under Aranda.
“Everybody felt like we were being buried, but we’re still alive,” Aranda said. “It’s hard to breathe when they’re putting dirt on you, you know what I mean? To get some oxygen and to breathe a little bit…that’s just the power of belief and the power of being positive. It’s cool to see.”
The Jayhawks (5-7, 4-5 Big 12) started hot as senior running back Devin Neal, who finished with 20 carries for 133 yards, pulled Kansas into field goal range. However, on the first drive of the game, with a graphic of light shining through the windows of AT&T Stadium plastered on the jumbotron, the Jayhawks shanked a field goal wide right.
Still, Kansas found the scoreboard first after forcing a Baylor punt. With 5:17 in the first quarter, Neal scurried past the left tackle and into the end zone for a 19-yard touchdown. Initially, a flag was thrown, but after a brief conversation, the officiating crew decided there was no penalty for holding.
Once redshirt junior quarterback Sawyer Robertson touched the ball again, he found a groove and wouldn’t allow the Jayhawks another lead. Robertson needed just over two minutes to even the score as he lofted a 36-yard over-the-shoulder toe-tap touchdown pass to senior wide receiver Monaray Baldwin.
“It was awesome. So happy for Monaray. [He’s] such a good teammate, good athlete, fun to throw to just because he can run by everybody, basically,” Robertson said. “It was the same route; it was just out of two different formations. One of them, we (max protected) and I just let it fly. And then the next one, we kind of tempo-ed into the play, saw the coverage that I liked, and gave him another chance.”
Robertson completed first 10 passes for 168 yards and three touchdowns before one was finally poked away. He finished with over 300 passing yards (310) for the third time this season after completing 23-of-31 passes with four touchdowns.
Baldwin replicated the heroics on a nearly identical play with 14:04 in the second quarter. Working on the right side, he raced toward the right pylon and hauled in a 39-yard touchdown to give the Bears a 21-7 lead. Baldwin led the Bears with a season-high 119 yards on seven receptions.
Junior safety Devyn Bobby anchored the defense in the first half as he closed the first quarter with an interception for the second consecutive week. On Senior Day, sixth-yard linebacker Matt Jones led the green and gold with six tackles, giving him 100 tackles on the year. The Jayhawks were held to just one more field goal before halftime despite out-gaining the Bears 301-283 in total yards in the first half.
“I think somewhere in there, I was losing my mind on the sidelines,” Aranda said. “I feel bad for our defensive coaches that have to listen to them, but I just say, ‘Man, where it’s almost like we’re destined to give up 30 points a game.’ I think we can play somewhat decently. And offensively, we score so fast. I get to the sidelines on defense, and everybody’s smiling and they’re happy. And it’s like, you shouldn’t F-ing be happy right now, you need to be F-ing pissed off.”
Redshirt junior wide receiver Josh Cameron, who finished with eight receptions for 102 yards, extended Baylor’s lead after shrugging off a defender at the 2-yard line and strutting into the end zone for a 14-yard touchdown, 21-10. Cameron and Baldwin became the first two Baylor wide receivers to clear 100 receiving yards in a game since 2019.
Redshirt junior cornerback Tevin Williams III gave the Bears one more shot to score as he lowered his shoulder and forced a fumble with 1:15 in the half. Cameron and senior wide receiver Hal Presley each picked up first downs during the two-minute drill, but redshirt junior kicker Isaiah Hankins missed a 53-yard field goal as time expired.
Redshirt freshman running back Bryson Washington took six carries during Baylor’s first drive out of the half. As the Bears marched 74 yards in nine plays, Washington cleared 100 rushing yards as he trotted into the endzone for a 10-yard touchdown to give the green and gold a 28-10 lead.
Washington finished with 28 carries for 192 yards and two touchdowns. It was the sixth 100+ yard rushing game of the year for Washington, making him the first freshman in program history to do so and also rush for 1,000 yards in a single season.
“Man, I’m so grateful for the O-line, the coaching staff and the guys who have been around me,” Washington said. “These guys pushed me to be the best I could be. I just believe it was all in God. It was God’s plan. This was already written.”
Sophomore running back Dawson Pendergrass mimicked Washington’s timely running as he added 11 rushes for 104 yards. Pendergrass made his presence felt in the pass game, however, as he juked past defenders in the backfield after a check-down pass and scored a 20-yard touchdown following a Kansas three-and-out.
Holding a 35-10 lead with 6:25 in the third quarter, Kansas showed one last sign of life as it took just over one minute to score on a 3-play, 75-yard touchdown drive. Washington wasted no time moving the lead back to 25 as he lowered his shoulder a few times before busting off a 50-yard run. After being tackled down at the 1-yard line, Washington punched in his second score of the day two plays later with a run up the middle.
The green and gold added one more field goal on the ensuing drive after Bobby put his mark on the game with his second interception of the day. Bobby read the eyes of the quarterback and floated in front of a defender in the back of the end zone with 14:13 left in the fourth quarter.
“I think the biggest thing is just belief, like knowing that we could do it,” redshirt sophomore linebacker Kyler Jordan said. “As soon as we started playing with the confidence, starting in Lubbock, and letting it build on each other, there’s just a belief in the locker room that we feel like we could play anybody right now.”
Jordan came away with a stop on fourth-and-1 on what would be the final offensive drive for Kansas. Baylor took over with 6:45 on the clock and ran the ball on 10 of the next 11 plays before running out the clock. After the two-minute warning, freshman quarterback Nate Bennett came in under center so that Robertson could receive a standing ovation as he trotted to the sidelines to conclude the 45-17 win.
“There’s a lot of confidence,” Aranda said. “We probably didn’t have just a ton of confident guys on the team maybe a year ago, and we brought in guys specifically for some of that, and I think it’s meshed pretty good. Once you have that confidence and you have that belief, it’s way contagious. Like I said, I’m proud of that.”
The bowl-bound Bears await the announcement of their final game of the year on Selection Day. Matchups will be announced on Dec. 8 and broadcast on ESPN.
“I’d like to go somewhere tropical,” redshirt senior defensive lineman Trevan Ma’ae joked postgame. “They say the more wins you have, the warmer the (bowl game locations are). So, I’d like that. [I’m] just blessed and grateful to be a part of this.”
