Texas leans on Bijan Robinson, Roschon Johnson to beat Baylor and keep Big 12 hopes alive

Even if Bijan Robinson and Roschon Johnson got their fill of turkey on Thanksgiving, it didn't matter.

Trailing in the second half of Friday's regular-season finale against Baylor, No. 24 Texas decided to continually feed its two running backs, a strategy that led to the 38-27 stuffing of the Bears at Royal-Memorial Stadium.

The Longhorns (8-4, 6-3 Big 12) now must wait to see if Kansas (6-5, 3-5) can upset No. 15 Kansas State (8-3, 6-2) on Saturday night in Manhattan, Kan. If that happens, Texas will advance to play TCU in next week's Big 12 championship game.

"You never know what could happen tomorrow with Kansas and Kansas State," Johnson said. "I thought it was just huge for us to go out with a win as seniors and give us a chance to play in the Big 12 championship."

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Down 19-17 at halftime, Texas refused to get out of its own way after the intermission. The Longhorns punted on their first possession of the third quarter after a false start penalty by tight end Ja'Tavion Sanders foiled a fourth-and-1 attempt. Texas' next drive featured consecutive presnap penalties by offensive lineman Hayden Conner and a lost fumble by Jordan Whittington.

But the Bears (6-6, 4-5 Big 12) failed to take advantage of Texas' sluggish start to the second half. And then after John Mayers' missed 40-yard field goal that would have made it a 22-17 lead with 5:40 left in the third quarter, the Longhorns turned to their top talents on a critical lead-taking scoring drive.

Three short catch-and-runs by Xavier Worthy and Whittington gained 30 yards. Robinson rushed three times for 31 yards. Johnson picked up 17 on the drive and his fourth carry resulted in a 1-yard touchdown run.

Texas 24, Baylor 19.

After a Baylor punt in the fourth quarter, it didn't look like Texas would deviate from the plan that had resulted in Johnson's touchdown. Two Robinson runs netted 16 yards. A short pass to Worthy inched the Longhorns forward. But on a first-and-10 call, Texas ran a play in which quarterback Quinn Ewers pump-faked to Worthy and looked for a deeper option. But he was hit by Al Wolcott and fumbled the ball. Baylor defensive end Gabe Hall scooped up the fumble and returned it 16 yards for a touchdown. The Bears then converted their 2-point try.

Baylor 27, Texas 24.

On the ensuing drive, Texas went back to its familiar script. Robinson rushed eight times for 65 yards and passed Jamaal Charles for fourth place on UT's all-time rushing chart. Johnson gained eight yards on his three touches. And Texas then reclaimed the lead on Robinson's 1-yard run.

Texas 31, Baylor 27.

After an interception by linebacker Jaylan Ford, Texas put the game away with a six-play drive that Johnson capped with an 11-yard scamper. Running behind an offensive line that lost right guard Cole Hutson to a lower leg injury but got solid contributions from fellow freshman DJ Campbell, Robinson finished with 179 rushing yards on 29 carries. Johnson ran 13 times for 77 yards.

"I had a feeling going into halftime that it was going to take just that for us to win," Johnson said. "I told the O-line that if we're going to win this game, it's going to be because of how we run the ball. I tried to make sure that we came up with the right mindset to go pound the ball and ultimately just run it down their throat."

Texas ran the ball on each of its last 24 plays. Statistically-speaking, that run of runs included a sack of Ewers. However, only Robinson and Johnson touched the ball on the 22 snaps after that turnover.

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"I'm mad at myself for the one sack fumble we got. There were things I thought we could do down the field, but we just didn't protect great today," UT coach Steve Sarkisian said. "It was like OK, let's line up in a formation we're comfortable in and let's go run plays that we literally installed on day one of training camp, and ultimately we operated them the best tonight."

Texas entered Friday knowing that it needed help in its quest to reach the Big 12 championship game. The Longhorns did their part by beating Baylor.

Kansas and Kansas State are set to meet at 7 p.m. in Manhattan, Kan., on Saturday night. Kansas State has won the last 13 installments of the Sunflower Showdown series. Since Texas beat Kansas State 34-27 earlier this month, the Longhorns hold a tiebreaker over the Wildcats. There's little doubt who Texas will be rooting for.

"For one day," defensive lineman Moro Ojomo said.

"We're definitely some Jayhawk fans around here," center Jake Majors added.

Added defensive back Anthony Cook: "Big Kansas fan. Rooting for them guys, praying they pull it through."

Over its first two drives on Friday, Baylor attempted six passes. One of those was an undercooked incompletion to Jaylen Ellis. Had Ellis caught that pass from Blake Shapen, the Round Rock native likely would have scored on a 51-yard play. Ellis instead had to wait until Baylor's next possession to record a homecoming highlight that came in the form of a 47-yard touchdown catch.

Those two plays involving Ellis sandwiched a Baylor punt to the Texas 8-yard-line. Three plays after that, Baylor pressured Ewers on a blitz and the quarterback threw a third-down pass away without a teammate in the vicinity. He was flagged for intentional grounding and Baylor was awarded a safety since Ewers was in the end zone. It was the first safety allowed by Texas since Oklahoma took down Sam Ehlinger with a corner blitz in the 2018 Big 12 title game.

The safety put Baylor up 2-0 early. Ellis' touchdown put the Bears up 9-0.

Texas responded with scoring runs from Ewers and Robinson. The Longhorns and Bears traded field goals in the second quarter, but Shapen's touchdown pass to Ben Sims with 40 seconds left lifted Baylor to a 19-17 lead at halftime.

Prior to Friday, Texas had faced only one halftime deficit all season. The Longhorns were losing 3-0 at the midway point of a 17-10 loss to TCU earlier on Nov. 5. Two weeks later, Texas avoided the same result.

"In the end, the story of this game is about resiliency and continuing to fight and fight the right way," Sarkisian said. "Just proud of the guys."

This article originally appeared on Austin American-Statesman: Bijan Robinson, Roschon Johnson help Texas best Baylor football