FB: Baylor Blows 24pt Lead But Recovers to Edge TCU

WACO, Texas (AP) - Aaron Jones kicked a 37-yard field goal with 1:04 left and Baylor averted a monumental collapse to pull out a 50-48 season-opening victory over 14th-ranked TCU on Friday night.

TCU, which had won an FBS-best 25 consecutive regular-season games, overcome a 47-23 deficit in the fourth quarter to briefly take the lead. New starting quarterback Casey Pachall threw three touchdowns passes in the rally and a fumble by Bears quarterback Robert Griffin set up a go-ahead 27-yard field goal by Ross Evans, who earlier missed twice from behind 40 yards.

But Baylor, which hadn't beaten a ranked team since 2004, then went 60 yards in 11 plays -- including Griffin's 15-yard catch from Kendall Wright on a third-and-10 -- to set up Jones.

The Frogs had one more chance, but Pachall's last pass was intercepted by Mike Hicks and he ran the clock down to 2 seconds in Baylor's most-anticipated opener in a long time.

Griffin took one more snap, knelt down and immediately the field was swarming in gold as students and fans rushed out to celebrate. Many of those in purple sat in the stands staring out in shock.

Wright threw for a score of his own before catching two of Robert Griffin's career-high five touchdown passes as Baylor avoided another crushing loss to the defending Rose Bowl champion and its old Southwest Conference rival.

This would have certainly hurt more than the Bears' 45-10 loss in Fort Worth a year ago because Baylor was never in that game.

Griffin hit 21 of 27 passes for 359 yards, with Wright catching 12 of them for 189 yards. Terrance Williams had six catches for 126 yards and two scores.

This is not the same TCU team that was a BCS buster the last two seasons. There are missing pieces on a defense that finished the last three seasons No. 1 overall in the country, and four-year starting quarterback Andy Dalton is now a rookie starter in the NFL.

Pachall was 25 of 39 for 251 yards and four TDs with that one interception. He threw to 10 players.

The only time Baylor really appeared to be going backward before TCU's big comeback was when Wright was excitedly backpedaling after throwing his pass, a 40-yard touchdown to Williams only 2 1/2 minutes into the game. Wright took a quick pass behind the line from Griffin, drawing the defender and leaving Williams wide open.

TCU allowed only 229 yards per game last season, and the most allowed in the regular season was 361 by SMU. The Bears had 360 at halftime, when they led 34-23, and finished with 564.