By Jackson Posey | Sports Editor
There’s something special about rivalries.
Every bounce matters more. Every spin, every sin, every errant pass and point-after attempt — the faintest hint of foul play takes on continental significance. Nothing stretches the countenance quite like a towering scoreboard echoing, in mock indifference, a string of glowing numbers long after the losing team has left the field.
“You lose,” the scoreboard operator seems to say with a silent poetic flourish. “Victory tastes so much sweeter at your expense.”
Stretching back to 1899, Baylor (4-2, 2-1 Big 12) and TCU (4-2, 1-2 Big 12) have faced each other more than any other pair of Texas programs. The Bluebonnet Battle has defined seasons and careers and broken the spirit of any team foolish enough to muster a sense of overconfidence. When green and purple collide, seasons tend to crash on the rocks like ships before the sirens. When Revivalry calls, the sweet sound of chaos is irresistible.
“I think [the emotion] is good to have, if it’s always kind of underneath the surface,” head coach Dave Aranda said. “When it’s kind of boiling underneath the surface, it’s a good feeling, because you know it’s there, you know it’s pushing people.”
The game has seen soaring highs and cresting lows through the years. In recent times, that’s meant a lot of anxiety-inducing field goals in Waco.
Baylor’s Aaron Jones cashed a last-minute, come-from-behind game winner in the team’s final nonconference matchup in 2011. (TCU joined the Big 12 the following season.) Three years later, Bryce Petty led the Bears to a 21-point comeback in the fourth quarter, capped by a walk-off Chris Callahan field goal that kept the Horned Frogs out of the College Football Playoff.
Baylor nearly did it again in 2022. The Bears led No. 4 TCU 28-20 with just over two minutes to play, then stuffed a 2-point conversion attempt to put the game away — almost. The Horned Frogs got the ball back and raced downfield, setting up a historic scramble-drill field goal by Griffin Kell to keep their playoff hopes alive.
TCU’s return trip in 2024 felt awfully familiar, but backwards, as the Horned Frogs led 27-20 entering the fourth quarter. This time, it was Baylor kicker Isaiah Hankins who played the role of the hero, slicing through the same uprights as Kell. Ten years after Petty and Callahan’s 61-58 classic, Baylor students again flooded the field at McLane Stadium.
Rusty McAllister waited outside the wrong house for “something amazing, I guess.” The greatest drama this side of the Mississippi can be found between two end zones every October.
“It’s going to be high-[intensity] from the jump,” senior safety Devyn Bobby said. “You can’t get too high when it’s a rivalry game … that’s where things can go left. So, just trying to stay level-headed, try to stay at the same pace throughout the whole game.”
Back and forth, the pendulum swings. Time takes no prisoners.
Between Callahan’s and Hankins’ kicks, TCU won eight of nine matchups, including a 4-0 mark in McLane Stadium. The Bears haven’t followed a win in Waco with a win in Fort Worth since 1995, when Chuck Reedy led his Sailor Bears to a 27-24 victory.
This year’s matchup will feature two unstoppable forces — and two very movable objects. Baylor quarterback Sawyer Robertson has been the nation’s most prolific passer, leading all signal-callers in yards and touchdowns passing. TCU quarterback Josh Hoover is hot on his heels, ranking second in both categories.
Both teams average over 35 points per game, but neither has played inspired defense. The Bears have allowed 29.7 points per game, outside the top 100 nationally, while TCU allowed a season-high 41 points in last week’s loss to Kansas State. (The Wildcat’s previous high-water mark, 38 points, came in a Week 2 nailbiter against FCS North Dakota.) A shootout could be brewing.
“They’re explosive on offense,” Aranda said. “When they don’t turn the ball over, they are really effective at making explosive plays.”
Eleven years ago, a 5-foot-9 freshman kicker walked into McLane Stadium as a marked man. He was 1-for-6 on field goals, including five straight misses. He hadn’t made a kick since the first drive of Baylor’s season opener, and that was 45 days ago.
But something happens in October.
Maybe it was magic; maybe it was just the Revivalry. But when Callahan drilled the biggest kick in program history, capping off a career-best 4-for-4 performance, he wasn’t merely winning a game. He was rewriting history, line by line, kick by kick, in a story that has never grown old.
Callahan watched the plot unfold alongside everyone else. He saw it first, a split-second before the raucous crowd, standing on one leg in the calm of the storm. The whispers turned into roars as the referees confirmed what he already knew.
It’s good.
“I saw that kick go up and how it came off my foot; I knew it was in,” Callahan said after the game. “I had no doubt.”
The Bears will again stare down the Horned Frogs at 11 a.m. Saturday at Amon G. Carter Stadium in Fort Worth. The game will be broadcast on ESPN2.
