Cowboys Hold Off Bears to Win in Waco
Oklahoma State's football team got some big offensive plays, a special team boost, and a pair of clinching fourth quarter interceptions to beat Baylor 36-25 at McLane Stadium in Waco, Texas, on Saturday.
OSU trailed after the first possession, but never again in a rematch of last year's Big 12 Championship Game.
Cowboy quarterback Spencer Sanders passed for 181 yards and a score and ran for 75 more and a touchdown.
Baylor got the ball first and marched to a 34-yard field goal by John Mayers to take a 3-0 lead with 10:56 to play in the first quarter.
OSU responded with a 15-play, 75-yard drive, with Spencer Sanders passing to Bryson Green for an 8-yard touchdown to give the Cowboys a 7-3 lead with 5:24 left in the first quarter.
Early in the second quarter, Kendall Daniels tackled Richard Reese in the end zone for a safety and OSU led 9-3 with 13:38 left in the first half.
The Cowboys had to punt back to Baylor after three downs.
The Bears then marched inside the OSU 10, but on 4th and 1 from the 70, Mason Cobb tackled Reese for no gain and the Cowboys took over on downs.
The two teams exchanged punts, then OSU marched 55 yards in 10 plays, with no gain of more than 12 yards, with Sanders sneaking in from a yard out to give the Cowboys a 16-3 lead with 27 seconds left in the first half.
The second half started with a bang, as OSU's Jaden Nixon returned the opening kickoff back 98 yards for a touchdown and it was 23-3 Cowboys.
Baylor responded with a big play, as Blake Shapen passed deep to Monaray Baldwin for a 49-yard touchdown to cut OSU's lead to 23-10 with 12:23 to play in the third quarter.
The Cowboys' first offensive mistake came on the next possession, as Christian Morgan picked off Sanders at the OSU 37-yard line.
It took Baylor five plays to convert, with Richard Reese scoring from a yard out, cutting the OSU lead to 23-17 with 7:58 to play in the third quarter.
Reese had 85 yards on 17 carries.
Brennan Presley returned the kickoff to the 50, and it took OSU just two plays from there to score.
Sanders passed to Brayden Johnson, who made a leaping catch over a defender for a gain of 49 to the 1-yard line.
Dominic Richardson scored on a run on the next play to make it 30-17 Cowboys with 7:14 left in the third quarter.
Richardson had 73 yards rushing on 24 carries.
Baylor turned the ball over on downs, and OSU pulled out a trick play, with receiver John Paul Richardson passing to Bryson Green for a gain of 32 yards to the Baylor 2-yard line.
The Bears held from there, and Tanner Brown kicked a 19-yard field goal to put OSU up 33-17 with 3:38 to play in the third quarter.
Baylor faced a 4th and 5 from their own 30-yard line on the next series, and not only converted, but got a touchdown, as Shapen found Baldwin over the middle and he motored down the sideline for a 70-yard touchdown.
Shapen was 28-for-40 passing for 345 yards.
Baldwin had 7 catches for 174 yards and two touchdowns.
A 2-point conversion cut OSU's lead to 33-25 with 2:14 to play in the third quarter.
After an OSU punt, Baylor turned the ball over when Shapen was intercepted by Thomas Harper at the Bears' 44-yard line.
Brown booted a 26-yard field goal to give OSU a 36-25 lead with 4:48 to play.
The Cowboy defense then clinched it when Shapen was intercepted by Jason Taylor with 2:55 to play.
The Cowboys have won two in a row in Waco after ending a four-game losing to Baylor in Waco with a win in 2020.
OSU improves to 4-0 on the season and will host Texas Tech next Saturday at 2:30 pm in Stillwater.