by Nick Eatman
Soon enough, the Cowboys were lining up for the kickoff return to begin the second half with Cassel looking for offensive coordinator, Scott Linehan, to go over the first series. Cassel was a 10-year veteran, but he hadn’t expected this.
Just as the ball was about to be kicked off, though, Cassel got a tap on the shoulder. It was Romo, who just jogged right past him and said, “I’m good. I got it,” as he ran on to the field.
With that, Cassel found his ball cap and resumed his backup duties. Crisis averted.
The Dolphins stayed close and tied the game late in the third quarter, but that’s when Romo went to work. Facing a second-and-9 at the Dolphins 16-yard line, he checked into a play that would roll the safety away from the middle of the field, leaving Dez Bryant wide open for an easy touchdown, one that proved to be the game winner. Thanks in large part to a relentless defense that actually scored the day’s first touchdown and produced five sacks, Dallas was finally back in the win column, beating Miami, 24–14.
After the game, the talk was obviously centered around Romo and his performance on Sunday, but many of his teammates said they were more inspired by him on Saturday. The night before the game, the quarterback uncharacteristically stood up in the team meeting and told them all how proud of them he was.
“It’s been very inspirational to watch you guys,” Romo said. “Even though we haven’t won a game, I’ve seen a football team that never let up. We never quit. It’s hard when you don’t win each week because it gets tougher every time, but we’re not done. We’re going to keep fighting.”
Romo’s speech hit home with players such as Bryant, who said he “got chills” just thinking about it.
Mincey took it a step further, calling Romo a savior, who “just saved our season.”
Still, the ship was anything but righted. At 3–7, there was no time to celebrate. Not only were the Cowboys facing a short week, but the best team in the NFL was coming to town.
Chapter 14
WHEN IT RAINS, IT STORMS
Friday
Now what?
That two-word question is one that every high school football player must answer at some point during the fall when the season comes to an end.
For the very successful teams, the answer is needed just a little before Christmas, meaning the football season lasted several rounds deep into the playoffs. But for the players on Plano’s squad, the question was asked long before Thanksgiving.
And the answers obviously vary from person to person, depending on their skill set. Some jump straight into basketball or prepare to play baseball or run track later in the spring.
Senior Darion Foster was planning on giving wrestling another try. When he was a sophomore, after finishing up his season on the tenth grade squad, Foster moved up to the junior varsity wrestling team, where he had what he described as a “decent” year.
Then following his junior season of football, which consisted of only two games because of a pair of injuries, Foster wasn’t able to wrestle. Unfortunately, he had broken his forearm in the last JV game of the fall.
So as he planned another try at wrestling, Foster didn’t know what to expect. Neither did his live-in uncle, Chris Fisher, who told the team’s wrestling coach that Foster might be “OK,” but not to expect much, considering the two-year layoff.
After Foster’s first practice, Fisher got a call from Plano’s head wrestling coach.
“Um, I thought you told me he was going to be OK.”
“Oh no, what happened?” responded Fisher. “Was Darion awful? What?”
“No, Coach. Darion wasn’t awful. This kid is really good. He pinned the best wrestler we’ve got. He’s better than OK.”
A relieved Fisher raised his eyebrows in surprise, eager to hear about his nephew’s first practice. As it turned out, Foster had gotten much stronger in the last two years, filling out his body with wider shoulders and a stouter torso. Plus, being an undersized defensive tackle, Foster had to learn how to use his hands to fight off blocks against bigger, stronger offensive linemen.
In doing so, he had picked up a thing or two about leverage, meaning when he got on the mat, Foster was now quite a force in the 220-pound class.
Not only did he hold his own in practice against some of Plano’s top wrestlers, but Foster then stood out in some of the school’s early meets, winning his share of matches.
“My coach took a big interest in me right from the start,” Foster said. “He just saw me as a big kid, and more of a project. I didn’t have great form, but I just tried to keep my intensity. Just like in football where you have to bring it every play. After a few practices, he told me I had the chance to be great, so that gave me a lot of confidence.”
However, no matter if athletes such as Foster switch from a helmet and shoulder pads to a wrestling singlet, their roles as students are supposed to remain unchanged.
But that wasn’t the case for Foster, who was normally an A and B student with the occasional C. His Senior English class was giving him problems. In fact, there was a final exam essay that Foster didn’t turn in, which jeopardized his chances to not only pass the class, but also participate in wrestling moving forward.
Undoubtedly, that didn’t sit well at home, where Coach Fisher became a rather upset “Uncle Chris.”
Oftentimes when a player struggles in a particular class, the head coach will get the first call. So it was Jaydon McCullough who initially got word of Foster’s struggles in the English class. He then asked Fisher if he could meet with Darion.
“I know Chris was upset with him, and sometimes as a parent it’s not easy to get through to your own kids,” McCullough said. “I know it was that way with my kids. We had coaches on the staff who could talk to my son. Sometimes they just need a different voice. I just told Darion that I knew he could do better and that he was a good kid. So I just said, get what needs to be done. Simple as that.”
Foster was able to compete in a tournament in Oklahoma, and as soon as he got back, he retyped his essay, turned it in, apologized to his teacher, and assured her that such a lapse wouldn’t happen again. While it might seem like a missed assignment or a poor grade to some, it’s not the same for kids like Foster, whose father figure is one of the coaches. He knows he’s viewed differently and he embraces that fact. So when he makes a mistake, Foster feels it more than the average student might.
“I felt terrible that I let my uncle and aunt down,” Foster said. “My Uncle Chris is like my dad, and it hurts to disappoint him and Coach McCullough and everyone who has helped me. They’re not really like coaches, but more like family. I’ve grown up with them. They’re all like father figures to me. I don’t want to let them down.”
Even when football season is over, the coaching—and teaching—never stops.
Saturday
When Dave Campbell’s Texas Football magazine hit the stands in July, the cover of the annual football “bible” for the entire state focused on a lost rivalry. Texas and Texas A&M no longer played each other every season after the Aggies moved to the SEC, and it didn’t seem as if either school had a strong interest in renewing the series through its non-conference schedule. Therefore, one of the state’s longest and most intense rivalries was suspended for now.
On the top right corner of the magazine, though, was a small picture that featured Bears and Horned Frogs players with the title “Best in Texas” and a tagline below that read “TCU/Baylor fight for supremacy in the Big 12 and the state.” Just like that, Baylor and TCU, the two private schools that at one time were perhaps the least competitive football programs in the state, had now become the best rivalry in Texas.
The 2014 matchup certainly didn’t do anything to diminish the notion, providing one of college football’s best games of the year. In a battle of two top-ten teams, Baylor trailed by twenty-one early in the fourth qu
arter before rallying for the final twenty-four points, winning the game, 61–58, on a last-second field goal. Even though Baylor was slightly favored, the dramatic comeback caused the students and fans to rush the field in excitement.
The wild scene also saw Bears safety Orion Stewart approach TCU head coach Gary Patterson and give him a few choice words that stemmed from the previous year when Patterson used his postgame press conference following a 41–38 loss to Baylor to vent about many things, including his dislike for the way Baylor handled safety Ahmad Dixon, who was ejected from that game for targeting. Briles and Patterson actually exchanged some words during and following that 2013 meeting as well. Briles went to midfield during the game when Patterson was yelling at Dixon following a helmet-to-helmet hit on Horned Frogs wide receiver Trevone Boykin.
Afterward, Briles told Patterson to “leave it on the field” and “shake it off,” which didn’t sit well with the TCU coach, who went on an epic rant moments later in his press conference, citing that “Gary Patterson lives in Fort Worth” and his team “won’t take a backseat to anyone.” He also mentioned Dixon and referenced that he “beat a guy up in the off-season,” although TCU played that game with a quarterback who had been in drug rehab earlier in the year.
Needless to say, most programs have their share of incidents and typically refrain from discussing other teams’ issues.
So Stewart said his 2014 postgame remarks to Patterson were sparked by the year before. But the aftermath of that victory was felt on both campuses throughout the year. After the Bears lost to West Virginia, TCU eventually jumped Baylor in the first-ever College Football Playoff rankings, despite the two having the same record.
When ESPN’s College Football GameDay went to Waco at the end of the year for a game against Kansas State, nearly every one of the handmade signs from the fans had the score “61–58” written on it. Baylor wanted everyone to know which team had won the game and should be deserving of the higher ranking.
As it turned out, both Baylor and TCU were excluded from the four-team playoff, a scenario that many felt occurred because the Big 12 conference and its commissioner, Bob Bowlsby, said the league would consider both teams as co-champions and would not designate one of the schools above the other to the committee. That was somewhat laughable considering the Big 12’s slogan is “One True Champion,” but without a conference title game at the end of the season, Baylor and TCU remained tied at 11–1 and were consequently left out of national playoff consideration.
But the rivalry between TCU and Baylor continued all throughout the summer and into the 2015 season. And whether it was merely a coincidence or not, when the Bears’ preseason team photo had two offensive linemen, Jarell Broxton (61) and Spencer Drango (58), standing side by side, TCU got the message loud and clear.
In October, Baylor students went to class one morning to find Robert Griffin III’s statue outside of McLane Stadium had been spray-painted purple. The next day, a brick wall on TCU’s campus in Fort Worth was spray-painted green with the score, 61–58, and another wall had a green “BU” plastered on it. Even in October during a WWE wrestling match in Dallas, where makeshift signs were just as popular as they are on GameDay, one read “61–58.” The rivalry was everywhere.
Some of the comments Patterson made throughout the season suggested that beating Baylor was his top priority, including his postgame conversation with West Virginia’s head coach, Dana Holgorsen, a month before TCU would face the Bears. Patterson also held out Trevone Boykin from the team’s game against Oklahoma six days before the Horned Frogs were to face Baylor, his star quarterback having twisted his right ankle the week before. Patterson wanted to make sure Boykin was healthy.
Against the Sooners, TCU rallied from eighteen down to get to within a point, but opted for a two-point conversion in the final seconds instead of sending the game into overtime. Afterward, Patterson pointed out to the second-guessing reporters, “We have a ballgame next Friday, so if you go to three overtimes, you’ve got no chance to win that game next week.”
Now it must be pointed out that Patterson did have a history of going for two-point conversions on the road, beating West Virginia that way in 2012 and Boise State in 2011. But make no mistake, this decision and his comments later were yet more proof of what was becoming obvious.
Patterson wanted to beat Baylor, plain and simple. But Briles and the Bears certainly wanted to beat TCU as well.
This was pegged as the matchup of the year in the Big 12, expected to be for the conference title. With one loss, Baylor still had a shot at claiming a share of the crown. Needless to say, though, this wasn’t as high-profile a matchup on the national level. Still, it was a huge game in Texas.
So big that Mother Nature didn’t want to miss it. In fact, she made sure she played a major role from start to finish.
Briles knew rain was in the forecast for most of the day. And that was nothing new for Baylor, the team having played in downpours already during the season against Iowa State and Oklahoma. But this proved to be unlike anything they had seen before.
The torrential downpour never let up—at all—and was combined with temperatures in the low thirties that even dipped below freezing later in the evening. A couple of lightning sightings during pregame warm-ups delayed the kickoff for forty-five minutes, making everyone wait just a tad longer for the drama-filled contest to begin.
When Briles ran out on the field for the start of the game, one thing immediately came to his mind.
“I don’t have enough layers of clothes on,” he said to one of his assistants.
He later found a raincoat to go over his sweatshirt, but he could sense this was going to be problematic for everyone, both those playing and even those standing around. For added warmth, some of the assistant coaches and support staff found trash bags during the lightning delay and wrapped them around their feet before then putting on their socks and shoes.
Despite the cold, when the game started the Baylor offense looked hot enough. With Chris Johnson making his first career start behind center, he led the Bears to a quick touchdown, extending their streak of reaching the end zone on their opening offensive possession to a nation-leading eleven games.
TCU came right back, though, behind Boykin, tying the game before the Bears answered as well, mixing up some runs and passes to grab a 14–7 lead midway through the first quarter.
The driving rainstorm seemingly was having little effect on Baylor after two drives, both of which resulted in touchdowns. But while the rain never stopped, the scoring did.
As the conditions continued to get wetter, the grass field at Amon G. Carter Stadium made it more difficult for either team to get their footing and sustain a drive. The Horned Frogs tied things up when Johnson’s fumble was returned for a touchdown, knotting the game at halftime, 14–14.
Neither team would score again, although Baylor had plenty of chances. Johnson had a wide-open KD Cannon in the end zone early in the fourth quarter, but the ball was stripped out of his hands just before he threw it, resulting in a turnover.
Later in the fourth, running back Devin Chafin picked up a first down as he crossed midfield, but also lost a fumble. The Bears’ bruising back, who was the team’s short-yardage specialist, came to the sideline infuriated and ripped off his bright neon gloves, tossing them to the ground.
The Baylor equipment staffers ran toward him and offered him a different pair, but he shrugged them off.
“If we get the ball back, I’m not using anything,” he said. “Just my hands.”
Baylor did get the ball back after the defense made yet another key stop, but neither team could add to the scoreboard. Sixty minutes wouldn’t decide this waterlogged affair, which hadn’t seen a point since the first half. That was quite a contrast from the 2014 classic, when Baylor totaled twenty-four points in the final eleven minutes of the fourth quarter with the two t
eams combining for 119 points.
To TCU’s credit, the student section might have all gotten sick in the process, but few people left throughout the game. And the fans were just as hyped as ever as the two teams headed into overtime.
Baylor, however, scored first, when Johnson, who had not completed a single pass in the second half, lofted a throw to Chafin, of all people, who snagged the ball—with no gloves—in the end zone for his first career touchdown catch.
“I really thought we had it,” Briles said. “In overtime, I kept thinking our defense would make one more stop and we were going to get out of this mess with a win.”
Baylor had TCU on the ropes and nearly picked off a pass in the end zone that would’ve ended the game, but a pass interference call gave the Frogs new life. TCU instead tied the score, and then crossed the goal line again in the second overtime, putting the Bears on their heels and trailing for the first time all night, 28–21.
Facing fourth-and-inches at the TCU 16-yard line, Baylor went to Chafin one more time, but a blitzing cornerback off the edge stuffed him in the backfield for a loss. Before the running back could even get off the ground, TCU fans stormed the field, just as the Bears’ faithful had done a year earlier.
Stunned, freezing, numb, and heartbroken, Briles made his way to the center of the field, looking for Patterson and the customary handshake. But he never found the TCU coach, who was swarmed first by fans and players, and then ESPN’s sideline reporter for an interview.
Briles found a few TCU fans instead, one even telling him to “Get fucked!” with another getting in his face before a state trooper pushed him aside.
Walking across the field and into the tunnel, the Bears were devastated, but some handled it better than others. Cannon was hearing it from a few TCU fans as he headed to the locker room and he fired back, exchanging some heated words before his teammates grabbed him.