Oklahoma 37, Baylor 30 (2OT)
NORMAN, Okla. (AP) -- Lying in a stadium tunnel, Juaquin Iglesias
had no way to celebrate his touchdown catch in double overtime. He
just knew he'd put his Oklahoma Sooners in position for a victory.
Iglesias caught a 21-yard touchdown pass from Rhett Bomar to
lift Oklahoma to a 37-30 win Saturday night against Baylor and
maintain the Sooners' perfect record in the series.
"I didn't know what to do," Iglesias said. "I ran and I fell
in the tunnel. I was just really excited to catch the ball."
A freshman receiver, Iglesias hadn't caught a pass in regulation
or in the first overtime period, but when he lined up against
one-on-one coverage, he couldn't help but get excited.
"I felt like the ball was coming to me, and it did," Iglesias
said.
After catching the ball in the right side of the end zone,
Iglesias ran out of bounds and slipped in a tunnel.
The Bears' hopes for their first win against Oklahoma ended when
Shawn Bell's fourth-down pass fell incomplete. The Sooners rushed
out onto the field in jubilation, and Baylor players walked to the
locker room with their helmets in their hands.
"It was a good win," Oklahoma coach Bob Stoops said. "Any win
is a good win."
A roughing the passer penalty against Geoff Nelson on Bomar's
touchdown pass meant the Bears had to start their double overtime
possession at the 40-yard line instead of the 25. Bell threw a
5-yard pass to Shaun Rochon on first down, but then threw three
straight incompletions to end the game.
"I don't like to lose and I don't like to lose in that way --
and I don't mean overtime," Baylor coach Guy Morriss said. "Our
kids played well enough and were tough enough to get back in the
game and take it to overtime.
"It's just all this dumb stuff that we're doing to ourselves.
That's what I hate about it. The fumbles, the penalties, the
mistakes and the tackles -- we just got to get that stuff stopped."
The win moved the Sooners (4-3, 3-1 Big 12) above .500 for the
first time this season and continued an undefeated streak against
Baylor, which has lost all 15 games against Oklahoma in a series
dating back to 1901. It was the first double overtime game Oklahoma
has played.
The Bears (4-3, 1-3) rallied from 11 points down to pull within
two on a 55-yard touchdown pass from Bell to Dominique Zeigler with
1:17 left. Bell then scrambled for the 2-point conversion to tie
it.
A desperation pass by Bomar fell incomplete as time expired in
regulation, and the teams exchanged field goals in the first
overtime period.
After consecutive runs by Jacob Gutierrez to start the second
overtime, Bomar dropped back on third-and-6 and found Iglesias in
the right corner of the end zone.
The completion gave him a career-high 269 passing yards and the
Sooners the win.
"We hung in there, and we came through in the end when it
counted," said Bomar, who was 24-for-42 passing and had two
interceptions in addition to the touchdown.
With Adrian Peterson out with a sprained ankle and backup Kejuan
Jones suspended, Gutierrez was forced to make his first start at
tailback. He found out he'd be the starter only hours before
kickoff, but amassed 173 yards and two touchdowns on 30 carries.
He'd had only 65 yards on 14 career carries entering the game.
"You never know what's going to happen or when you'll need to
play," Gutierrez said.
Gutierrez, a 5-foot-6 sophomore who'd started once before at
slot receiver, had touchdown runs of 7 and 28 yards as the Sooners
scored 24 points in the second quarter. After Baylor took an early
6-0 lead, the Sooners scored on four consecutive possessions and
appeared to be in control with a 24-13 halftime lead.
Shaun Rochon, who had a 98-yard kickoff return for a touchdown
earlier in the game, pulled the Bears within 24-19 late in the
third quarter when he caught a 7-yard touchdown pass from Bell.
Rochon caught the ball at the 5, spun out of Chijioke Onyenegecha's
tackle and walked into the end zone.
Bell finished with 228 yards and three touchdowns on 20-for-44
passing, and Zeigler had 141 yards on nine catches.
Garrett Hartley stretched Oklahoma's lead to 27-19 with a
25-yard field goal with 9:17 to play, and Baylor went three-and-out
on its next possession. Colin Allred gave the Bears a chance when
he forced a Gutierrez fumble with 2:39 to play and Julian Hill
recovered at the Bears 18.
On a third-and-10, Bell found Zeigler deep down the middle,
where he had beaten safety Lewis Baker and lofted the ball into his
arms.
"That was just a perfectly thrown ball by Shawn Bell and I just
came down with the catch," Zeigler said. "It was there earlier in
the game, but sometimes we're just not on the same page. When
crunch time came, we got on the same page and made the play."
In overtime, Baylor struck first with a 20-yard field goal by
Ryan Havens, but Oklahoma tied the game again on Hartley's
39-yarder.
Game Information
2023 Big 12 Conference Standings
Team | CONF | OVR |
---|---|---|
Texas | 8-1 | 12-1 |
Oklahoma State | 7-2 | 9-4 |
Oklahoma | 7-2 | 10-2 |
Iowa State | 6-3 | 7-5 |
Kansas State | 6-3 | 8-4 |
West Virginia | 6-3 | 8-4 |
Texas Tech | 5-4 | 6-6 |
Kansas | 5-4 | 8-4 |
UCF | 3-6 | 6-6 |
TCU | 3-6 | 5-7 |
Houston | 2-7 | 4-8 |
BYU | 2-7 | 5-7 |
Baylor | 2-7 | 3-9 |
Cincinnati | 1-8 | 3-9 |