By John Werner

Tribune-Herald staff writer

Art Briles didn’t turn the Stephenville High School and Houston Cougars football programs into winners in a day.

He certainly wasn’t going to turn around downtrodden Baylor in just one night.

With third-year starting quarterback Riley Skinner picking apart Baylor’s defense for three touchdowns, No. 23 Wake Forest stormed to a 41-13 win before 30,633 fans and a national television audience Thursday night at Floyd Casey Stadium.

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The day after

• »  Briles gives Griffin nod for Northwestern State

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Baylor vs. Wake Forest

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• »  Quarterback situation remains unsettled for Bears
• »  Skinner gets enough time to pick Bears apart
• Team stats after 1 game
• Full game summary

SLIDE SHOW Bears vs. Dekes The Bears fought hard in the opener at Floyd Casey.

MORE PHOTOS Fans having fun Baylor fans were out in force to support the Bears.

Skinner’s passing efficiency and five Baylor turnovers spoiled Briles’ coaching debut for the Bears.

“I’m embarrassed that we didn’t do a better job of representing the Baylor football program tonight,” Briles said. “What’s painful is that you want to give people a reason to believe. You want to keep them around and excited, and we didn’t do that tonight. I feel very disappointed for the people who had faith in us. I feel like we let a lot of people down.”

The Bears couldn’t have faced a much stiffer test: The Demon Deacons are a program on the rise after going 20-7 and reaching back-to-back bowl games in the last two seasons. But every Baylor player would have liked to set a better tone for the season.

“This is a complete team loss from top to bottom,” said Baylor linebacker Joe Pawelek. “We didn’t come to play. It’s disappointing because we worked so hard through the spring and summer. How we played isn’t a testament to how hard we worked.”

After weeks of speculation, Briles didn’t unveil his starting quarterback until Kirby Freeman, a fifth-year senior transfer from Miami, trotted out on Baylor’s first play.

Griffin makes loud entry

But after Freeman hit just two of seven passes for 15 yards and an interception in the first quarter, freshman Robert Griffin entered the game to a loud ovation in the second quarter. Griffin stayed in the lineup until Freeman came back late in the fourth quarter and threw another interception in the end zone.

“Kirby had some good weeks of practice, and I felt that he deserved the chance to start,” Briles said. “Blake (Szymanski) also had some good practices. I wanted to give Robert (Griffin) a chance to see what was going on from the sidelines in the first quarter, and get a chance to see the defense.”

Griffin showed promise as he hit 11 of 19 passes for 125 yards. He exhibited some fancy footwork with a 22-yard run down the left sideline to set up Jacoby Jones’ 12-yard touchdown run in the second quarter for Baylor’s first touchdown.

Griffin ran for a five-yard touchdown in the fourth quarter, but also had a critical third-quarter fumble that set up a Wake Forest touchdown to open up a 27-6 lead.

The turnover came shortly after Jay Finley fumbled a handoff from Griffin as Baylor was driving earlier in the third quarter.

“I provided some spark, but it’s got to last more than a quarter,” Griffin said. “My performance isn’t what mattered. We didn’t get the W, so I have to get better.”

“Robert was very poised, and that’s easy when you have ability and confidence,” Briles said. “Ability and confidence go hand in hand. But we never got into any rhythm offensively. We had some self-inflicted wounds with the turnovers — and we just can’t have that.”

Skinner showed why he led the nation with a 72.4 passing percentage last season as he completed 27 of 36 passes for 220 yards. He found creases in Baylor’s defense all night and hit Ben Wooster for a 43-yard touchdown pass in the third quarter to grab a 34-6 lead and put the game away.

“Flip through their media guide and you can see they got good when Skinner became the starter (in 2006),” Briles said. “It would have been nice to get some more pressure on him. But he did a good job of moving around the pocket and getting the ball to their receivers.”

Relying on short possession passes, Skinner hit 18 of 24 for 129 yards and a touchdown in the first half as the Demon Deacons built a 20-6 halftime lead.

Shanked punt sets up Wake

After Freeman couldn’t move the Bears on the first drive, Derek Epperson shanked a 14-yard punt to set up Wake Forest at Baylor’s 36.

Skinner quickly established the pattern of the night as he hit Wooster or six yards on the first play before Josh Adams popped up the middle for five yards.

The Bears stiffened as Trey Bryant and Jason Lamb stuffed Adams for no gain on first down. Adams lost a yard on a pass from Skinner, and Rich Belton only picked up three yards on Skinner’s third-down pass.

But Sam Swank stepped in and nailed a 40-yard field goal to give Wake Forest a 3-0 lead with 12:19 left in the first quarter.

With Freeman back at quarterback again, Baylor failed to get a first down on its second possession. After a Baylor punt, the Demon Deacons moved 62 yards for their first touchdown.

Facing third-and-eight, Skinner found Marshall Williams wide open along the right sideline for 15 yards. After Skinner hit D.J. Boldin for nine more, Boldin picked up picked up eight yards on a reverse for a first down at the 26.

Skinner fires 1st bullet

Skinner threw a bullet over the middle to Chip Brinkman in front of Krys Buerck for a 12-yard touchdown to give the Demon Deacons a 10-0 lead with seven minutes left in the first quarter.

The Bears picked up their initial first down when Freeman hit Justin Akers for 13 yards, but two plays later Finley couldn’t hold on to Freeman’s pass and Alphonso Smith intercepted at Baylor’s 48.

The Demon Deacons took advantage of the turnover as they drove for a touchdown with Brandon Pendergrass picking up the last three yards on a run around left tackle to push their lead to 17-0 with 14:23 left in the second quarter.

A huge roar erupted from the crowd when Griffin entered the game on Baylor’s first possession of the second quarter.

The freshman didn’t lead the Bears to a score on his first two drives, but the third drive paid off.

After Dwain Crawford stripped the ball from Williams, the Bears got possession at Wake Forest’s 44.

On third-and-16, Griffin hit David Gettis for 15 yards to set up Finley’s one-yard run for a first down. Then Griffin eluded several tacklers by scampering down the left sideline for 22 yards to the 12.

On the next play, Jones scooted through the middle for a 12-yard touchdown. Freshman Ben Parks missed the extra point, but Baylor cut Wake Forest’s lead to 17-6 and had the momentum with 2:54 left in the first half.

But the Demon Deacons quickly regained the momentum when Skinner moved Wake Forest 45 yards to set up Swank’s 42-yard field goal to open up a 20-6 lead with 53 seconds left in the first half.

Missed chance for Bears

The Bears blew a big chance to get back into the game after Adams fumbled on the first play of the third quarter at Wake Forest’s 32 when Finley fumbled a handoff and Boo Robinson recovered for Wake Forest at the 20.

Griffin’s fumble at Baylor’s 11 hurt the Bears even more. It set up Skinner’s eight-yard touchdown pass to Brinkman over the middle to push Wake Forest’s lead to 27-6 with 7:36 left in the third quarter.

The Demon Deacons put the game away when Skinner found Wooster streaking down the right sideline for a 43-yard touchdown to push the lead to 34-6 with 3:04 remaining in the third quarter.

Griffin ran for a five-yard touchdown early in the fourth quarter, but the Demon Deacons answered with Adams’ four-yard touchdown run with 4:38 remaining. The Wake Forest touchdown was set up by Crawford’s fumbled punt at the 10.

The Bears won’t play again until a Sept. 6 date against Northwestern State at Floyd Casey Stadium.

“We’re going to have to fight and become a better football team,” Briles said. “We’ve got to grow from this and move forward.”

jwerner@wacotrib.com

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