Waco, Texas ? Baylor 50, No. 14 TCU 48
Aaron Jones kicked a 37-yard field goal with 1:04 left and Baylor averted a monumental collapse to pull out a 50-48 season-opening victory over 14th-ranked TCU on Friday.
TCU, which had won an FBS-best 25 consecutive regular-season games, overcome a 47-23 deficit in the fourth quarter to briefly take the lead. New starting quarterback Casey Pachall threw three touchdown passes in the rally and a fumble by Bears quarterback Robert Griffin set up a go-ahead 27-yard field goal by Ross Evans, who earlier missed twice from behind 40 yards.
But Baylor, which hadn’t beaten a ranked team since 2004, then went 60 yards in 11 plays — including Griffin’s 15-yard catch from Kendall Wright on a third-and-10 — to set up Jones.
The Frogs had one more chance, but Pachall’s last pass was intercepted by Mike Hicks and he ran the clock down to 2 seconds.
Griffin took one more snap, knelt down and immediately the field was swarming in gold as students and fans rushed out to celebrate. Many of those in purple sat in the stands staring in shock.
Wright threw for a score of his own before catching two of Robert Griffin’s career-high five touchdown passes as Baylor avoided another crushing loss to the defending Rose Bowl champion and its old Southwest Conference rival.
This would have certainly hurt more than the Bears’ 45-10 loss in Fort Worth a year ago because Baylor was never in that game.
Griffin hit 21 of 27 passes for 359 yards, with Wright catching 12 of them for 189 yards. Terrance Williams had six catches for 126 yards and two scores.
No. 17 Michigan St. 28, Youngstown St. 6.
East Lansing, Mich. — B.J. Cunningham caught nine passes for 130 yards and a touchdown, moving into a tie for first on Michigan State’s career receptions list in the No. 17 Spartans’ 28-6 victory over Youngstown State on Friday night.