By John Werner

Tribune-Herald staff writer

LUBBOCK — It was almost the perfect West Texas homecoming for Baylor coach Art Briles.

Leading by two touchdowns in the third quarter, the Bears were on the verge of pulling off their most shocking win in Big 12 history.

But Graham Harrell showed why he’s a leading Heisman Trophy candidate as he guided No. 7 Texas Tech to three unanswered touchdowns to sweat out a 35-28 win over the Bears before 53,470 fans Saturday afternoon at Jones AT&T Stadium.

The Bears took their season-ending loss hard — even harder than 31-28 losses to Connecticut and Missouri earlier this year. The Red Raiders (11-1, 7-1) clinched a Big 12 South co-championship, but Baylor (4-8, 2-6) gave them a huge scare.

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The day after

• »  Bears fall just short again in loss to Tech

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Baylor vs. Texas Tech

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• »   Baylor defense has its moments, but can't keep lid on Tech passing game
  
  
• Updated team stats
• Full game summary

BAYLOR FOOTBALL Baylor Bears put a scare into Texas Tech

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“I’m extremely disappointed that we didn’t come away with a win,” Briles said. “But we’ve got to understand that the door is not shut. We’re building a program that will be competitive in the Big 12 South with anyone we step on the field with. We started this season wanting respect and credibility. I think people know that when we play them they better buckle it up because we’re going to get after them.”

Briles brought the Bears back to an area he knows well: He grew up in Rule and graduated from Texas Tech in 1979 before coming back in 2000 for a three-year stint as an assistant coach under Red Raiders coach Mike Leach.

Though they were three-touchdown underdogs, the Bears played inspired football from the start against the Red Raiders, who were coming off a 65-21 loss to Oklahoma last weekend in Norman.

Baylor freshman quarterback Robert Griffin hit 12 of 15 passes for 91 yards and a touchdown, and rushed 18 times for 99 yards and two touchdowns. Jay Finley led all rushers with 105 yards. Griffin tied the school record of 13 touchdown runs set by Steve Beaird in 1974.

“We came to play and we didn’t care what they were ranked,” Griffin said. “We’ve had four or five games just like this one. Now, we’ve just got to get across the bridge and get one of these.”

When Jacoby Jones ended a 78-yard drive with a one-yard touchdown run to give the Bears a 28-14 lead with 11:04 left in the third quarter, they could sense an upset in the making.

“We don’t take any moral victories,” Baylor defensive tackle Vincent Rhodes said. “But we came out playing hard and the victory was in our grasp. We were in it until the last minute. But we just couldn’t grab it.”

With All-America receiver Michael Crabtree missing the second half with an injury, the Red Raiders were without a valuable weapon. But Harrell took the game into his own hands as he finished 41-of-50 for 309 yards and two touchdowns in the senior’s final game in Lubbock.

“Baylor outplayed us in the first half, but luckily we were able to overcome that in the second half,” Harrell said. “We came out flat and they were excited. But we were able to play really well in the second half without Crabtree out there. Everyone else just stepped up.”

Harrell started the comeback by leading the Red Raiders on a 72-yard touchdown drive that ended with Shannon Woods’ one-yard touchdown run.

On the next possession, Harrell guided the Red Raiders on a 12-play, 95-yard game-tying touchdown drive. They got a second chance on fourth-and-three at Baylor’s 49. Tim Atchison intercepted Harrell’s pass, but the Bears were called for offsides to give the Red Raiders a first down.

Texas Tech drove the rest of the way for the touchdown with Baron Batch driving the final three yards for a 28-28 tie with 12:20 left in the game.

After putting a good rush on Harrell and forcing an interception earlier in the game, the Bears got little pressure on him as the second half wore on.

Fatigue takes its toll

“We trained the whole week looking to put a lot of pressure on Harrell,” Rhodes said. “He can make something happen out of nothing if you let him sit back there all day. But later in the game, we were fatigued and couldn’t get there.”

With 9:32 left in the game, Griffin threw just his third interception of the season when his pass bounced off Thomas White’s chest and fell into the hands of Texas Tech linebacker Brian Duncan at Baylor’s 38.

The turnover set up Harrell’s game-winning four-yard touchdown pass to Detron Lewis with 6:14 left in the game to give the Red Raiders a 35-28 lead.

Baylor’s last drive died after Griffin was sacked twice, including a seven-yard takedown by McKinner Dixon at Baylor’s 45 with 3:32 remaining.

“You can’t continually stop them,” Briles said. “Name me someone that has in the last 55 games, maybe one or two games. What you got to do is keep punching back because they are going to get their punches in. We had a couple of unfortunate things that happened to us in the end, and it didn’t happen.”

Throughout the first half, Baylor’s defense kept making big plays.

After Baylor kicker Ben Parks missed a 29-yard field goal, Leon Freeman stripped the ball from Harrell and Rhodes recovered at Texas Tech’s 16.

“I was just trying to get some pressure coming off the edge,” Freeman said. “Our plan was to come after them and collapse the pocket and make them uncomfortable.”

On second-and-six, Griffin broke away from Dixon and reversed his field before Darcel McBath stripped the ball at the 1. Griffin’s fumble bounced out of the end zone for a touchback. But after watching a replay, the officials ruled that his knee touched at the 1 before the fumble.

Griffin threw a one-yard touchdown pass over the middle to Ernest Smith to give the Bears the lead. Electing to go for the two-point conversion, Griffin lofted a high pass to Kendall Wright, who made a leaping catch between two defenders as the Bears took a 21-14 lead.

The Red Raiders opened the game like they were going to march all over the Bears as they moved 60 yards for a touchdown after the opening kickoff. Harrell finished it off with a three-yard touchdown pass to Eric Morris, who made a diving catch in the back of the end zone.

But the Bears responded with a 52-yard touchdown drive on which they converted two fourth-down plays. Griffin sneaked up the middle for one-yard touchdown to tie the game with 7:16 remaining in the first quarter.

The Bears got another shot when Antonio Johnson intercepted Harrell’s pass over the middle and returned it to Texas Tech’s 34.

Griffin took advantage of the turnover as he faked to Jones and raced around left end for a 13-yard touchdown to give the Bears their first lead at 13-7 with seven seconds left in the first quarter.

How fast is Griffin?

“I’ve never seen a guy that fast, period,” Tech’s McBath said of Griffin. “That dude has some crazy speed. He’s a great player.”

Despite the tough loss, the Bears walked away from the season knowing they are a team to be reckoned with in the Big 12 in the future.

“We did a good job of making steps toward taking the program where it was when Baylor was going to bowls,” Rhodes said. “We definitely feel like Coach Briles is going to take us to the promised land.”

jwerner@wacotrib.com

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