Hoover throws 3 TD passes as TCU beats Baylor 42-36 in game delayed more than 2 hours by lightning

Audio By Carbonatix

FORT WORTH, Texas (AP) — Josh Hoover threw three touchdown passes, Kevorian Barnes ran for 106 yards with two scores and TCU held on to beat instate Big 12 rival Baylor 42-36 on Saturday in a game that matched the top two FBS passers and was delayed more than two hours in the fourth quarter because of lightning.

The Horned Frogs (5-2, 2-2 Big 12) went ahead to stay on a 5-yard TD run by Barnes that made it 14-7 in the second quarter, two plays after a brief heavy rain downpour and a lost fumble by the Bears. Barnes took a direct snap for a 14-yard score to make it 42-21 on the first play when the game finally resumed and was finished in bright sunshine.

Baylor's Keaton Thomas returned a fumble 24 yards for a touchdown, and Sawyer Robertson threw a 35-yard TD to Kobe Wilson with 30 seconds left before the Bears (4-3, 2-2) recovered an onside kick.

Namdi Obiazor's interception with 13 seconds left finally clinched the win for TCU, which finished 5 hours, 50 minutes after kickoff.

“Our players know how to win. ... It wasn’t pretty, but I really don't care,” said coach Sonny Dykes, whose Frogs have won 11 of their last 14 games. "We won the football game. That was our objective.”

Robertson, the national passing leader, was 25-of-52 passing for 318 yards with two TDs and three interceptions. All the picks came after the resumption of play. He now has 2,376 yards and 21 TDs.

Hoover completed 22 of 31 passes for 231 yards. He threw a 6-yard TD pass to Jordan Dwyer with 11 seconds left in the first half and a 3-yarder to tight end Ka’Morreun Pimpton on the opening drive of the second half for a 28-10 lead. Hoover now has 2,024 yards and 21 TDs this season.

TCU had just gone up 35-21 on Trent Battle's 65-yard TD run with 13:46 left when play was stopped for the first time because of lightning, even though the rain had stopped and the skies were starting to clear before that 58-minute delay.

Play then resumed for only about 15 minutes, but soon after Sawyer was stuffed for no gain on a fourth-and-3 play from the Bears 33 with 6:44 left, the game was stopped again for another 78 minutes. Both teams had come out and were completing warmups to resume when officials sent them back to their locker rooms because of another lightning strike detected within 8 miles of the stadium.

“You’re just kind of sitting there, kind of waiting," Baylor receiver Josh Cameron said. “Just really staying mentally in it, trying to get your mind right, make sure other guys are still focused.”

Baylor: There were a couple of drops early and Robertson, who did make some nice throws, missed several open receivers. He did extend is streak of consecutive games with multiple TD passes to 11, since he had none in a win over TCU last year. It was the first time in more than two years he completed fewer than half his passes in a game.

TCU: The Horned Frogs have won nine of the past 11 games in the most-played rivalry game in the state of Texas, and lead the overall series 60-54-7. This was a needed rebound for TCU after a 41-28 loss at Kansas State last week.

Baylor was coming off an open date that followed back-to-back wins.

“They’re hurt right now. They wanted to win this game,” Bears coach Dave Aranda said of his players. “I know they know that they’re a good team. They know we’ve got playmakers, and we’ve got the ability to win games like this. So, they’re probably frustrated, that’s the best way to say it.”

TCU linebacker Caleb Elarms-Orr finished with 16 tackles, the first TCU player with at least 15 in a game since 2009. Obiazor had 11 to go with his interception.

Baylor plays at Cincinnati next Saturday, when TCU is at West Virginia.

___

Get poll alerts and updates on the AP Top 25 throughout the season. Sign up here and here (AP News mobile app). AP college football: https://apnews.com/hub/ap-top-25-