Hey, there’s actually a lot of people who like the Star Wars prequels, you know?

God knows there will be plenty of people in Waco, Texas who will never forget the latest installment in this long-running Baylor-TCU series. In another decade, if you ask a 30-year-old what the best (gaming) movie in the franchise is, they’ll probably say, “Oh, man, sure, it’s the one that came out in 2024. Blackout 3: The trilogy.

Remember 41-38? Remember 61-58? You better believe those back-to-back Big 12 champions from 2013 and 2014, who were in the house that night, remember those nights so fondly.

Today, these gripping dramas have their natural successor.

Isaiah Hankins kicked a 33-yard field goal as time expired to send the Bears to a wild victory over the rival Frogs. Somewhere in the building, Chris Callahan — the “damn good kicker” who put the final exclamation point on this 61-58 thriller in 2014 — must have been smiling.

And just like a decade ago, a familiar postgame scene unfolded, as Baylor students in black T-shirts took to the field to celebrate with their triumphant heroes.

Hello darkness, our old friend, we have come to rock with you again.

These kids deserved to celebrate, because there were certainly instances where it looked like the frogs were going to prolong their biblical scourge against the Baptists. Coming into the night, TCU had inexplicably won eight of the last nine games in the series, putting the Frogs on par with flies, lice and the plague as guests in Bear Country.

An oil leak, Baylor spit out his bubble gum and plugged the hole.

From there, he was able to spit out and drive away. Then, at some point, the fuel injection kicked in and the Bears kicked into high gear. A winning piece of equipment.

Want the most tangible proof of Baylor’s progress this season? Well, of course, this is the most impressive progression in the game.

With the score tied at 34 and just 12 seconds on the clock, Baylor lined up for a first down from the TCU 29-yard line. With one more timeout in hand, the Bears really wanted to gain a few more yards to give Hankins a shorter field goal try.

Would 13 hard-earned, snarling, frog-deflating yards be enough?

Bryson Washington got the ball and the TCU defense converged and seemingly stacked it after about five yards. Then the stack moved, with help from the bullies of Baylor’s ever-improving offensive line. And moved again. And I kept moving, into relative chip shot territory for Hankins.

That was a “wow” ride, y’all. Important stuff.

“All I could think about while the offensive linemen were pushing was, let me down, let me down, because I didn’t want the clock to run out,” Washington said with a laugh .

So maybe your teammates pushed you too much?

“No, it was just,” Washington said.

Oh, how these children have grown.

It wasn’t always pretty — it was often uglier than an entire commercial block of political ads — but Baylor got the job done.

Good teams don’t just win when things are glitzy and glamorous and everything goes their way. Good teams work and find, meaning they navigate the bumpy road and find a way to win even if it seems far from certain.

Even with defensive mastermind Dave Aranda on their side, the Bears looked positively bamboozled defensively at various stages of Saturday’s game. Many times the familiar guy calling the offensive plays on the other side, Kendal Briles, won the chess match.

It didn’t help that Baylor’s tackles sometimes resembled something closer to tickling. The Bears whiffed on a series of tackle attempts as TCU racked up 444 yards and 25 first downs. Look, I know it’s harder to play defense in 2024 than at any time in history. Referees will sometimes call you out if you look at a guy funny. (Seriously, this might be provocative.)

That said, Baylor needs to get the tackle dummies out of the shed and work on throwing them onto the turf. You can’t miss that many tackles and expect to win.

And yet, the Bears did it. Winning, of course.

It’s a sign of a maturing football team that Baylor managed to do a lot of things wrong while still getting the most important answer right on the quiz. To me, the most important factor in Baylor’s three-game winning streak is the resurgence of the running game.

When you can run the ball like Baylor has done the last three games, it’s a total game changer. Remember, the Bears could hardly see a decline in losses to BYU and Iowa State, producing 63 and 79 rushing yards as a team, respectively.

But since the Bears’ decisive victory over Texas Tech in Lubbock, they have found their motivation in the running game. They had 255 rushing yards against the Red Raiders, 343 yards last week against Oklahoma State and 257 more on Saturday against the Frogs, along with five touchdowns.

Last week it was Dawson Pendergrass’ turn. Washington accounted for the hot hand against TCU, throwing for a career-high 196 yards and four touchdowns. This type of heavy running opens up so much space for the offense to expand. It wasn’t the most prolific game for Sawyer Robertson, which went without a touchdown pass, but the Baylor QB stepped up when it counted. Most notably, he hit Michael Trigg for a mammoth 15-yard first down on 4th-and-9 just before Washington’s final run.

Go put a new mark on the door jamb, because these bears continue to skyrocket up the growth curve.

“A lot of happy guys there (in the locker room),” Aranda said. “It’s a game where if it’s a few weeks ago, we lose this game. And it seemed in this one that sometimes you found ways to lose the game. But we were able to overcome these inopportune moments and fight for victory. I think it’s something that needs to be learned.

They’re learning, Coach. They are understanding.

There were times this season, particularly during another on-field postgame celebration in Boulder, Colo., when it felt like the Bears might never figure it out.

Then you see scenes like the Saturday night party and you realize how far they’ve come.

We almost wonder what surprises Blackout IV has in store for us.