Joe Klanderman’s first home game as interim head coach for Baylor ended with plenty to smile about. The Bears shook off a slow start, settled in by halftime, and pulled away late for a 42-31 win over Iowa State that moved them to 6-3 overall and 4-2 in the Big 12.
DJ Lagway was the engine all afternoon. He didn’t need the kind of headline-grabbing day that wins weekly awards, but he was steady and dangerous throughout.
Lagway finished 16-of-28 for 229 passing yards and two touchdowns, and he added 119 yards on 13 carries with another score on the ground. More importantly, he protected the ball against the Cyclones.
Gavin Freeman kept doing what he’s done all season: finding ways to matter even when the defense is clearly keyed on him. Iowa State tried to blanket him on nearly every snap, but Freeman still came through with six catches for 60 yards. When Baylor needed a first down, he was once again one of the most reliable answers on the field.
The Bears also got another big moment from their 6-foot-6 tight end, who hauled in a one-handed touchdown catch from Lagway in the second quarter. It was his latest score, and it gave Baylor another needed boost as the offense found its rhythm.
One of the strangest but most important plays of the day came just before halftime. Lagway fumbled the ball on his way into the end zone, but Koltin Sieracki reacted instantly, diving on top of it to secure the touchdown and give Baylor a 21-17 lead with 0:30 left in the second quarter. Sieracki, who has often been mentioned among the Bears’ offensive line “Duds,” showed real awareness on the play, even if the sequence itself was messy.
Palmer Williams also continued to look like a weapon. The Baylor punter, already a finalist for the Ray Guy Award and named to the Ray Guy Award Midseason Watch List, kept flipping the field with his power and control. When the Bears needed him, he repeatedly pinned Iowa State deep.
Defensively, Baylor didn’t shut the Cyclones down, but it did enough to keep the game under control. The Bears recorded three sacks and nine tackles for loss, and while Iowa State did manage more than 200 rushing yards, Baylor’s defense held firm when it mattered most.
Not every snap was clean, though. Nate Bennett entered for just one play after Lagway’s helmet came off, and that one snap ended with Bennett getting sacked. It was an ugly outcome, but it also underscored just how central Lagway is to everything Baylor wants to do on offense.
In Other News...
Iowa State May Have Found The Identity This Team Will Lean On
Iowa States home season opener offered a pretty clear snapshot of what this group wants to be, and it started on the defensive end. In an 83-57 win over Southern Miss, forward Taj Manning made his presence felt with a career-high four blocks and the kind of active, disruptive work that can change the tone of a game without ever showing up in the box score the same way points do.
Coach T.J. Otzelberger pointed to Mannings defensive impact while also stressing rebounding and defense as the areas that have to keep driving this team forward. On the other end, Northwestern transfer Tre Singleton supplied the scoring punch with a career-high 28 points and led the Cyclones in rebounds, giving Iowa State a glimpse of the balance it may lean on as the schedule gets tougher. [Read more 🡒]
Iowa State Let A Promising Start Turn Into Another Frustrating Finish
Iowa State looked ready to seize control early against Baylor, jumping out to a 10-0 lead and giving the home crowd reason to think this one might follow a different script. Aiden Flora provided much of the spark for the Cyclones, piling up 182 rushing yards and a touchdown, while Hunter Dekkers kept the offense moving with 22 completions on 37 attempts for 256 yards and two scores.
Then the game flipped. A muffed punt by Flora became the opening Baylor needed, and the Bears turned that break into points before taking the lead for good on the way to a 42-31 win. For Iowa State, it was another frustrating reminder that a strong start only matters if it survives the middle stretches, and this one slipped away in a hurry. [Read more 🡒]
Tre Singleton Just Gave Iowa State The Bounce-Back It Needed
After a rough opener, Iowa State finally found some rhythm in an 83-57 win over Southern Miss, and Tre Singleton was at the center of it. He powered the Cyclones with 28 points and nine rebounds, giving them the kind of interior production and energy they had been missing while helping the team settle in on both ends.
The bigger takeaway was the response. Iowa State looked sharper defensively than it did against Memphis, a sign the group was ready to clean up some early-season issues before the schedule keeps moving. The Cyclones now head home to face Southern, where theyll try to build on a performance that felt more like the version of this team they expected to see. [Read more 🡒]