Late in the fourth quarter against Houston Baptist, Texas Tech decided to go for it on fourth down within the HBU 5-yard line. The staff figured, what’s the worst that can happen up 35-27? No need to play scared against an FCS opponent. If they don’t get it, HBU would have to go 96 yards to have a chance to tie the game.
There was one issue, though. The best player on the field that night was wearing Husky white and orange.
After the Red Raiders' sneak fell short, Huskies quarterback Bailey Zappe (pronounced Zap-ee) took his first snap in the end zone and delivered a perfect slant to wide receiver Jerreth Sterns to get out of trouble. Three plays later, he stepped up in the pocket and delivered a pinpoint pass to receiver Josh Sterns for 45 yards.
Now Texas Tech was really sweating and the home fans at Jones AT&T Stadium were getting restless. There was still 4:13 on the clock. Zappe was cooking. And then receiver Ben Ratzlaff hit Tech’s man coverage with the sluggo. Bam. Zappe hit him perfectly in space to get all the way to the 2-yard line.
Zappe zipped and zoomed all night long, throwing the ball 49 times and evading defenders with ease. He admitted to his coaches the next day that he felt guilty that he wasn’t sore after the game from getting hit, like he felt like he didn’t play hard enough. Texas Tech defensive linemen would disagree. They were walking up to the line at the end of the game, exhausted from chasing this Zappe kid around.
Set up with 2nd-and-goal at the 6-yard line, Zappe fielded the ball, rolled right in the pocket and found a pristine slant passing lane to Jerreth Sterns with a sidearm throw. Touchdown. Never a doubt.
Unfortunately the window on the 2-point conversion down the right sideline was a little too tight and Texas Tech was able to run out the clock for a too-close-for-comfort 35-33 win. Zappe wasn’t impressed with his 567 yards and four touchdowns in his first game against a Power Five opponent though.
He didn’t get the win.
“Honestly, if we executed the way we can, we could have put 40 on them,” Zappe said. "If we rewind and go back and play Texas Tech again, I think we beat them.”
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Zappe’s performance against Texas Tech helped bring some national attention, but HBU’s quarterback has been one of the most dominant quarterbacks in college football hiding right under everyone’s nose.
As a junior, Zappe finished No. 2 in FCS in both passing yards and passing touchdowns despite playing less games than many other contenders. If broken down per game, Zappe throws for more yards than any other returning signal-caller in Division I.
But while his numbers are elite across the board, something special happens when Zappe faces off against FBS competition.
“When you play an FBS team, you get more excited than you were,” Zappe said. “Especially when it’s a Power Five, Big 12 team, you get more excited, you get more nervous, it’s an extra side of it. But I get more excited.”
Call it excitement, call it focus, whatever it is – it’s dominance. Zappe’s performance was his fourth against an FBS program. He started his career with a strong 199-yard game against Texas State. However, since Houston Baptist switched to the Air Raid system in 2018, the numbers are eye-popping.
In four games against SMU, UTEP, North Texas and Texas Tech over the past three seasons, Zappe completed 62.4 percent of his passes for 1,573 yards, 11 touchdowns and just one interception. Unbelievably, those numbers are actually better than his stats against FCS competition over the same stretch. Three of those losses are by a combined 13 points, an anomaly for a program still early in its development.