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<\/a>Head coach Dave Aranda debriefs with the team after the Bears’ 31-24 loss against Houston on Saturday. Sam Gassaway | Photographer<\/p>\nBaylor (5-7, 3-6 Big 12) hasn\u2019t won a bowl game since the 2021 season, when it won a program-record 12 games and its first Big 12 Championship game. This year ended as it began back in Week 1<\/a>: with a chrome-plated defense<\/a> unable to stop the quarterback run. Houston (9-3, 6-3 Big 12) signal-caller Conner Weigman scooted for a career-high 121 yards and two scores in the Cougar victory.<\/p>\n \u201cWe try to play to the best of our ability \u2014 whatever the call is, we got to execute it,\u201d said redshirt sophomore Keaton Thomas. He led the team in tackles (11) and tackles for loss (2) and posted the Bears\u2019 lone sack and interception. \u201cSometimes it just goes like that, but we got to execute better.\u201d<\/p>\n Baylor\u2019s running back room entered Saturday\u2019s game shorthanded, with freshman Michael Turner ruled out and redshirt sophomore Bryson Washington exiting the first drive with a lower-body injury.<\/p>\n The team suffered another blow in the third quarter, when freshman tailback Caden Knighten took a hard hit at the line of scrimmage and was rendered motionless, lying face down on the ground. He remained there for over five minutes, surrounded by more than a dozen trainers, coaches and staffers, before eventually being carted off to an ambulance. While being stretchered to the cart, he lifted his fist toward the air.<\/p>\n Aranda confirmed after the game that Knighten has movement in his extremities and that the hospital visit was \u201cprecautionary,\u201d but tests are still underway.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s way scary,\u201d Aranda said. \u201cI know that was heavy on guys\u2019 hearts after that.\u201d<\/p>\n Houston tore through the defense to open the game. Weigman, a Texas A&M transfer, passed for 57 yards and ran for another 10, slicing through an injured secondary. Amare Thomas (97 yards, 1 TD) caught the sealer, a 27-yard crosser up the left sideline.<\/p>\n Baylor quarterback Sawyer Robertson cried jinx, passing for 51 yards and rushing for 10 on the following drive, but the Bears couldn\u2019t finish the deed. The redshirt senior rocketed a pass to sixth-year wide receiver Ashtyn Hawkins across the middle, but it ricocheted off a linebacker and soared skyward. Houston\u2019s Marc Stampley II caught the pop fly in the end zone to flip the field.<\/p>\n Cougar linebacker Brandon Mack broke through the offensive line on the following drive, jarring the ball free from Robertson\u2019s grasp. It was Baylor\u2019s seventh turnover in its past 11 offensive drives, stretching back to last week\u2019s game against Arizona. The Bears did not score in that 11-drive span.<\/p>\n https:\/\/twitter.com\/ByJacksonPosey\/status\/1994823905887097278?s=20<\/a><\/p>\n Houston did score, courtesy of another Weigman scamper, as Baylor began building momentum. Redshirt freshman kicker Connor Hawkins broke the scoreless streak with a career-long 54-yard field goal and Thomas stopped the bleeding defensively with his first interception of the season.<\/p>\n A holding penalty nullified a Robertson touchdown run, setting up the first of three back-and-forth field goals. The Bears reached the red zone six times on Saturday, yet left with only a single touchdown and a pair of field goals. They hit the locker room with a 17-9 halftime deficit.<\/p>\n \u201cKind of par for the course this season,\u201d Robertson said of the loss. \u201cJust being in the fight and kind of swimming upstream.\u201d<\/p>\n Weigman stretched the lead to two scores, turning a quarterback keeper into his second touchdown run of the game. The Cougars\u2019 signal-caller turned in a stellar performance, racking up 322 total yards and three touchdowns on 21-of-31 passing.<\/p>\n Knighten\u2019s injury stopped play for over 10 minutes, as players from both teams stood silently on the turf. Several Houston players knelt, and Aranda led the Bears in a prayer. Baylor\u2019s drive ended two plays later, on a fourth-and-3 from the Houston 12-yard line.<\/p>\n The next time around, they were ready. The Bears called on fourth-string running back Joseph Dodds, a redshirt freshman who missed last season with an injury and almost missed Saturday\u2019s game after what Aranda called a \u201cpersonal tragedy\u201d in the morning.<\/p>\n \u201cWe were consoling him prior to [the game], didn\u2019t know if he was even going to play,\u201d Aranda said. \u201cHe\u2019s playing through it, just inspired to try to represent.\u201d<\/p>\n Offensive coordinator Jake Spavital called Dodds\u2019 number five times that drive, and he came through, rewarding the staff\u2019s trust with 17 yards and a touchdown \u2014 the team\u2019s first in seven quarters. Robertson scrambled up the middle on the 2-point conversion, crossing the plane to cut the lead to 24-17.<\/p>\n \u201cWhen [Knighten] went down, I think guys kind of rallied around it, for sure,\u201d Robertson said.<\/p>\n The Bears forced a turnover on downs at midfield, setting up a potential game-tying drive. They rose to the occasion. Three plays after Josh Cameron failed to haul in a potential first down, the redshirt senior streaked down the right sideline and past his defender. The pass dropped into his outstretched hands like manna from heaven. Tie ballgame.<\/p>\n<\/a>Redshirt junior linebacker Keaton Thomas celebrates after gaining yards during the Bears’ 31-24 loss against Houston on Saturday. Sam Gassaway | Photographer<\/p>\n<\/a>Freshman running back Caden Knighten raises his fist in the air after an injury during the Bears’ 31-24 loss against Houston on Saturday. Sam Gassaway | Photographer<\/p>\n<\/a>Houston senior defensive back Marc Stampley II intercepts a pass intended for sixth-year wide receiver Ashtyn Hawkins during the Bears’ 31-24 loss against Houston on Saturday. Sam Gassaway | Photographer<\/p>\n<\/a>Redshirt freshman running back Joseph Dodds runs in for a touchdown. Alyssa Meyers | Photographer<\/p>\n