Baylor Outplays Oklahoma 27-14 – The New York Times

Ad Blocker Detected

Our website is made possible by displaying online advertisements to our visitors. Please consider supporting us by disabling your ad blocker.

It is uncommon that a Ability 5 team’s undefeated document will work against it.

The 9- Ga Bulldogs are the top rated crew in higher education football, and, barring an not likely loss, are almost certain to make a playoff appearance. Last time, Nick Saban’s Alabama staff held that difference. The two several years prior, it was Louisiana State in 2019 and Clemson in 2018.

This yr was Oklahoma’s change. The Sooners entered the season with an offense that was predicted to be strong, led by a quarterback in Spencer Rattler who’d drawn preseason Heisman Trophy buzz.

But even with successful 17 straight video games and pulling off numerous comeback victories in 2021, the Sooners hadn’t impressed the College or university Football Playoff variety committee. Absent from their 9- résumé was a earn over a team at the moment rated in the leading 25 of the School Soccer Playoff rankings.

“There just has not been a signature earn nevertheless,” Gary Barta, the chair of the range committee, informed reporters this 7 days.

Saturday was Oklahoma’s possibility.

The No. 8 Sooners faced a 7-2 Baylor group that they’d beaten seven straight instances. But as an alternative of capturing a essential gain, the Sooners misplaced, and they underperformed poorly in the process.

In a possible preview of the Huge 12 championship recreation, Baylor handed Oklahoma a 27-14 reduction that could have punctured the Sooners’ University Soccer Playoff hopes.

Baylor did so by quieting Oklahoma’s offense, which entered the video game averaging almost 500 yards a recreation and about 7 yards per enjoy, and by based on the dashing of junior quarterback Gerry Bohanon, who concluded with 107 yards on the floor.

“All this time I have not seriously been functioning the ball due to the fact the pocket has been excellent,” Bohanon reported on the Fox Sports broadcast after the sport. “But I advised my mentor this 7 days: ‘I have 100 yards hurrying in me this week. I’m coming in, and I want the vitality to start out with me.’ Mentor made an emphasis about actively playing violent, and I preferred to make certain everyone felt that I was likely to play violent.”

Bohanon was responsible for every of Baylor’s three touchdowns, tossing one particular and hurrying for two.

Caleb Williams, the Sooners’ athletic correct freshman quarterback who changed Rattler in Oct, barely resembled the identical player who’d thrown for around 800 yards in his first 3 commences. His impressive plays ended up overshadowed by weak decisions and inaccurate passes. He threw two interceptions.

And soon after a run that gained 19 yards, Williams’s hand was stepped on as he rolled out of bounds late in the 1st half. His upcoming possession was another interception in which he appeared to be striving to throw the ball away. Williams was changed by Rattler late in the 3rd quarter following “We want Spencer” chants emerged from the Oklahoma lovers who’d traveled to McLane Stadium in Waco, Texas.

Rattler started the time as Oklahoma’s starter right before Williams replaced him in a spectacular get from Texas past thirty day period. The redshirt sophomore’s to start with possession, which arrived with significantly less than two minutes left in the 3rd quarter, yielded only a punt. And he did minimal to bounce-commence an Oklahoma offense that was held to its lowest issue total of the period.

Baylor’s protection, coming off potentially its worst effectiveness of the season in past week’s decline to Texas Christian College (the Bears permitted above 500 yards), tallied 5 sacks and 9 tackles for losses as the staff contained both equally Rattler and Williams, providing neither quarterback quite a few alternatives to force the ball down the area.

Oklahoma’s only touchdowns arrived in the to start with quarter and in the fourth, just after the game’s fate appeared presently sealed.

The to start with score arrived right after a scoreless first quarter in which Baylor unsuccessful to convert a fourth-down conversion within the 10-yard line and both equally teams skipped industry goal tries. Oklahoma’s protection intercepted Bohanon to commence the 2nd quarter, and Williams ran it in for a 2-lawn rating on the Sooners’ future possession.

Seventeen unanswered Baylor factors followed as the Bears bullied the Sooners at the line of scrimmage, keeping Oklahoma to just 260 full yards as Bohanon and the Baylor offense outgained the Sooners on the ground 296-78.

As time wound down, the rumbles inside of McLane Stadium turned to roars. When the match ended, Baylor players skipped across the industry as lovers stormed all-around them.

Oklahoma coach Lincoln Riley could be found yelling at officers on the Sooners’ sideline, showing upset that Baylor was not assessed a penalty soon after supporters rushed the discipline with one particular next remaining on the recreation clock. But it did not issue a great deal.

If there was minor that an undefeated Sooners crew could do to get into the playoffs just before, those people aspirations evaporated as their crimson and cream jerseys pale into the visitor’s locker room.