San Antonio Express-News (Sunday)
No. 8 Baylor holds off Texas Tech
WACO — Baylor coach Dave Aranda was well aware of the Big 12 ramifications for his eighthranked Bears in the outcome of a game later in the evening. In many ways, that didn’t really matter to him.
Blake Shapen threw for 254 yards and two touchdowns in his first start, Abram Smith ran for 117 yards with a score and the Bears held on to beat
Texas Tech 27-24 on Saturday for their 10th win, which kept alive their hopes of making the Big 12 championship game for the second time in three seasons.
Then came the wait for the Bedlam game between No. 7 Oklahoma State and No. 10 Oklahoma.
“I’ve always, stuff you can’t control, you can’t control,” said Aranda, instead lauding his team for how it has grown since going 2-7 in his debut last year.”
Oklahoma State, which beat Baylor 24-14 in October, was already in its first Big 12 title game. A win by the Cowboys over six-time defending Big 12 champion Oklahoma would put Baylor (10-2, 7-2 Big 12, CFP No. 8) in next Saturday’s game with them.
“We were fully focused on Texas Tech, and we’re ready for whatever comes next,“linebacker Terrel Bernard said. “We’re excited that we won this game … and we’ll see what happens.”
Shapen hit Trestan Ebner in stride near the 25 for a 61-yard catch-and-run score on the game’s opening drive that put Baylor ahead to stay.
The Red Raiders (6-6, 3-6) still had one more chance after stopping Baylor on fourth down on its 12 with 1:18 and no timeouts left. They got in position for a 53-yard field goal attempt by Jonathan Garibay, who had plenty of leg but pushed the kick wide left on the final play. Garibay was 13 of 13 on field goals before then.
“Incredibly proud of our team, the fight that they showed,” Sonny Cumbie said of Saturday and all four of his games as Tech’s interim coach. “It’s so easy when things go against you to take your ball and go home, to take your ball and stop playing and to stop fighting. And if anything, these kids did just the opposite.”
NO. 24 HOUSTON 45 CONNECTICUT 17
Clayton Tune threw for 301 yards and four touchdowns as the Cougars tuned up for next week’s American Athletic Conference championship game with a rout of the Huskies at East Hartford, Conn.
“Now, we’re on to Cincinnati,” Houston coach Dana Holgorsen said.
Nathaniel Dell caught two touchdowns and Jake
Herslow and Jeremy Singleton each topped 100 receiving yards to go with a TD apiece for Houston (11-1, 8-0 AAC), which plays at No. 4 Cincinnati for the conference title next Saturday.
IOWA ST. 48, TCU 14
Breece Hall rushed for 242 yards and scored four touchdowns Friday night in what maybe his final game at Jack Trice Stadium, propelling Iowa State to a win over Texas Christian at Ames, Iowa, and setting an NCAA FBS record for consecutive games with a rushing touchdown.
Hall darted 39 yards for a score in the second quarter, giving him 24 consecutive games with at least one rushing touchdown. He shared the record with Bill Burnett, who scored a
rushing TD in 23 straight games for Arkansas (196870).
Hall is the Cyclones all-time career scoring leader with 336 points and 56 touchdowns.
“Those are special things for a special player,” Iowa State coach Matt Campbell said. “And Breece is a special player.”
Hall highlighted his dominance against TCU with an 80-yard touchdown run in the third quarter, putting Iowa State (7-5, 5-4 Big 12) ahead 34-7.
Hall carried the ball 18 times (averaging 13.4 yards per rush) and caught two passes for 39 yards and a touchdown.
TCU (5-7, 3-6) gave up a total of 279 rushing yards.
TEXAS ST. 24 ARKANSAS ST. 22
Freshman Calvin Hill
rushed for 123 yards and a touchdown and the Bobcats won at Jonesboro, Ark.
Hill’s 6-yard TD run capped a six-play, 83-yard drive midway through the third quarter and gave the Bobcats (4-8, 3-5 Sun Belt) a 24-13 lead heading into the final period.
Blake Grupe kicked a 22-yard field goal early in the fourth to pull the Red Wolves (2-10, 1-7) within 24-16. Layne Hatcher later connected with Corey Rucker for a 26-yard score to get within two points, but the 2-point try failed.
RICE 35, LOUISIANA TECH 31
TJ McMahon threw two late touchdown passes — including a 3-yarder to Cedric Patterson III with 61 seconds remaining — and the host Owls rallied for a victory over the Bulldogs.
ARMY 31, LIBERTY 16
Jakobi Buchanan ran for three touchdowns and Christian Anderson threw for a score and the Black Knights won at Lynchburg, Va.
Cole Talley kicked a 26-yard field goal to give Army (8-3) a 3-0 lead. The Black Knights followed up defensively when Bo Nicolas-Paul intercepted Max Morgan. Anderson threw a 34-yard scoring pass to Braheam Murphy for a
10-0 advantage.