WACO, Texas -- Bryce Petty feels selfish for even thinking it, and worse for saying it. Winning, after all, should be enough. He won another Big 12 championship.

But Petty wanted so much more. He craved perfection.

“Obviously I’d want it different,” Petty told ESPN.com this month. “Shoot, I’d love to be No. 1 on the Heisman list. I’d love to be the No. 1 pick coming out. I’d love to have 40 touchdowns, no picks.”

What the Baylor quarterback endured in 2014, instead, was a senior season he can only describe as being “such a roller coaster.” As Petty reflects on the ride, he can’t help but think he wasted too much time overthinking it all.

Petty, now prepping for his college finale and Goodyear Cotton Bowl Classic meeting with No. 8 Michigan State on Jan. 1, vows he’s done indulging disappointment. Ever since the season opener, though, he’d known there would be no easy route to another title.

A back injury suffered against SMU sidelined Petty for a game and a half. He can admit now the effects of the injury -- two cracked transverse processes -- lingered until the middle of October.

Along the way, he kept taking hits. The preseason Big 12 Offensive Player of the Year was hunted all season long.

“People don’t hit me like they did last year,” he said. “As soon as I get hit, they’re driving me to the ground and talking the whole time.”

He played through pain throughout, but nothing hurt like the heartbreak on the eve of Baylor’s Big 12 opener at Iowa State.

Ethan Hallmark, a boy he’d befriended from his hometown of Midlothian, Texas, passed away on Sept. 26 after a courageous battle with stage 4 neuroblastoma. Petty stood by his side during Ethan’s bout with the rare form of childhood cancer. He visited the boy on Christmas, once drove him to a treatment session in Dallas, and even attended his last birthday party.

“I knew it was coming,” Petty said, “but I didn’t know it was coming that fast.”

While he grieved, he struggled. Petty didn’t like how he played against ISU. He hated his performance against Texas, easily the worst statistical showing of 24 career starts. And he almost blew it against TCU, throwing a pick-six to put BU behind by 21 in the fourth quarter.

And then something finally snapped.

“That’s kind of when things changed mentally for me,” Petty said. “I didn’t care about being perfect anymore. I’ve already thrown a pick and a pick-six. Perfect is out the window. I’ve got to go win this game.”

He guided the best comeback in Baylor history against the best opponent he faced all season. The Heisman buzz was suddenly back.

“Then the West Virginia game came and, again, I was just thinking so much. I was trying not to get hurt. I was pressing,” Petty said. “The little thing that has really immobilized me athletically is when I think too much. All that stuff kind of came in and it’s just been ... not tough, not difficult. Just not what I expected.”

Perfect was now officially out the window. But the 41-27 loss in Morgantown was another setback that failed to stop Petty. Baylor regrouped, stomped Kansas and Oklahoma and got back on track.

Three steps forward, a small step back. After a 49-28 win over Oklahoma State, Petty recognized just how discouraged he’d become. His time, with just three games left, was running out. Baylor was 9-1. Why wasn’t he happy with that?

Yes, he was frustrated that his individual goals weren’t being met. But he also felt guilty for caring too much about those ambitions. Prayer and heart-to-heart talks with buddies, parents and coaches helped Petty recognize the folly in his perfectionism.

He says that P-word gets him more than anything. Art Briles brings up a different one.

“I’m very proud of what he’s done. And the thing I’m most proud of is his determination inside of him,” Briles said. “He’s got a lot to prove. He’s got a lot of doubters.”

Surely he shed a few in his regular-season finale. A week after sustaining the first concussion of his college career against Texas Tech, Petty was masterful against a top-10 Kansas State team to clinch a Big 12 trophy: 412 yards on 85 percent passing.

“He was just being Bryce out there,” receiver Levi Norwood said. “That’s exactly what we expect from him.”

The Bears’ latest blow -- exclusion from the inaugural College Football Playoff -- will sting for a while. Their quarterback can take it. In a season stuffed full of unexpected twists and tests, what’s one more?

Petty is done dwelling on wanting more. He'll take the most he can get and be grateful he got this far.

“The whole roller-coaster deal, I think it’s good that it’s all happened the way it has,” he said. “I’m telling you, this game makes you stronger.”