Baylor Falls to Texas in Regular Season Finale, 38-27

Austin, Texas – The No. 23 Texas Longhorns (8-4, 6-3) defeated the Baylor Bears (6-6, 4-5) in the regular season finale by a score of 38-27 on Friday afternoon at DKR-Texas Memorial Stadium.

In the loss, Texas outgained Baylor in total yards, 402 to 280. Redshirt sophomore quarterback Blake Shapen finished 18-of-36 passing for 179 yards, an interception and two touchdowns. Freshman Richard Reese led the ground game, rushing for 54 yards on 14 carries. Qualan Jones also contributed 63 all-purpose yards on 20 touches.

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Baylor’s failed to score an offensive touchdown in the second half.

Baylor jumped out to a quick 2-0 lead after Texas quarterback Quinn Ewers received an intentional grounding penalty in the endzone on the Longhorns' first drive. On offense, Shapen then connected with junior wide receiver Jaylen Ellis for a 42-yard touchdown to put the Bears up 9-0 midway through the first quarter.

Baylor struggled to stop the Texas offense early, allowing touchdowns on the Longhorns' next two possessions. With UT driving late in the second quarter, Ewers missed a wide-open Ja’Tavion Sanders on third and short at the Baylor 20-yard line. The Texas offense was forced to settle for a field goal and led 17-12 with 5:50 remaining in the second.

With the ball at the UT 45-yard line on the final drive of the half, Shapen picked apart the Longhorn defense and connected with senior tight end Ben Sims for a 14-yard touchdown to give Baylor back the lead, 19-17.

Midway through the third quarter, Shapen failed to hit a wide-open Jones on third and nine at the Texas 22-yard line. On the ensuing play, John Mayers missed a field goal from 40 yards out to give the momentum back to Texas.

UT took advantage and drove 78 yards down the field and capped off its drive with a 1-yard Roschon Johnson touchdown to retake the lead, 24-19.

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Bijan Robinson rushed for 179 yards on 29 carries in Saturday’s victory.

As Baylor’s offense began to stall in the second half, the defense came up with a huge play. Walcott forced an Ewers fumble, and defensive lineman Gabe Hall scooped up the ball and scored from the 16-yard line. A successful screen to Hal Presley on the 2-point conversion gave Baylor the 27-24 lead.

On the following drive, Texas began to impose its will on the Baylor defense, running the ball 11 times for 74 yards. Star tailback Bijan Robinson, who ended the afternoon with 179 yards on 29 carries, finished the drive with a 1-yard rushing touchdown to put UT back up 31-27.

On third and long, with Baylor driving to regain the lead, Shapen threw an interception into the arms of Texas linebacker Jaylan Ford.

The Longhorns continued to lean on the running game and iced the victory with an 11-yard touchdown from Johnson to go up 38-27 with 3:48 remaining in the fourth quarter.