Baylor FB Hosts Oklahoma State on Homecoming

	OKLAHOMA STATE COWBOYS (3-4, 0-4 Big 12) Location: Stillwater, Okla.  Conference/Affiliation: Big 12 Head Coach: Mike Gundy (Oklahoma State, 1989) Roster | Stats | Game Notes (PDF)	OKLAHOMA STATE (3-4, 0-4 Big 12) vs. BAYLOR (3-4, 1-3 Big 12) Oct. 26 • 2:30 p.m. Waco, Texas • McLane Stadium (45,140) LIVE STATS: Stat Broadcast WATCH: ESPN+ Talent: Ted Emrich (PBP), Charles Arbuckle (Analyst) LISTEN: Baylor Sports Media Network via ESPN 1660 AM / 92.3 FM in Central Texas and worldwide at centexsportsfan.com Talent: John Morris (PBP), J.J. Joe (Analyst), Ricky Thompson (Sildeline) SIRIUS XM: SiriusXM 161 or 189 on the SXM App Baylor Social Media:
	BAYLOR BEARS (3-4, 1-3 Big 12) Location: Waco, Texas  Conference/Affiliation: Big 12 Head Coach: Dave Aranda (Cal Lutheran, 1999) Roster | Stats | Game Notes (PDF)

WACO, Texas — Coming off a thrashing of Texas Tech in Lubbock last weekend, Baylor football will return home to host Oklahoma State on Saturday for Homecoming at McLane Stadium, with kickoff slated for 2:30 p.m.

 

The game will be broadcast live on ESPN+ and the Baylor Sports Media Network. The call will come from Ted Emrich (play-by-play) and Charles Arbuckle (analyst) on ESPN+, while the Voice of the Bears, John Morris (play-by-play), and former BU greats J.J. Joe (analyst) and Ricky Thompson (sideline) will have the call on the radio. 

 

Baylor (3-4, 1-3 Big 12 Conference) will face off with Oklahoma State (3-4, 0-4 Big 12) in the first of a season-long, two-game homestand at McLane Stadium. The Bears will then face TCU next week. 

 

The Bears are coming off a 59-32 beatdown at Texas Tech, spoiling the homecoming sold-out venue in Lubbock, with the game reaching 59-27 in the closing minutes of the fourth quarter. 

 

SCOUTING THE COWBOYS

• Oklahoma State comes into the game with the Bears having lost four straight, all in conference, after opening up the year with three straight non-conference wins. Last week, OSU fell on Friday night at No. 13/13 BYU, suffering a heartbreak after take a late lead only to see the home-standing Cougs rally for the go-ahead score with 12 seconds left in regulation. 

• OSU averages 30.9 points and surrenders 28.7 points per game. Offensively, OSU is averaging 394.6 yards per game, including 278 through the air and 116.6 on the ground. Defensively, OSU averages opponents 490.6 yards per game, including 252.7 through the air and 237.9 on the ground. 

• Trey Rucker leads the team with 69 tackles through six games, while Nick Martin owns 7.5 tackles for a loss and 47 stops. Korie Black leads the team with three interceptions and five pass break-ups. 

• One of the nation’s best running backs, Ollie Gordon II owns 117 carries and 491 yards on the ground, with six TDs and 70.1 yards per game. OSU made a QB change last week but an injury forced the previous back-up into the game in the second half. Alan Bowman has thrown for 1,738 yards with 13 TDs and nine interceptions through seven games, while Garret Rangel threw for 192 yards and two TDs with one interception. WR Brennan Presley caught 41 balls for 380 yards and five TDs. 

• The Boys are coached by legendary OSU figure Mike Gundy, a former OSU QB who is in his 20th year as the head coach. He has led OSU to eight seasons with 10+ wins, a Big 12 Championship in 2011 and top-10 finishes in the AP poll in 11 of his 19 years. 

• Joe Bob Clements is the co-defensive coordinator, in his 12th year, and took over as Co-DC in 2023. OC Kasey Dunn is in his 14th year at OSU, has been the OC since 2020 and the associate head coach since 2019. Dunn is the longest consecutively serving OSU football assistant since 1962. Bryan Nardo owns the title of defensive coordinator and is in his first year with the program after serving as the defensive line coach at Indiana from 2022-23. 

• Chad Weiberg has been the AD at OSU since July of 2021, when he was elevated from Deputy AD. The Chair of Big 12 ADs in 2023-24, Weiberg is a 1994 and 2022 OSU graduate who served as director of sales and donor relations at OSU until 1999, before serving as senior director of field operations for the OSU Alumni Association from 1999-02. He was director of development for the OSU Foundation and College of Business Administration from 2002-03 before moving on as Director of Corporate Relations and Director of Major Gifts for Kansas State athletics in 2005. He was senior associate AD for development until 2015, when he left for the Deputy AD role at Texas Tech, before returning as Deputy at OSU in 2017. Weiberg’s uncle, Kevin was previously the commissioner of the Big 12. 

• Reid Sigmon is the sport administrator for football and is the Deputy AD since 2021. He has worked in finance at athletics programs, including Tennessee, the College Football Playoff, and previously worked as the Director of Stadium Development and Event Operations for the Cleveland Browns. Sigmond worked at Kansas State as COO from 2009-13. 

 

HOMECOMING HISTORY

• Baylor’s homecoming began in 1909, marking the first recognizable collegiate homecoming celebration in the nation.

• The Bears are 50-44-4 all-time on homecoming and have won four their last five and 11 of their last 13 homecoming matchups. 

• Baylor has faced Oklahoma State on homecoming just twice, going 1-1 against the Cowboys. The last homecoming clash between the two foes was a 2018 Baylor win, 35-31. OSU won the 2009 meeting, 34-7. 

• The first homecoming came in 1909 after six months of planning by faculty and students. Large delegations of former students converged on the Baylor campus to participate in a concert, receptions, speeches, class reunions, singing, a parade, a pep rally and a football victory. It was Baylor’s first “homecoming” which, except during the later years of World War II, has been an annual tradition and has grown to be the largest collegiate Homecoming celebration in the United States. 

 

BAYLOR DOMINATE TEXAS TECH IN LUBBOCK

• The Bears put together their most complete performance of the year, thrashing Texas Tech in Lubbock in front of a sold-out homecoming crowd, 59-32, in a game that saw the lead as large as 52-21 in the closing minutes of the fourth quarter. 

• It marked the second consecutive rout for Baylor at Texas Tech, as the Bears dominated the Raiders in Lubbock in 2022, 45-17, giving Baylor 104 combined points over the last two games at TTU. The Bears have now won 10 of its last 15 games against Tech, including five of its last seven. Over those 10 wins, Baylor has wins of 24, 29, 28, 11, 28 and 24 points. 

• It marked the first game for Baylor to hang 50 points or more on a Big 12 foe since 2019 and its first 50+ point game since UAlbany in 2022. It was the most points scored vs. Tech since 2015, a 63-35 win in Arlington. 

• Baylor’s 59 points on Saturday were the most by an FBS program in Week Eight and tied for the most in a conference game in a Power Four league this season.

• The Bears finished with 529 yards of total offense, with 255 rushing and 274 passing, both season highs. 

• QB Sawyer Robertson returned to his hometown of Lubbock and tossed five TDs, a career high and the most for Baylor QB since Seth Russell in 2015. He was 21-of-32 for 274 yards. Freshman tailback Bryson Washington rushed for 116 yards and two TDs on just 10 carries. WR Josh Cameron had three receiving TDs with six catches for 75 yards and also returned a punt 74 yards to the one-yard line. 

 

RUGGED SCHEDULE TO OPEN

• Baylor has opened the 2024 season with a rugged start to the season, as its first seven opponents featured three ranked teams.

• The combined record of Baylor’s first seven opponents is 35-14 and 18-9 in conference play. In Big 12 play, Baylor faced teams in the first seven weeks with a combined record of 15-5. The four teams Baylor has lost to have a combined record of 23-5 and are 13-3 vs. league foes. 

• By comparison, the final five weeks of the regular-season will feature Baylor facing off with teams that own a 14-21 combined overall record and a 6-14 mark in Big 12 play. 

 

LAST MEETING IN THE SERIES

• No. 16/14 Baylor fell behind 23-3 early in the third quarter to No. 9/7 Oklahoma State but couldn’t overcome the hole during a furious rally that saw BU cut the lead to a one-score game later in the quarter, falling 36-25 in 2022 to the Cowboys in a rematch of the 2021 Big 12 Conference Championship Game. 

• Baylor found itself down 23-3 after allowing a kickoff returned for a touchdown early in the third quarter but responded with 14 straight points to cut the lead to 23-17. OSU answered with a 50 yard kickoff return on the ensuing possession and took two plays to regain a 30-17 lead. The lead grew to 33-17 before Baylor got a 70-yard TD strike from Blake Shapen to Monaray Baldwin – their second TD connection of the game – with a two-point conversion cutting it to an eight-point game with 2:14 left in the third quarter. 

• Baylor threw an interception on its own 33 yard line with 8:52 in the quarter and OSU finished an eight-play drive with a field goal for an 11-point lead it wouldn’t relinquish. 

• Shapen threw for a career-high 345 yards, with the two scores to Baldwin, who had a career-high seven catches for 174 yards. Richard Reese rushed 17 times for 85 yards and his NCAA-freshmen leading seventh TD of the year. Linebacker Dylan Doyle had a team-leading 10 tackles. 

• Spencer Sanders threw for 181 yards for the Cowboys, also rushing 14 times for 75 yards. Dominic Richardson had 24 carries for 73 yards and a score. Jaden Nixon had the big blow of the game, a 98-yard kickoff return for a TD in the third quarter. 

 

SERIES HISTORY

• Oklahoma State owns a 23-19 all-time lead in the series with the Bears, with Baylor owning a 9-8 lead in games played in Waco. OSU won the last meeting in 2022, 36-25, using an early lead to hold off a late rally. 

• The two teams met twice in 2021, with the Cowboys winning the regular-season meeting in Stillwater, Okla., before the Bears sprung the Big 12 Conference title-game win over the Cowboys in Arlington, Texas, 21-16. 

• Baylor has won three of the last six meetings in the series and six of the last 10. In Waco, Oklahoma State has won just twice over the last 14 years, a 43-3 win in 2020. 

            

2021 INSTANT CLASSIC

• Baylor posted a thrilling 21-16 win over Oklahoma State to win the Big 12 Conference Championship game in 2021 in Arlington.

• The Bears – ranked No. 9 – edged the 11-win Cowboys, ranked No. 5, in a heart-racing affair that saw OSU get four shots at the go-ahead score in the final seconds of the game from the two-yard line. OSU’s final attempt saw Jairon McVea make a TD-saving tackle of Dezmon Jackson, inches from the goal line to secure the win. 

• Baylor intercepted all-conference QB Spencer Sanders four times in the game – after forcing Sanders into three picks in the regular-season meeting – and held the Cowboys to three short-range field goals in three other trips inside the 10-yard line as a defense stiffened when needed. 

• Then-freshman QB Blake Shapen turned in a performance for the ages in relief of injured starter Gerry Bohanon, setting a Big 12 Championship record by completing his first 17 pass attempts. He was named the Most Outstanding Player after going 23 for 28 with 180 yards and three TDs, also featuring a 28-yard scamper in the third quarter. 

• The Bears owned a 21-3 lead midway in the second quarter after TD passes from Shapen to Ben Sims, Drew Estrada and Tyquan Thornton. The Cowboys chipped away with a second and third field goal and a TD run from Dominic Richardson with the game coming down to the fourth-down stop on the goalline from McVea. 

• Abram Smith carried it 17 times for 63 yards, with Trestan Ebner toting it five times for 17 yards. Thornton had six catches for 71 yards.