WACO, Texas – BYU exorcised all kinds of demons here Saturday on a hot and humid but beautiful day in late September on the banks of the Brazos River, earning its first-ever Big 12 road win with a 34-28 win over Snakebite Baylor in front of 39,583 fans at McLane Stadium.

The scare can apparently wait until late October, but the drama was evident throughout, even during the day, in which BYU had lost its last ten games starting before 6:00 PM local time.

That is until Saturday afternoon, when the sun shone brightly overhead and BYU’s defense shone brightly on the field – again.

The so-called Vampire Cougs got it done when they had to, becoming the eighth BYU team to improve to 5-0 on the season and third in the Kalani Sitake era. Baylor fell to 2-3 overall, 0-2 in Big 12 play, but not before giving the visitors a Halloween-like scare.

In short, this was a game that the BYU team picked to finish 13th in the league — but is now ranked 22nd and likely rising in the polls — and probably would have lost last year. Give the Cougars’ defense credit for holding steady after the offense sputtered mightily in the second half.

“I was proud of the team, proud of their response to adversity during the game and their willingness to stick together,” Sitake said. “That was something special. It speaks to the leadership of our team and the coaches of our team that are preparing these guys.”

The game ball must go to the defensive staff, who put together a lineup in which BYU used five different cornerbacks, overcame the loss of starting linebacker Harrison Taggart and came away with two huge turnovers.

Redshirt junior safety Crew Wakley, a walk-on who was not on the depth chart when the season started, sealed the deal with the second forced turnover, beating Baylor quarterback Sawyer Robertson with 49 seconds left.

Wakley, a former quarterback at Jordan High, said he knew the choice was his “when it was up in the air.”

He also ranked it No. 1 on the list of plays he has made in his football career.

“Like, fly ball, I gotta get this,” were his thoughts. “The ball is in the air and I have to go get it.”

Noted defensive end Tyler Batty, who had made a holding call while rushing the passer on the previous play: “We don’t call him Hitman Crew for nothing.”

That this game would come down to BYU needing a defensive stop when the Bears took over at their 39 with 1:24 left would have seemed unbelievable after the Cougars jumped out to a quick 21-0 lead.

Junior quarterback Jake Retzlaff’s 17-yard touchdown run with 3:39 left in the first quarter gave the Cougars the big advantage, and on that particular play a few Baylor defenders seemed unwilling to create any contact as they headed toward the game was running when Retzlaff crossed. the goal line.

It sure looked like the bears were toast. They clearly weren’t.

“A bit dramatic at the end. I would like to see us wrap things up, but you have to give Baylor and coach (Dave) Aranda credit for their team to respond,” Sitake said.

“We knew this would happen. I would like to see us play a little differently in the second half and finish what we started, but you just can’t ask for that on the game. This is the Big 12 conference, so guys aren’t going to give up.

BYU’s offense played its best half of the season in the first half, scoring 31 points and scoring just once. The second half was one of the worst.

The Cougars were 3 of 5 on third down in the first half and piled up 286 yards. They led 31-14 at the break and Retzlaff was playing like Robert Griffin III, the former Baylor QB who won a Heisman Trophy while playing here at John Eddie Williams Field.

“That was a great start,” Sitake said. “We are capable of all those things. You just have to keep the momentum going. We don’t have to be perfect, but we have to be efficient as an attack and as a defense, if we start playing together, good things will happen.”

Fittingly, BYU’s defense started and ended the game by forcing a turnover. Defensive lineman John Nelson tipped in Robertson’s pass on Baylor’s first play from scrimmage, and Blake Mangelson corralled him to give BYU the ball at the Baylor 20 and set up the Cougars’ second touchdown, a 2-yard “rush” from Chase Roberts in which the receiver caught a backwards pass and found the end zone.

“The foul was committed to start the match. It was great,” said Retzlaff, who blamed the second-half struggles on “just the lack of execution” and some adjustments Baylor made with its defensive front.

BYU also got a bit conservative in the second half, with play-caller Aaron Roderick perhaps taking his foot off the gas pedal a little too quickly. Retzlaff was picked off twice in the second half — one was tipped at the line of scrimmage and grabbed by a defensive lineman — and had a pair of passes dropped, including a potential big winner on a beautiful throw to Darius Lassiter over the middle.

The magic Retzlaff had in the first half disappeared in the second half for some reason, and his final numbers were pedestrian: 17 of 31 passing for 216 yards and two TDs, with the two interceptions, for a passer rating of 121.8.

“We have to make sure that the halves of this week and last week (in the 38-9 win over Kansas State) add up to a complete game, and that’s what we want our offense to do,” Retzlaff said.

“We have to come out and start fast, and then finish even stronger.”

BYU’s defense wasn’t the only unit hampered by injuries. Starting center Connor Pay left with a left foot injury and receiver Kody Epps was sidelined with an undisclosed injury. Neither returned. Starting left guard Weylin Lapuaho was briefly out, but returned. Sonny Makasini was playing in the middle when Pay left the match.

“I think the (artificial) grass is always a problem, but it is everywhere. That’s not just here. Turf games are hard,” Sitake said. “I think they’re hard on your body, so we beat up guys.”

Last year, BYU’s first in the Big 12, those injuries would have taxed the team’s depth to the point that it could barely function. Not this year. Credit Sitake and defensive coordinator Jay Hill for preparing backups in the blowouts of Wyoming and Kansas State so they are ready to play in critical time.

“A lot of guys that played at the end of the game (were the same guys) that we had to rely on on the last drive against Wyoming, and it didn’t work their way,” Sitake said.

“We put them on against Kansas State and they got a stop, and those guys got a stop here, so it makes me happy that we’re actually practicing these tight situations, like two minutes. We will continue to work on these situations next week.”

The Cougars started to falter a bit in the second quarter, especially on defense.

The Bears put together 80- and 57-yard drives around a punt and cut the deficit to 28-14 on a 1-yard TD throw from Robertson to Josh Cameron.

Cameron had 12 catches for 125 yards and two touchdowns for Baylor, offsetting Lassiter’s big day. Lassiter had eight catches for 120 yards and a TD (44 yards), but wasn’t completely satisfied with his effort due to two falls in the second half.

Retzlaff was simply sensational for BYU in the first half, going 13 of 17 for 180 yards and two touchdowns. Lassiter caught six passes for 101 yards and a touchdown in the first half, and the Cougars averaged 7.5 yards per play.

Will Ferrin scored a career-high 54-yard field goal with 35 seconds left to give BYU the 31-14 halftime lead. It was tied for the second-longest field goal in BYU history.

It was the most points BYU has scored in a first half since 2022, when it opened the season with 38 points in the first half against USF.

The second half? A whole different story, but a win is a win, as they say, and the Cougars weren’t about to give it back. Not after doing that a lot a year ago.