Dave Aranda’s final defensive play call of regulation had a name – Victory Cigar. Baylor was two seconds away from puffing on one. 

Aranda’s defensive stunts had battered Colorado quarterback Shedeur Sanders into eight sacks, and he called timeout before the final play to draw up one more. On Sanders’s right-hand side, Baylor would execute an ‘up-and-under’ rush from the second level of the defense. This would flush Sanders to another defender practicing a ‘contain’ rush. Meanwhile, the defender on the opposite-hand side of Sanders would do a ‘contain’ rush.

But when the ball was snapped, the defender on the right side of the formation, Sanders’s opposite hand, did an ‘up-and-under’ rush when he should’ve had contain. This gave Sanders free run to the sideline, which he used to uncork a 43-yard bomb to wide receiver LaJohntay Wester in the end zone. Baylor cornerback Caden Jenkins slipped as the ball flew down from the sky, and the safety over the top was late to the football. 

And that’s how Baylor’s Victory Cigar went up in smoke.

Saturday night was two seconds away from a statement win that Aranda’s switch to defensive play caller, and offensive coordinator Jake Spavital’s entry on staff, was enough to make Baylor a Big 12 contender. Quarterback Sawyer Robertson dueled Sanders with a 30-yard touchdown to a diving Monaray Baldwin, a 45-yard touchdown run and a 24-yard touchdown pass to Hal Presley that he dropped into a bucket. Aranda’s defense had four sacks in five offensive plays deep into the fourth quarter.

But then a defensive bust forced overtime, and running back Dominic Richardson fumbled as he dove into the end zone to tie the game. Baylor lost its Big 12 opener 38-31. And now…

“(You) try to get your heart back in your body,” Aranda said.