By Jeffrey Cohen | Sports Editor
Baylor entered the weekend as significant underdogs against No. 10 BYU. It looked like the Bears needed a seamless transition from their last two wins to emerge victorious, but the weekend had other plans.
Baylor had to leave for Provo, Utah Saturday morning due to the Federal Aviation Administration grounding all flights Friday afternoon, creating a notch in the Bears’ schedule ahead of their first ranked opponent.
The delays and quick turnaround led Baylor (6-4, 4-3 Big 12) to fall to BYU (8-2, 5-2 Big 12) 28-7 Saturday night for its first loss with Joe Klanderman as interim head coach. The Bears struggled after starting slow on offense and failing to stop the run.
“I told [the players] early in the week that the margin for error was small,” interim head coach Joe Klanderman said. “We just crossed that margin early in the game, and we weren’t able to recover.”
While the flight issues changed Baylor‘s rhythm heading into the matchup, Klanderman does not believe it put them at a disadvantage out of the gate.
“We were on the field at the same time they were on the field,” Klanderman said. “If we’re going to be about what we say, we’re going to be about it. It shouldn’t matter what the circumstances are.”
The Cougars tallied 189 rushing yards on 47 carries from six players. Quarterback Bear Bachmeier led the way with 54 yards and three touchdowns. The Bears’ offense racked up 289 total yards with 79 coming on the ground.
The pressure got to the rushed Bears immediately. Junior wide receiver Jadon Porter was called for offensive pass interference on the first play from scrimmage. A sack and false start forced Baylor to punt on its first set of downs.
“That early offensive pass interference on us in the very first play, I believe it was a big deal because it got us pinned down in their student section,” Klanderman said.
Baylor’s defense could not stop BYU’s ground game throughout the quarter, allowing 88 yards on 15 rushes. Bachmeier ran the ball into the end zone twice to push the Cougars in front 14-0 at the end of the first.
Both offenses were more methodical throughout the second quarter. The Bears entered the quarter on its second play of its third drive. They ate up over four minutes before punting for the third time, putting BYU down to its own 4-yard line.
“It’s pretty frustrating, not to be able to really get anything started,” senior tight end Matthew Klopfenstein said. “[It] just felt like we were shooting ourselves in the foot.”
The Cougars slowly chipped their way down the field. They reached Baylor territory with nine of 10 plays going for under 10 yards. BYU ran a trick play to catalyze the drive on its third play in plus territory. Bachmeier threw a backward pass to wide receiver Kyler Kasper, who slinged the ball to tight end Walker Lyons for a 19-yard pick-up at the 16-yard line.
“We got to contain plays to zero or one yard,” senior safety Micah Gifford said. “We can’t let players keep getting four to five yards. That’s when that keeps them on the field. That allows them to keep using the clock, keeping our offense off the field.”
The Bears’ defense thought it finally stopped the Cougars in the red zone, forcing a fourth down and the field goal unit onto the field. Fifth-year defensive lineman Jamaal Whyce was called for offsides on the field goal, setting up a fourth-and-1 conversion for Bachmeier.
The quarterback punched it in for his third rushing score of the half to extend the lead to 21 inside the two-minute timeout.
BYU went into half with 150 rushing yards on 30 carries while Baylor mustered 31. Bachmeier accounted for one-third of the Cougars’ carries but only completed five passes for 51 yards.
“He’s 235 pounds, and he runs downhill, and he runs like a back,” Klanderman said. “He hits that stuff as hard as any runner that we’ve played all year.”
The third quarter was silent for both squads. BYU punted on its first two drives of the period while the Bears punted for the fifth straight drive to open the second half.
Gifford credited the defensive shift to playing with more intensity and speed.
“In that first half … we just weren’t starting fast,” Gifford said. “It wasn’t our usual selves. In that second half, we were able to go out there and really be Baylor football, be a gritty team that gets [the opponent] off the field.”
Baylor started to gain momentum on the following drive with a facemask penalty that was tacked on after a catch from fifth-year receiver Gavin Freeman. The possession came to an abrupt stop when junior quarterback DJ Lagway threw an interception down the sideline.
The Cougars did not capitalize on the takeaway as kicker Matthias Dunn shanked a 45-yard field goal wide left.
The Bears finally reached BYU territory on their first drive of the fourth quarter. Three explosive plays led Baylor past midfield, capped off by a bobbling one-handed catch by Porter to put the ball on the Cougars’ 7-yard line.
Lagway found Klopfenstein on the flat for the Bears’ only score of the game to make it 21-7.
BYU quickly crushed Baylor’s hopes for a comeback as punt returner Cannon DeVries returned a punt 44 yards to the Bears’ 26-yard line following a three-and-out. Bachmeier found receiver Jojo Phillips running across the field, and Phillips turned upfield for a 23-yard touchdown to bring the advantage back to 21 with less than seven minutes to go.
The Bears return home to take on No. 12 Texas Tech Saturday at McLane Stadium. Kickoff time is to be determined.
