FORT WORTH — It was the end of the day, and Gary Patterson said, “At the end of the day, you have to finish.”
He spoke at the end of Baylor 29, TCU 23, in three overtimes.
He could have been speaking last week, at the end of Oklahoma State 34, TCU 27.
Or three weeks ago at the end of Kansas State 24, TCU 17.
Or seven weeks ago at the end of SMU 41, TCU 38.
“The kids played a great game today,” the veteran coach said Saturday after a brilliant, picture-perfect sunny, clear day at Amon G. Carter Stadium. “You got to finish. They made the last play. We didn’t. That pretty much sums it up.”
One yard sums it up. TCU stood at the 1-yard line with first-and-goal in the third overtime. One yard ties the game. Two after that wins it.
Three yards in five plays.
At the end of the day, it was too much to ask. Sewo Olonilua lost three yards. Duggan threw high and long on a fade to Jalen Reagor. Right tackle David Bolisomi held on third down, making it third-and-14. Duggan escaped heavy pressure for a yard. Duggan threw high under pressure to the end zone, seeking Reagor, instead getting picked off.
End of the day.
“It’s pretty disappointing, honestly. We were really close,” left guard Cordel Iwuagwu said. “Everybody was crying. It really hurt my heart as a senior. I want to almost put the team on my back, and I knew I couldn’t, so it really hurt my heart.”
And being on the 1?
“Honestly, we have to do better,” he said. “We were on the 1? We have to get that. We do. Ain’t no excuses. We’ve got to get that.”
There were plays to get before that.
Tight end Pro Wells couldn’t bring in an over-the-shoulder pass at the goal line on TCU’s first possession.
Holding wiped out a 16-yard gain by Darius Anderson to start the second Frogs possession.
Duggan put a ball in harm’s way for an interception that ended their third possession. In the third quarter, the freshman threw across his body to create another pick and grant Baylor a field goal that cut the lead to 9-6.
With 36 seconds left and all three timeouts from their 25, the Frogs elected to set up for overtime.
“You throw a pick, you get beat,” Patterson said. “That’s not smart football.”
In overtime, Baylor scored a touchdown all three times against a TCU defense that hadn’t allowed a six-point play in regulation.
“We’re four or five plays away,” said cornerback Jeff Gladney, whose fine day included four stops, a tackle for loss and three pass breakups. “We talk about it every week, week in and week out. We talk about, we just got to make those plays.”
From Duggan, the Frogs got 140 yards passing, three interceptions, three sacks, 66 yards rushing, a touchdown pass in the first overtime and very nearly the tying touchdown in the third overtime. The signal-caller’s brilliant sideline run to the end zone was ruled to have ended when he stepped out of bounds at the 3.
“Max is my guy, regardless,” Iwuagwu said. “He’s my guy. He’s going to keep being Max, and I love it.”
In the 115th meeting between TCU and Baylor, a half toe on the sideline separated the two teams. Then 1 yard. Then 4. Then 14.
Bears coach Matt Rhule got his first win in the series, now 55-53-7 in TCU’s favor, surviving his team’s first scoreless first half of the season to do it. How did Patterson do it?
“We have good players,” the TCU coach said. “We’ve been limiting everybody, if you look at everybody we’ve played so far. You can ask their head coach what he said to me after the ballgame. It’s not my place to say that. I think there’s a respect of understanding what we do. There’s a reason why I’ve been able to keep my job this long.”
Baylor’s Charlie Brewer also took three sacks but found his way to 195 yards passing, plus the two overtime touchdown throws, throwing brilliantly on the move. The junior also led his team in rushing with 41 yards.
In regulation, neither team broke 250 yards. TCU had 236, Baylor had 204.
“We needed two more plays,” Patterson said. “A touchdown and a two-point. But I mean, I think you’ve got to give Baylor a little bit of credit when it comes to that stuff. I mean, they’ve been like that. They’ve been that way the whole year. It’s not been one or two times. It’s two good defenses out on the field today, and two offenses that you’re going to find out who can make one more play. And they ended up making one more play. It’s as simple as that. That’s the storyline as far as I’m concerned.”
Thus ended the day.
(Photo by TCU Athletics)
