BYU holds off late Baylor rally to beat Bears 34-28 in Waco, Texas – Deseret News

WACO, Texas – BYU exorcised all sorts of demons on a hot and humid but beautiful late September day on the banks of the Brazos River here Saturday, picking up its first-ever Big 12 road win with a 34-28 win over Snakebit Baylor in front of 39,583 Fans at McLane Stadium.

The scare apparently can wait until the end of October, but the drama was palpable throughout, even in daylight as BYU lost its last 10 games that began before 6 p.m. local time.

By Saturday afternoon, the sun was shining brightly overhead and the BYU defense was shining brightly on the field – once again.

The so-called Vampire Cougs got it done when they had to, becoming the eighth BYU team to improve to 5-0 in a season and the third in the Kalani-Sitake era. Baylor fell to 2-3 overall, 0-2 in Big 12 play, but not after giving the visitors a Halloween-like scare.

In short, this was a game the BYU team picked to finish 13th in the league — but is now ranked 22nd and likely moving up in the polls — and would probably have lost last year . Credit to the Cougars defense for standing firm after the offense faltered tremendously in the second half.

“I was proud of the team, proud of their response to adversity during the game and their willingness to stick together,” Sitake said. “That was something special. It speaks to the leadership of our team and the coaches of our team who prepare these guys.”

The ball has to go to the defense, which put together a lineup that saw BYU use five different cornerbacks, overcome the loss of starting linebacker Harrison Taggart and commit two big turnovers.

Redshirt junior safety Crew Wakley, a walk-on who wasn't on the depth chart to start the season, sealed the deal with the second forced turnover, tackling Baylor quarterback Sawyer Robertson with 49 seconds left.

Wakley, a former quarterback at Jordan High, said he knew the choice was his “when it was in the air.”

He also ranked it No. 1 on the list of plays he has made in his football career.

“Fly ball, I have to get it,” were his thoughts. “The ball is in the air and I have to get it.”

Noted defensive end Tyler Batty, who made a waiting call while rushing the passer on the previous play: “We call him Hitman Crew for a reason.”

That this game would have come down to BYU needing a defensive stop when the Bears took the lead with 1:24 left would have been incredible after the Cougars jumped out to a quick 21-0 lead.

Junior quarterback Jake Retzlaff's 17-yard touchdown run with 3:39 remaining in the first quarter gave the Cougars the big advantage, and on that particular play, several Baylor defensive backs appeared unwilling to make contact, and rolled to the play when Retzlaff crossed the goal line.

It certainly looked like the bears were toast. Obviously they weren't.

“A little dramatic at the end. “I’d like to see us close the deal, but you have to give credit to Baylor and coach (Dave) Aranda for getting their team to respond,” Sitake said.

“We knew this was going to happen. I would like to see us play a little differently in the second half and finish what we started, but you just can't wish that on the game. This is the Big 12 Conference, so these guys are not going to give up.”

BYU's offense played its best half of the season in the first half, scoring 31 points and striking out just once. The second half was one of the worst.

The Cougars were 3 of 5 on third down in the first half and racked up 286 yards. They led 31-14 at halftime and Retzlaff played like Robert Griffin III, the former Baylor QB who won a Heisman Trophy here at John Eddie Williams Field.

“It was a great start,” Sitake said. “We have the ability to do all of these things. I just have to keep the momentum going. We don’t have to be perfect, but we have to be efficient on offense and defense, when we start playing together good things happen.”

It was fitting that BYU's defense began and ended the game by forcing a turnover. Defensive lineman John Nelson deflected Robertson's pass on Baylor's first play from scrimmage, and Blake Mangelson parried it to give BYU the ball at the Baylor 20 and set up the Cougars' second touchdown, a 2-yard “rush” by Chase Roberts , in which the receiver caught a return pass and found the end zone.

“The offense was the execution to start the game. It was great,” said Retzlaff, who attributed the second-half struggles to “simply a lack of execution” and some adjustments Baylor made on its defensive front.

BYU also played a bit conservatively in the second half, with play-caller Aaron Roderick perhaps taking his foot off the accelerator a little too quickly. Retzlaff was picked off twice in the second half – one was touched at the line of scrimmage and caught by a defensive lineman – and had a few passes dropped, including a potential big-gainer after a nice throw to Darius Lassiter over the middle.

Whatever magic Retzlaff had in the first half somehow disappeared in the second, and his final numbers were passable: 17 of 31 passes for 216 yards and two touchdowns, with the two interceptions, for a passer rating of 121.8.

“We have to make sure that the halves of this week and last week (in the 38-9 win over Kansas State) add up to a complete game, and that's what we want from our offense,” Retzlaff said.

“We have to come out, start fast and then finish even stronger.”

BYU's defense wasn't the only unit impacted by injuries. Starting center Connor Pay left the team with a left foot injury and receiver Kody Epps was sidelined with an undisclosed injury. Neither of them returned. Starting left guard Weylin Lapuaho was out for a while but returned. Sonny Makasini was playing center when Pay left the game.

“I think the (artificial) turf is always a problem, but it’s everywhere. It doesn't just happen here. Lawn games are tough,” Sitake said. “I think they’re hard on your body, so we finished the guys off.”

Last year, when BYU was in the Big 12 for the first time, these injuries would have depleted the team's strength to the point where it could barely function. Not this year. We thank Sitake and defensive coordinator Jay Hill for preparing backup players during the crunch times at Wyoming and Kansas State to be ready to play at critical times.

“A lot of guys that played at the end of the game (they were the same guys) had to rely on us on the last drive against Wyoming and it didn't work out for them,” Sitake said.

“We used them against Kansas State and they got a stop, and these guys got a stop here, so it makes me happy that we're actually practicing these close situations, like two minutes.” We'll continue next week work in these situations.”

The Cougars faltered a bit in the second quarter, especially on defense.

The Bears put together 80- and 57-yard drives around a punt and cut the deficit to 28-14 on a 1-yard TD toss from Robertson to Josh Cameron.

Cameron had 12 catches for 125 yards and two touchdowns for Baylor, offsetting Lassiter's big day. Lassiter had eight catches for 120 yards and a TD (44 yards), but wasn't entirely happy with his performance due to two drops in the second half.

Retzlaff was simply sensational for BYU in the first half, going 13 of 17 for 180 yards and two touchdowns. Lassiter caught six passes for 101 yards and a touchdown in the first half, and the Cougars averaged 7.5 yards per play.

Will Ferrin hit a 54-yard field goal with 35 seconds left to give BYU a 31-14 halftime lead. It was the second-longest field goal in BYU history.

It was the most points BYU has scored in a first half since 2022, when it opened the season with 38 first-half points against USF.

The second half? A whole different story, but a win is a win, as they say, and the Cougars had no plans of giving it back. Not after doing a lot of it a year ago.