Bench-Clearing Fight Stalls Texas-Baylor College Football Game

One of the most perplexing plays was a fourth-down call for Swoopes that was easily stuffed by Baylor, though Jay Norvell also got criticized for throwing the ball in a similar situation earlier in the year.

Out of healthy quarterbacks and facing a 17-point deficit 14 minutes into Saturday’s regular-season finale at McLane Stadium, the 12th-ranked Baylor Bears turned to a receiver and ultimately the wildcat offense with a pair of running backs.

A picture-perfect day on the banks of the Brazos River, which marked the final home game for 19 seniors and standout junior receiver Corey Coleman, was marred by their third loss in four games and a bench-clearing melee in the first quarter.

Texas improved to 5-7 in Charlie Strong’s second season with wins over two of the Big 12’s best, Baylor and Oklahoma.

Still, with Texas being the flagship program in the state, some Longhorns’ players feel a sense of superiority over the Bears (and the state’s other programs).

It came under unusual circumstances, and Baylor nearly came back, but the Bears fall to 9-3 after an 8-0 start.

The Bears went into November undefeated, but lost three of their last four games.

“After they started coming back, we didn’t get down on ourselves”.

Those passes somehow came against a defense that was allowing big cushions to the Bears wide receivers despite the fact that Hawthorne threw two interceptions in the first half when he tried to throw the ball downfield. Huh? “But we’re not going to back down”. Some players on the Texas sideline weren’t happy about it and knocked Hawthorne down, which prompted the Baylor players to leave their sideline and join the madness. That immediately drew the Baylor team off its bench, all the way across the field, but coaches and officials were able to regain order, such as it was. Kevin Vaccaro then hit Hawthorne after the play was over, taking exception to his tackle, and earned an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty.

“It’s really tough”, Coleman said.

UT scored again on its next possession on a 9-yard run by Swoopes to push the lead to 17-0 with 1:11 left in the first quarter. Soon after Russell’s injury, Jarrett Stidham, the man who replaced Russell, was out for the season because of an ankle injury.

Coleman, as a redshirt junior, still had a season of eligibility remaining at Baylor.