Baylor Beating TCU Illustrates Everything We Love About College Football

If you didn't get to watch the TCU at Baylor game last night, you missed a truly amazing game, with swings both ways, but that's not all. You missed an amazing reminder of everything we love about college football. It had stars, heart and surprises.

TCU has been the best defense in all of college football in each of the last three seasons in terms of yards. Returning six starters, things weren't expected to be any different.

Baylor made them look like...Baylor. It was an absolute shootout of a game. Robert Griffin III, Baylor's starting quarterback, absolutely launched himself into the Heisman race before the first half was even over. 

One of the great things we love about the NCAAF is just that that—a player can go from being a virtual unknown to being a superstar in the blink of an eye. Griffin's performance was downright remarkable. Known mainly as a duel-threat quarterback, Griffin did his best impression of Michael Vick, releasing that rocket of an arm of his. 

His passer rating on the night was an astounding 250.6. He threw for 359 yards on just 27 attempts. He had five touchdowns and no picks. He only rushed for 33 yards. This wasn't a gimmick quarterback that was shredding one of the better defenses in college football.

This was a man who could throw the ball. He was hitting people 40 yards down field in full stride. He was threading needles through traffic over the middle. He was making good decisions and running the offense, not the ball. It was a truly remarkable performance. 

Casy Pachall, the TCU quarterback, was no slouch himself, passing for 251 yards with four touchdowns and just one pick. He added 19 yards and another TD on the ground. No, Pachall wasn't just going away. 

Still not enough star power for you? How about Kendall Wright. To give you an idea of what was expected of him, in ESPN's College Football Showdown game, usually featuring a few hundred-thousand participants, it was only owned by a whopping 1.2 percent of all players. 

After 12 receptions, 189 yards and two TDs against an elite defense, expect that to change next week. 

Oh yeah, this game had some star power. 

And heart? This game had heart! The two teams went toe-to-toe for most of the first half, exchanging big drives and big plays like Rocky Marciano and Apollo Creed! Then in the second quarter, Baylor gradually started pulling away, reeling off 24 unanswered points, their defense stifling TCU's offense.

But then on the first play of the fourth quarter, TCU began their improbable comeback. Pachall led the charge and the defense stepped up. In just over 10 minutes, amazingly, the Horned Frogs were on top of the Bears, leading 48-47. 

Griffin, who had coughed up the ball on one of his few carries the previous drive, a fumble which put TCU in position to kick the go-ahead field goal, was looking like he was falling apart. Somehow, though, he reached deep into himself and pulled out big play after big play and led the Bears into field-goal range.

After the game-winning field goal passed through the uprights, the cameras passed over the TCU cheerleaders. The one closest to the camera, sweet and innocent-looking, spat out a single syllable, profane word. If looks could kill, that kicker would have been dead before he got off the field. 

Yes, even the cheerleaders were intense in this game. It had heart.

Surprises? Griffin is suddenly a Heisman candidate. That's a surprise for you. Baylor beat a team that drubbed them 45-10 last year. There's a surprise. TCU lost its first regular-season game since November of 2008. There's a surprise for you. Yes, this game had all that we love about the college game and served as a delicious appetizer for a weekend of college football.  

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