By Jeffrey Cohen | Sports Writer
Sawyer Robertson’s third-quarter interception marked Baylor’s third turnover of the game and allowed Arizona State to increase its lead to two scores.
Instead, the Bears’ defense held firm at a pivotal moment, stopping Arizona State at the 16-yard line and forcing a field goal to keep the game within one score early in the fourth quarter.
Despite the defense pulling together multiple red zone stops, Baylor (2-2, 0-1 Big 12) fell to Arizona State (3-1, 1-0 Big 12) on a walk-off field goal Saturday, 27-24. The Bears will now look to ride the defense’s momentum into their matchup against Oklahoma State (1-2, 0-0 Big 12).
“We’ve got the bounce-back mentality,” senior safety Devyn Bobby said. “We moved on from that, and we are focused on Oklahoma State.”
The Bears’ defense allowed 400 total yards to Arizona State, the unit’s fewest against an FBS opponent this season. The unit also forced multiple field goals in all three Sun Devil drives that came off turnovers.
“A lot of people say we had a great game, but we didn’t get the win,” Bobby said. “We could’ve had more stops, had more turnovers.”
While the defense showed improvement as the game went on, the Bears’ offense struggled through the first three quarters. They tallied 10 points and turned the ball over three times before the fourth quarter.
“We put a lot of good stuff on film, defense played well,” senior wide receiver Kobe Prentice said. “We obviously made some mistakes that hurt us on offense, but it’s okay … we just watch the film, move on, worry about Oklahoma State.”
Prentice believes that it is important for his team to have short-term memory and move past their second loss in three FBS games so far.
“You know, nobody’s really worried about that last week or even week one with Auburn,” Prentice said. “We’re just moving forward.”
Oklahoma State has faced some trials in the early season. The Cowboys are 1-2 coming and coming off a 69-3 loss at No. 6 Oregon and a 19-12 loss to Tulsa, who is ranked No. 108 out of 136 teams in the FBS by CBS Sports.
The Cowboys fired longtime head coach Mike Gundy on Tuesday. Gundy was in his 21st season in the position.
Despite Oklahoma State’s underwhelming start, the Bears are preparing for the Cowboys like any other team on the schedule.
“We approach every opponent the same regardless of what their record is,” Prentice said. “We ignore the noise because they got a lot of talent and they’re going to play hard.”
The Bears will face off against Oklahoma State at 2:30 p.m. Saturday at Boone Pickens Stadium in Stillwater, Oklahoma. The game will be broadcast on ESPN2.
