Since Baylor dismissed Dave Aranda after two consecutive losses to TCU and Kansas and replaced him with interim head coach Joe Klanderman, Baylor had won two games in a row coming into the BYU game scoring 41 and 42 points against UCF and Iowa State respectively.

BYU completely dominated the Bears, especially in the first half holding Baylor to 54 total yards.

Baylor’s first play of the game, a completed pass, was erased by an offensive pass interference call and then on the next play defensive Bodie Schoonover secured his first of two sacks in the contest. That set the tone that it was going to be a rough night for the Bear offense.

“It was great, I mean especially after last week, we came out with a loss,” Schoonover said of the performance of the defense. “It feels good to beat a good team that’s got a lot of momentum right now.”

Courtesy BYU Photo

Though Baylor finished with 238 total yards, a lot of that came in the final stanza when BYU was using a lot of second and third-string players with the game in hand at 28-7. Baylor never got its running game going as BYU outrushed the Bears 189-79.

Both teams played a relatively clean game in the turnover department though BYU safety Tommy Prassas secured his second interception of the year. Prassas has really shined the past two games as he caused a fumble against Utah the week previous. In the Baylor game Prassas added two tackles and another pass defended.

“It was dope,” Prassas said of securing his interception. “Definitely exciting. I haven’t gotten one in a long time so it felt good. They (Baylor) just motioned to empty so I kind of saw what they were going to do. The quarterback was kind of staring it down and I just made a play into the sideline and kept my feet in bounds.”

Prassas’ safety mates Raider Daumuni and Faletau Satuala co-led the team in tackles with five while defensive lineman Viliami Pou’ha registered his second sack of his career and five total tackles as well.

FAA Shutdown: The FAA grounding all air travel across the country for over four hours on Friday did cause Baylor to fly in on Saturday morning. The kickoff was postponed from 1:30 p.m. to 5 p.m.

Courtesy BYU Photo

BYU head coach Kalani Sitake was completely complimentary of Baylor being amenable with the situation and started out his post-game press conference stating as much.

“I just want to thank Baylor for making the difficult trip out here. It can’t be easy for them to do that and travel the same day,” Sitake said. Then you have a few hours to get ready and you don’t even have the opportunity to stay in a hotel.”

As for Klanderman’s perspective, there was no using the travel excuse for the loss.

“If we’re going to be about what we say we’re going to be about, it shouldn’t matter. I’m not going to put it on that.”

Not all games that had to be rescheduled to the shutdown went as smoothly. The Ole Miss vs. Oklahoma game was rescheduled to Sunday and the Oklahoma athletic director Roger Denny wasn’t happy about it, feeling Ole Miss didn’t take the necessary efforts to try to make it Norman so their contest could be played Saturday.

A clearer picture on the Big 12 race: With BYU (8-2, 5-2), Texas Tech (9-1, 6-1) and Utah (10-0, 9-0) all winning Saturday, the Big 12 title chase really just comes down to those three teams. All three victors played teams that had 4-2 records in the conference and still had hope to make the championship game. Houston, now 4-3 in league play, was also upset by Colorado ending their hopes of making the Big 12 championship game.

For BYU to make it to Dallas, Texas Tech will need to lose one of its next two games. The Red Raiders actually travel to Baylor next week and then finish with TCU. Even if Texas Tech dropped a game, a bevy of tiebreakers would need to be reviewed. And of course BYU has to take care of businesses winning its last two games.

As far as BYU landing an at-large bid for the college football playoff, the CFP committee’s next poll comes out Tuesday and Cougars are literally on the edge as they were ranked No. 10 going into the weekend. No teams in front of BYU lost though No. 6 Texas (8-2) had to score a last second touchdown to get past LSU (6-4) in Death Valley, 22-21. Kentucky, who was just one spot behind the Cougars, did lose to Florida 21-14 realistically ending their hopes for an at-large bid. But both No. 12 Texas Tech and No. 13 Wake Forest (9-1) earned decisive victories over good teams and could threaten BYU’s precarious position.

Extra points: It’s that time of year where bowl game representatives come to scout possible teams. A representative from the Alamo Bowl attended BYU’s game with Baylor and though this bowl is a top tier bowl game with a nice payout, BYU wants nothing to do with it this year. … BYU doubled up on big wins against Baylor as the women’s soccer team won the Big 12 championship Saturday night beating Baylor 3-2. … Bear Bachmeier joined elite company when he ran for three touchdowns in the first half. Only one other Big 12 quarterback has ever done that and he’s pretty good. His name, Patrick Mahomes. Bachmeir also passed Steve Young and Virgil Carter with the most rushing touchdowns by a BYU quarterback. He now has 20 in his career and trails only Taysom Hill who has 32. … As Veteran’s Day was this past week the team flags were carried by members of BYU’s ROTC units. The USA flag was carried by Cadet Grace Kinghorn, the State of Utah flag was carried by Cadet Joseph Macfarlane, and the team flag by Maverick McManus, a defensive lineman. Alumni flags were carried out by former defensive lineman Lorenzo Fauatea (2017-2022), former wide receiver Aleva Hifo (2016-2019), and former linebacker Sione Takitaki (2014-2018). … Captains for the coin toss were center Bruce Mitchell, safety Faletau Satuala, wide receiver Jojo Phillips and defensive tackle Justin Kirkland. BYU won the coin toss and elected to defer their choice to the second half. … Former Big 12 commissioner Bob Bowlsby lit the ceremonial Y before the game. Bowlsby was the Big 12 commissioner from 2012-2022 and was commissioner when BYU was invited to the Big 12. Bowlsby has also served on the US Olympic and Paralympic committees. … The change in game time provided nicer weather for the fans as it was a rainy morning and early afternoon but dry for the evening start. … Attendance was announced at 63,008.