The 28-3 lead remains cursed. Less than three years after the Atlanta Falcons blew a 28-3 lead to the New England Patriots in Super Bowl LI, the No. 13 Baylor Bears went up 28-3 at home against the No. 10 Oklahoma Sooners Saturday in a game with plenty of possible Big 12 and College Football Playoff implications. And it didn’t work out at all well for them; the Sooners pulled the score back to 31-10 at the half, and the Bears posted just 69 second-half yards, leading to Oklahoma coming all the way back to win 34-31. Here’s the fourth-quarter touchdown pass Sooners’ QB Jalen Hurts threw to Brayden Willis to tie the game (after the convert) with 5:25 remaining:
Oklahoma then took the lead on a 31-yard field goal from Gabe Brkic with 1:45 left. And they then sealed it when linebacker Nik Bonnito made a crucial late interception, on the very next play after he couldn’t hang on to a previous interception attempt:
On the day, Hurts completed 30 of 42 passes (71.4 percent) for 297 yards and four touchdowns with one interception, while also adding 114 rushing yards on 27 carries (4.2 yards per carry). And he was crucial to the Sooners storming all the way back here. Meanwhile, the Bears’ offense had a great first half, but did next to nothing in the second half, and quarterback Charlie Brewer finished with 18 completions on 29 attempts (62.1 percent) for 194 yards and two touchdowns with an interception. (He did rush 17 times for 65 yards and two touchdowns, though.)
It’s also remarkable that Oklahoma pulled off the largest comeback in school history, considering all the wins that school has posted over the years. But in the end, Baylor showed us yet more proof of how dangerous a 28-3 lead can be.
[ESPN]
About Andrew Bucholtz
Andrew Bucholtz has been covering sports media for Awful Announcing since 2012. He is also a staff writer for The Comeback. His previous work includes time at Yahoo! Sports Canada and Black Press.