With just under a minute and a half to play and a 10-point lead over the previously undefeated and No. 8-ranked Oklahoma Sooners, Baylor coach Dave Aranda sent out the field goal unit on fourth down.
The kick from Isaiah Hankins sailed through the uprights, but a personal foul from Oklahoma gave the Bears an automatic first down. Game over, right?
Not so fast.
It looked like Baylor and Aranda were content to run the clock out, as they took two subsequent kneeldowns. But on third down from the Sooners’ 14 as time expired, the squad elected to send Hankins back out for what appeared to be a meaningless three points in a 27-14 win.
There was a method to the madness, though. Aranda is playing chess while the rest of the Big 12 is playing checkers. After the game, he explained the reasoning behind the decision.
Dave Aranda, tha God, on why he kicked field goal late against Oklahoma: "That was for the Big 12 tiebreaker. I want to be over 10."
— Brandon Marcello (@bmarcello) November 13, 2021
Aranda was referring to one of the tiebreaker scenarios in the Big 12. In the case of a three-way tie for the lead in the conference (which could become reality if Oklahoma State loses again but manages to pull off a rare upset in Bedlam on Thanksgiving weekend), the teams that face off in the Big 12 Championship could come down to point differential in the head-to-head matchups between the three tied teams. The reason Aranda wanted to win by more than 10 is the fact that the Bears lost to the Cowboys by that margin earlier in the season.
The tiebreaker rule is stated as follows:
In case of a three-way tie.
Nice job, Dave Aranda.
3. Scoring differential among the tied teams. The team or teams with the lowest difference between points scored and points
allowed in games vs. the tied teams is eliminated from consideration. https://t.co/W6z3P1epRO— Ralph D. Russo (@ralphDrussoAP) November 13, 2021
Baylor sits at 8-2 on the season with a 5-2 record in Big 12 play. It still sits behind both the Sooners and Cowboys in the conference race, as each only has one loss, but Saturday’s upset win keeps the Bears theoretically alive in the race for the conference title.
Plus, it really ticked off Oklahoma coach Lincoln Riley.
Lincoln Riley said he was upset that Baylor wasn’t assessed a 15-yard penalty for the field rushing. He also said he understands why Dave Aranda kicked the FG, but said he wouldn’t have done it and that it goes against a “code of sportsmanship"
— Jason Kersey (@jasonkersey) November 13, 2021
Well done, Aranda. Well done.
[listicle id=1253537]