How Bears Avoided 'Bigger Loss' in BYU Heartbreak
When over 20,000 rabid BYU students and fans stormed the field after knocking off No. 9 Baylor in double overtime Saturday night, it felt like the most pressing loss the Bears had suffered that night. After all, it was the only game they played Saturday night (and into Sunday morning).
Baylor coach Dave Aranda reminded us all, however, that his Bears avoided an even bigger defeat.
"Right up until that fourth down [the last play of the game]' I think everyone on our sideline thought we were going to win and that's just way special," Aranda said. "There are going to be wins and losses, but the bigger loss is if we lose that belief."
Aranda also said he was "very proud" of his team's heart and as well he should be. The Bears have no one to blame but themselves for the 14 penalties they committed and the 117 yards they gave up as a result, but they just kept coming back and answering the bell.
There was no better representation of the team's toughness than when BYU got the ball back with 10 minutes left in regulation and a tie game.
The Bears had just scored to make it 20-20 and Aranda was right in the middle of a huge sideline huddle, firing up his defense as the crowd was, once again, making LaVell Edwards Stadium one of the loudest arenas in the country Saturday.
On that drive, Baylor forced the Cougars into a 3rd and 4 at their own 31-yard line and then forced an incomplete pass, only to give BYU a first down on a defensive holding call.
Two plays later, a screen pass that looked like it could go for an interception or a huge loss instead was a targeting penalty on linebacker Dillon Doyle which not only gave the Cougars the ball at the Baylor 41-yard line but also disqualified Doyle for the rest of the game.
After losing one of their captains and best defensive players, Baylor sacked Jaren Hall and forced BYU to punt from Bears' territory.
Essentially, Baylor needed to force a three-and-out against a Cougar offense that had spread the field and was rolling. Instead of one, they forced three consecutive three-and-outs.
It was their own fault they needed to force three fourth downs, but it was a real testament to their mental toughness that BYU did not advance the ball, let alone score a point that would have given them a late lead after the targeting call putting them in Baylor territory.
The Bears also kept their composure defensively right till the end of the game, forcing BYU into a 35-yard field goal that would have won the game at the end of regulation, allowing only five yards and a long missed field goal in the first overtime, and once again giving themselves a chance to win the game by twice stopping the Cougars 2-point attempts in the second overtime.
Despite the Bears setting themselves back with penalties and their lack of an offensive identity, they traveled to a sold-out stadium and lost in double overtime to a top 25 team.
Those kinds of guts took the Baylor program to new heights in 2021, but they weren't developed until the second half of the season.
Luckily for the Bears, there are 10 weeks left in the regular season and, as gut-wrenching as Saturday's loss may be, it's all still to play for in the next three months.
With that, cornerback Mark Milton had the quote of the night.
"The season is not over with," Milton said. "All the goals we had before [Saturday] are still in front of us."
Shapen was shaky, but he has performed impeccably in the big games before, the Big 12 Championship Game proves it. Both lines, arguably the strongest parts of this Bears team, played much better Saturday than they did in Week 1.
The Baylor defense, minus forcing the turnovers, looks similar to the unit that led them to the Sugar Bowl victory in 2021.
Yes, these Bears have only faced one real test and lost, but we've seen them learn these lessons early in the season before and be able to salvage the campaign.
Write them off at your own risk.
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Covering Baylor for Inside The Bears and the Locked on Baylor podcast. You can follow me for more Baylor content at @realcamstuart on Twitter. Originally from Rockland, Massachusetts and a Baylor alum, so I might mix the occasional bias and/or Boston sports tweet in there every once in a while.