The Big 12 announced a $25,000 fine and public reprimand of Baylor on Monday related to the program’s handling of a wild field storm following the No. 13 Bears’ 27-14 win over No. 8 Oklahoma on Saturday.
“We have a duty to ensure a safe game environment that provides the visiting team secure egress from the field for players, staff and support personnel, and protection of the team bench area,” Big 12 commissioner Bob Bowlsby said. “I appreciate Baylor’s advance planning and communication, and although well planned, the end-of-game circumstances made its field storming plan impossible to execute, resulting in an interruption of play, impeding the visiting team from reaching their locker room and damage to OU bench area equipment.”
While rushing the field after beating undefeated Oklahoma at home for the first time since 2013 was expected, an esoteric decision by Baylor coach Dave Aranda sent the proceeding into chaos and drew heavy criticism from Oklahoma coach Lincoln Riley.
Baylor quarterback Gerry Bohanon knelt the ball with about 40 seconds remaining, which seemed to signal the final play of the game. Students began storming the field as the clock ran out while Oklahoma players and staff began going up the tunnel to avoid the fans. However, Aranda called a timeout with 3 seconds remaining to set up a field goal. The game was paused for several minutes as refs and even Baylor coaches tried to get Bears fans onto the sidelines.
Aranda said after the game that he kicked the field goal in the event the Big 12 tiebreaker rule involving point differential ultimately came into play. The two-loss Bears have losses to TCU by two points and Oklahoma State by 10 points, so the thinking was that a 13-point lead could help neutralize the loss to the Cowboys should the wins against each other be compared.
“It became a safety issue,” Riley said after the game. “I know why Dave tried to kick the field goal, but there’s a code of sportsmanship that I think you have to follow. I wouldn’t have done it.”
After Texas Tech beat Iowa State with a 62-yard field goal, it all but knocked the Cyclones out of Big 12 title contention. Because of the upset, there is no scenario remaining where the tiebreaker would impact the conference title race, according to the Big 12.
