Via Kansas Athletics
LAWRENCE, Kan. – Kansas scored 15 fourth-quarter points and blocked a field goal in the waning moments to defeat Baylor, 25-24, on Homecoming at David Booth Kansas Memorial Stadium on Saturday afternoon.
Kansas (3-4, 1-3 Big 12) trailed 21-10 entering the fourth quarter, but scored a touchdown on the first play of the quarter and added a 15-yard touchdown run by quarterback Isaiah Marshall with 1:13 to play. The score proved to be the difference once Blake Herold blocked a 45-yard field goal attempt by Baylor (4-3, 2-2 Big 12) with 22 seconds to play.
Marshall led Kansas through the air with 212 yards and a pair of passing touchdowns, while adding 31 yards and a score on the ground. Dylan Edwards carried the football 30 times for 156 yards, and the pair of Nik McMillan and Carson Bruhn added receiving touchdowns. Defensively, Bam Crouch led the Jayhawks with 10 tackles while Trey Lathan added his first interception of the year. Kansas also forced a pair of fourth-down stops in the contest.
Both teams opened up the contest aggressively, with each attempting to convert a fourth down from inside plus territory. An early Kansas interception on fourth down from the Baylor 32 was met with a Jayhawk defensive stand on the Kansas 34 that gave the Jayhawks the football back at the 11:04 mark of the opening quarter.
Kansas opened the scoring midway through the first quarter when Marshall found Bruhn over the middle for a 22-yard touchdown that gave the Jayhawks a 7-0 lead with 6:03 to play in the first. Baylor answered on its ensuing drive, piecing together a six play, 39-yard drive capped by a 1-yard rushing touchdown that tied the game at 7-7, which is where the score stood at the end of one.
Fourth down stops were a theme for the Kansas defense throughout the day. After tallying one in the first quarter, the Jayhawk defense again stood tall midway through the second, sacking Baylor quarterback DJ Lagway on fourth down to keep the game tied at seven. The second quarter ended scoreless, leaving both teams tied 7-7 at halftime.
The game’s next score came on KU’s first offensive snap of the second half, as Baylor intercepted Marshall’s pass and returned it 42 yards for a touchdown. Kansas answered with a 40-yard field goal from Martin Connington that cut the Baylor lead to 14-10 with 10:30 to go in the third. Baylor found the end zone on its next possession when Lagway found Jayden McGowan from eight yards out with 6:41 to go in the third, stretching their lead to 21-10 at the end of three quarters of action.
Kansas responded on its next possession, opening the fourth quarter with a 34-yard strike from Marshall to McMillan on fourth and three. The Jayhawks were unable to add on the two point conversion, but cut into the Baylor lead and made the score 21-16 Bears with 14:53 to go in the game. After forcing a Baylor punt, Kansas pieced together a 10-play, 42-yard drive that ended in Connington’s second make of the day from 42 yards out, whittling the Baylor lead to two at 21-19 with 9:45 to go.
The Jayhawk defense forced an interception on Baylor’s next possession, forcing a Lagway throw on third and 15 that was tipped into the air and brought down by an awaiting Lathan. Lathan’s interception, his first of the year, gave Kansas the football at its own 31 yard line. Baylor would get the football back, still leading by two, and would tally its first field goal of the day late in the fourth. The 42-yard kick gave the Bears a 24-19 lead with 2:40 remaining.
Kansas’ offense responded again in high-energy fashion, capping off a six-play, 71-yard charge downfield with a 15-yard rushing score from Marshall. The Jayhawks were stopped on the ensuing two-point attempt, but entered the final 1:13 of the game with a 25-24 lead. Baylor would drive down the field and find itself in position for a go-ahead 45-yard field goal with 24 seconds left, before Herold put a hand up and knocked the kick away to hold the Bears one last time and close out the 25-24 Kansas victory.
Kansas will now travel to Fort Worth, Texas to take on the TCU Horned Frogs on Saturday, Oct. 31 at Amon G. Carter Stadium at 2:30 p.m. CT, before returning home to host UCF on Nov. 7.
