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November 2007
Close loss shouldn’t hurt Bears’ confidence
The Bears thought they were over the hump.
After winning three tight games to take the Paradise Jam championship in the Virgin Islands, the Bears believed they could keep coming through in the clutch.
But after building a 14-point lead Friday night against Washington State, the Bears couldn’t finish it off. An experienced Cougars team kept hammering away before senior guard Derrick Low buried two late treys to pull out a 67-64 win at the Ferrell Center.
It was reminiscent of last season when the Bears lost a pair of close games to Texas and another on the road to Kansas State.
When asked if the tight loss would hurt Baylor’s confidence, guard Aaron Bruce said, “This shouldn’t dent our confidence at all. They’re a good team, and we’re a good team. We can’t let one game ruin our whole season.
The season has barely begun. The Bears will learn from this game, and they have the maturity to not let it destroy them. My guess is the Bears will pull out a win or two over a Top 25 team before it’s over.
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Pushing the right buttons
Art Briles might be a good ol’ boy from West Texas, but he’s got the shrewd smarts of the slickest politician.
At his opening press conference at Baylor on Wednesday, Briles wasted little time in recognizing and paying homage to former Baylor coach Grant Teaff, who’s been executive director of the American Football Coaches Association for the last 13 years.
I’m not sure that Guy Morriss, Kevin Steele, Dave Roberts or even Chuck Reedy ever realized how important it is to embrace Teaff and tap into his resources and knowledge. Getting Teaff in your corner at Baylor and in Waco is every bit as important as the way Texas coach Mack Brown gravitated to legendary Longhorn coach Darrell Royal down in Austin.
The timing and situation is even more important for Briles. Teaff was vocal in his support of former Baylor all-American linebacker Mike Singletary, the assistant head coach of the San Francisco 49ers.
“There’s a lot of folks, and I was one of them, that felt very strongly about Mike Singletary,” Teaff said. “And those folks are not going to be happy for a while, and it didn’t matter who got hired, because they’re Singletary folks. But that’s just the way it is. If they’re not (on board), I think they will be won over.”
In his own way, I believe that’s what Briles did on Wednesday. He made every effort to win over Teaff, bringing up Baylor’s football tradition and even specifically mentioning the “Miracle on the Brazos and eating a worm and things like that.”
“That’s special,” Briles said. “It goes back to Walter Abercrombie and Santana Dotson and Mike Singletary.”
There, he said it. He even mentioned the great one’s name. Briles also talked about not worrying about tomorrow and focusing on making yourself better today. But before you move forward at a place like Baylor, you have to learn to appreciate the past.
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If not now, when? If not him, who?
Although Art Briles said the job was not offered and money wasn’t even talked about during Tuesday’s interview session in Dallas with Baylor athletic director Ian McCaw, he is reportedly the school’s No. 1 choice … at least for the moment.
According to a source close to San Francisco 49ers assistant head coach Mike Singletary, McCaw told the former Baylor all-American linebacker on Tuesday that he was hiring Briles to replace Guy Morriss as the Bears’ next head football coach.
After interviewing with McCaw on Nov. 19 and a follow-up phone call on Nov. 21, Singletary called the Baylor athletic director again last Friday to “clear up some issues” and then called again on Tuesday to ask where Baylor was in the coaching search. Apparently, despite some reports that he had pulled out, Singletary was still very interested in this job.
But on Tuesday, McCaw gave Singletary the word that Briles was Baylor’s choice.
Houston athletic director Dave Maggard said he expects the situation “to be resolved within a couple of days.” And I’m not sure it will take that long.
I kept thinking I might get a last-minute call Tuesday night, saying it truly was the “done deal” that the Houston radio station had reported a half-day earlier. But it never came.
If it goes another day, or two, I will begin to believe that maybe Briles isn’t coming. But as I thought from the very beginning, I still think the announcement will come by Friday. And that’s a far cry better than last time, when Guy Morriss was introduced as the head coach on Dec. 11, or roughly six weeks after it was announced that Kevin Steele would be fired at the end of the 2002 season.
Ian, I appreciate due diligence as much as the next guy, but it’s time to make the call and get this done.
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Briles is not a “done deal”
Despite Houston radio reports that Baylor hiring Houston coach Art Briles is a “done deal,” trust me, it’s not.
Sources have confirmed that the meeting in Dallas between Briles and Baylor athletic director Ian McCaw didn’t even start until noon. And by then, a Houston radio station was already reporting that Briles had agreed to a 10-year, $18 million deal.
Unless the deal was made ahead of time by cell phone or e-mails, that’s hard to believe. And a source close to Briles told me that it definitely wasn’t a done deal. He believes it could still happen, but nothing was set in stone.
My feeling is that it will happen and possibly as early as Wednesday. But I would think there would have to be some language in the contract protecting Baylor if Texas Tech’s job comes open. Briles played at Houston, but he actually graduated from Tech and was an assistant there for three years under Mike Leach. And Tech athletic director Gerald Myers has made it clear that Briles would be his choice if Leach ever left.
So I think it’s important for Baylor to act now. If Leach gets a nibble from UCLA or even Arkansas, he may take the bait and go. And if that happens, if Baylor doesn’t already have Briles signed and sealed, he will bolt for Lubbock.
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Briles’ Texas roots run deep
Unlike Guy Morriss, who returned to his Texas roots when he left Kentucky for Baylor five years ago, Art Briles has never left.
The 51-year-old Briles, who’s 34-28 in five years at Houston, is a native Texan who graduated from Rule High School in West Texas. As a wide receiver at the University of Houston (1974-77), Briles was part of the 1976 Cougar team that won a Southwest Conference championship in its first year in the league.
A 29-year coaching veteran, he began his career as an assistant at Sundown High School in 1979. After five years at Sweetwater, he got his first head coaching job at Hamlin High School and led them to a 14-1 record in his second season in 1985.
The first time I met Briles was in 1986, when he was the new head coach at Georgetown High School. An ambitious high school football writer at the time, I did a tour of the 5A district that the consolidated Waco High would join the next season and made a stop in Georgetown to interview the young, 30-year-old head coach.
Two years later, Briles left Georgetown for Stephenville, where he built the Yellowjackets into one of the strongest programs in the state. He won 90 games during a six-year stretch in Stephenville and won four state titles in his 12 years there.
In his first stint as a college coach, Briles left Stephenville to join new Texas Tech coach Mike Leach’s staff in Lubbock as the Red Raiders’ running backs coach. By his third season (2002), Tech had improved to No. 4 in the nation in total offense and finished 9-5.
I remember talking to Briles when the Bears were interviewing candidates to replace Kevin Steele after the 2002 season. But when Baylor went with Kentucky’s Guy Morriss, Briles got the job in Houston and made the Cougars one of the most consistent programs in Conference USA.
The highlight came last year, when Houston won the C-USA championship and posted a 10-4 record. The Cougars finished second in their division this year and at 8-4 have already accepted a bid to play in the Dec. 28 Texas Bowl at Reliant Stadium in Houston.
With his rich Texas roots, I really believe Briles could make an immediate impact at Baylor. He’s a proven head coach that has already turned programs around at Stephenville High School and the University of Houston and has strong ties to all the Texas coaches as a past president of the Texas High School Coaches Association.
Briles is supposed to travel to Dallas on Tuesday to interview with Baylor athletic director Ian McCaw. And if that meeting goes as expected, I wouldn’t be surprised at all if Baylor makes an announcement as early as Wednesday.
Maybe that’s just me wishing. Briles may not have the “Wow!” impact of a Mike Singletary or Tommy Bowden, but I think in the long run he could be exactly what the Bears need to turn around a program that has suffered 12 consecutive losing seasons since joining the Big 12 Conference.
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It’s becoming a seller’s market
With every day that passes, it seems like two or three new jobs open up. Today, Georgia Tech, Southern Mississippi and Duke are either expected to make announcements or already have.
Baylor made the decision early enough that it got ahead of the game. But now, with Texas A&M already pulling the trigger to hire former Green Bay Packers head coach Mike Sherman, it’s definitely become a seller’s market for coaches — the sellers being the coaches that are either being looked at or looking themselves.
Of course, it does open up some other possibilities. Do you add names like Chan Gailey and Jeff Bower to your list of candidates? But there also are more choices for the coaches. With Michigan, Nebraska and Georgia Tech out there, where does Baylor really rank as a destination job?
One name that’s expected to be taken out of the equation later today is Arkansas coach Houston Nutt. He certainly indicated on Sunday that the school wants him to stay, and he’s expected to make an announcement of whether he’s staying or going at a press conference at 6:30 p.m.
Baylor athletic director Ian McCaw needs to be thorough in his search, but it seems like the time for action is now. If he waits too long, the market could dry up altogether.
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Lady Bears win, 69-56
Thirteenth-ranked Baylor outscored No. 12 California, 44-24, in the second half to erase a 32-25 halftime deficit and run away for a 69-56 victory.
Baylor (5-0) sizzled from the floor in the second half, shooting 61.5 percent en route to a 32-12 advantage in the first 10 minutes after halftime.
Four Lady Bears scored in double figures, led by Jessica Morrow’s 18 off the bench. Angela Tisdale added 16, including two of three three-pointers during an 11-0 run that gave the Lady Bears a 38-34 lead with 15:18 to go, and they never trailed again.
Jhasmin Player kept the Lady Bears in the game with nine of her 15 points in the first half, while Danielle Wilson overcame foul trouble to score 10 points, all in the second half, on 4-for-4 shooting.
Ashley Walker had game highs with 20 points and 12 rebounds for Cal (4-1), while Alexis Gray-Lawson added 15 points.
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Struggling without posts
With starting posts Rachel Allison and Danielle Wilson playing a combined nine minutes in the first half, the Lady Bears got outrebounded, 20-15, and are down 32-25 at the break.
Even without Allison and Wilson, Baylor took a 22-15 lead on a Jessica Morrow 3-pointer with 6:05 left in the half. But with the Lady Bears going 0-fer from the field the rest of the way, the visiting Golden Bears reeled off 14 unanswered points and closed the half on a 17-3 run.
Ashley Walker, who was averaging a double-double coming into the game, had just two points in the first 13 minutes. But the 6-1 junior forward/center scored eight in the 14-0 run and had 12 points and seven boards in the first half.
Jhasmin Player led the Lady Bears with nine points, and Morrow chipped in with seven. Senior point guard Angela Tisdale struggled, hitting 1-of-6 from the field and 0-for-4 from beyond the arc as the Lady Bears shot just 34.6 percent in the first half (9-of-26).
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Singletary didn’t say no
Reading reports elsewhere, including my own blog, you get the sense that it was Mike Singletary that turned down the deal.
For one thing, as far as I can tell, no offer was actually made. Money and contract weren’t even discussed, according to a source close to the 49ers assistant head coach. But it was Baylor that “chose to go in another direction,” Singletary said.
As far as the staffing issue, which was reportedly the hangup from Baylor’s side, the source said only one of Singletary’s assistants was expected to come from the NFL ranks. All the rest of them were college coaches and most of them were recruiting coordinators at their respective schools.
Posters on baylorfans.com have hinted at influence from the Baylor Board of Regents and/or Friends of Baylor. And I hope that’s not the case. I’d hate to think that athletic director Ian McCaw’s decision is going to be influenced by either regents or high-dollar donors.
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Singletary apparently out
Mike Singletary told the Fort Worth Star-Telegram on Wednesday, “I don’t think it’s going to work.”
The San Francisco 49ers assistant head coach and former Baylor all-American met with Baylor athletic director Ian McCaw on Monday in San Jose, Calif., for nearly five hours and reportedly had a “very good meeting.” He was considered the clear frontrunner to replace Baylor head coach Guy Morriss, who was fired on Sunday after compiling a five-year record of 18-40.
But on Wednesday, Singletary said the two parties could not agree on certain issues. Although the Star-Telegram story did not detail it, I’ve heard that it involved the makeup of Singletary’s coaching staff.
“I don’t think it’s going to work, and I don’t think we can come to an agreement on some of the things that are on the table,” Singletary told the Star-Telegram. “I just think that it’s not going to work.”
Singletary said he told McCaw: “If you’re talking a national championship — that’s one of the things that I mentioned — then I want to talk to you. If you’re talking just competing, I don’t want to be a part of that.
“The bottom line was I just wasn’t willing to go any farther. I’m trying to do my job here [with the 49ers], and it’s one of those things where we want to talk and try to come to some kind of deal.
“But if you’re thinking other things, I’ve got to get back to what I’m doing and be focused on that.”
Since he doesn’t mention it specifically, I hate to even speculate. But according to a source that called me on Wednesday, the problem involved the makeup of Singletary’s proposed coaching staff.
If that is the case, I personally don’t think it’s wrong for Baylor officials to expect him to bring a staff filled with proven college recruiters. Since Singletary has no college coaching background, he definitely needs to surround himself with coaches who have that experience.
It doesn’t mean that he couldn’t be an outstanding college head coach, but he needs to have the right kind of support system around him.
Is this disappointing? Yes. But not if Baylor’s still able to bring in a proven college head coach. I still believe that’s the less risky path. As one of his former teammates put it: “You’re rolling the dice” if you hire Singletary. “He’s got a tremendous upside, but you just don’t know.”
If I had to venture a guess, I think Arkansas coach Houston Nutt is probably the next choice, although he has denied reports that he’s on his way out. Now there’s word that he and his agent, Jimmy Sexton, have a press conference set up for Monday.
But don’t rule out other candidates like Houston head coach Art Briles or even Oklahoma State offensive coordinator Larry Fedora. I still feel like something will be done by the end of November.
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Singletary: Pros and cons
Mike Singletary, considered the frontrunner to replace Guy Morriss, seems to be a polarizing candidate.
There is one camp that is convinced that Mike is the one and only answer, and anyone else would be a disastrous pick. It’s Mike or bust. And this group doesn’t want to hear anything short of, “And the 25th head coach at Baylor is …. Mike Singletary.”
On the flip side, there is the camp that believes that hiring Mike Singletary would be the absolute worst decision ever made in the 162-year history of this fine university. And if Baylor stoops to hiring him, “we’re done.”
So I will try to take an impartial view of the man who reportedly interviewed for the job Monday night in San Francisco with athletic director Ian McCaw.
Pros
The former Baylor all-American linebacker is obviously familiar with the school, or at least with the school as he left it 27 years ago. He can sell the school, its uniqueness and even its tradition that seems to be forgotten.
An NFL Hall of Famer who’s also coached in the league for five years now, he’s been where so many of the players want to go.
Can you imagine the halftime speeches? He takes a back seat to no one when it comes to motivational speaking. That should come in handy in pregame speeches, halftime chats and recruiting visits. He should be an awesome closer with recruits.
It’s hard to sidestep or avoid the race issue. Singletary would be the first black head football coach in Baylor’s history and I believe just the fourth ever in the Big 12. Not that a white coach can’t connect with black players, but I would think that Singletary would be a natural in reaching out and connecting with the best players in every metro hub of the nation.
Cons
Never been a head coach or coordinator. For that matter, this is just his fifth season as a coach at any level. On some level, he was probably coaching in his last several years in the NFL, but he’s never assembled a staff, coordinated a group of coaches or put together a game plan.
Although he’s a Texas native with roots in Houston who went to school for four years in Waco, he hasn’t lived here in 27 years. The Guy Morriss haters would say that the Texas ties didn’t help him. But when there’s so much talent in this state, you can’t tell me that at least some ties to to the Texas schoolboy scene won’t help you.
Since he’s never been a college coach, he’s never had to recruit. The lifeblood of any program is recruiting. If you can’t beat the bushes and find the recruits and then sell them on your university, you have no chance. I’m convinced that Singletary would be an awesome closer, but can he get it to the ninth inning?
Obviously, you could do the same thing with every coach on Baylor’s (or your wish) list. Every one will have his strengths and weaknesses, his drawbacks, his off-field problems, his skeletons in the closet. And I’m not saying that any of the cons are road blocks that he can’t get by or just run over.
I just wanted to try to bring a sense of reason to a situation that seems to have none. When I hear the two differing sides of Singletary, it reminds me of former Monday Night Football broadcaster Howard Cosell. You either liked him or hated him, and there was nothing in between. In this case, I think there’s a middle ground that says even if Singletary is not your candidate of choice, you have to at least look at his strong points and see what he could bring to Baylor.
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Paradise for Bears
It’s only November, but anybody who watched the Bears the last two nights in the Paradise Jam has to like their prospects.
The Bears finally have the experience and depth to win close games.
In both a semifinals win over Notre Dame and a finals win over Winthrop, the Bears overcame second-half deficits to pull off close wins. Not only did veterans like Curtis Jerrells and Tweety Carter come through, freshman LaceDarius Dunn looks like a guy who loves the critical moment.
The Bears have so much depth at guard that they could overcome bad shooting nights by starters Aaron Bruce and Henry Dugat against Winthrop. Bruce did a lot of other good things like throwing three perfect passes to Josh Lomers for second-half baskets while also nailing down four last-second free throws.
Winning the Paradise Jam is an impressive feat because Notre Dame and Winthrop are coming off NCAA Tournament appearances and Wichita State has made four postseason tournament appearances in the last five years.
That’s a real good sign for a program that looks like it finally might be turning the corner.
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Breakthrough win for Bears
The biggest hurdle during the past four seasons for the Baylor men’s basketball team has been closing out road games.
Twenty-five straight Big 12 road losses is plenty of proof.
That’s why Sunday’s 68-64 win over Notre Dame in the Paradise Jam in the Virgin Islands was so important.
Trailing all night, the Bears took their first lead at 61-60 when Curtis Jerrells buried a trey with 3:10 remaining. Then the Bears did everything necessary to close out the win, hitting big shots, getting key defensive stops and pulling down some tough rebounds.
The Bears took the lead for good when Jerrells drew in the defense and dished outside to freshman LaceDarius Dunn, who nailed a trey for a 65-62 lead with 34.7 seconds remaining.
The win has to give the Bears a great deal of confidence. Now, they know they can pull out a tight game against a quality team coming off an NCAA Tournament appearance.
Monday night’s Paradise Jam championship game is going to be another tough one. Winthrop has been strong for a long time, and beat Notre Dame in last year’s NCAA Tournament.
Like Baylor, Winthrop features a guard-oriented attack. It should be a good one.
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If I had a dime for every rumor …
I’d be one of the richest men in the world.
It’s funny how many times I’ve heard, “It’s a done deal,” in the last few weeks. I’m convinced that Guy Morriss will not be Baylor’s head coach after this week, but it’s only because of what I’ve heard over and over and over again.
Then there’s all the talk about Mike Singletary, Houston Nutt, etc., ad nauseum. It’s Mike, it’s Houston, it’s … Sunday can’t come soon enough.
If Baylor is going to make a change, let it be today. Don’t let this thing drag on and just keep everybody on pins and needles. Let it be done today, so that everyone involved can just move on.
And whether it’s Mike Singletary, Houston Nutt, Guy Morriss or none of the above, just make the call. Personally, I’m ready to go back to just watching practice, writing features and covering games. Thank God for the good ol’ days.
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Oklahoma State puts it away
After a short punt by Derek Epperson, Oklahoma State put the game away for good with a nine-play, 54-yard drive, scoring on a two-yard TD run by Dantrell Savage for a 45-14 lead with 9:59 left in the game.
After a fairly productive first half and a good drive in the third, the Baylor offense has really done nothing.
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Gift-wrapped a score for Cowboys
With a chance to maybe get back in the game, quarterback Blake Szymanski was picked off by free safety Quinton Moore on an underthrown post route to Thomas White. Moore returned it 38 yards back to the Bears’ 4-yard line, setting up a TD run by Dantrell Savage that gave the Cowboys a commanding 38-14 lead with 52 seconds left in the third quarter.
Turn out the lights.
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Pulling out all the tricks
One thing about it, if this is Guy Morriss’ last game, he’s not leaving anything in the bag.
On a nine-play, 75-yard touchdown drive, the Bears tried an end-around pass by Luke LaMar, ran a swing-gate play for a 30-yard run by Brandon Whitaker and even tried a halfback pass by Jacoby Jones.
The Bears pulled within 28-14 on Blake Szymanski’s 28-yard TD pass to Thomas White, the combination’s second score of the night and White’s eighth this season. That ties him for second on Baylor’s all-time list for TD catches in a season.
Considering that the defense has yet to come close to stopping Oklahoma State’s offensive machine, the Bears are fortunate to be within two touchdowns at the half.
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This is coming way too easy
Oklahoma State just looks like it can do whatever it wants to on offense. Whether it’s Zac Robinson on option runs or hitting wide-open receivers, the Cowboys are just making it look like the Baylor defense isn’t even on the field.
The Cowboys have run 33 plays and gained 339 yards (10.3) and took a 28-7 lead on Robinson’s four-yard TD run with 2:46 left in the half. That completed a nine-play, 75-yard drive that took 3:48. On a fourth-and-three from the 37, Robinson hit tight end Brandon Pettigrew for seven yards to keep the drive alive and then picked up 26 yards on the next play.
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Zac Robinson is near-perfect
Sophomore quarterback Zac Robinson is having a near-perfect night for the Cowboys. He is 9-of-10 for 140 yards and two touchdowns and added 75 yards and another TD on nine carries. That adds up to a 21-7 lead for Oklahoma State after Robinson’s 24-yard TD pass to Tommy Devereaux with 8:06 left in the first half.
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Bears score! Bears score!
Baylor answered with a nice nine-play, 81-yard drive, scoring on Blake Szymanski’s six-yard TD pass to Thomas White on the slip screen. White got off to a slow start this year with injuries, but he now has seven TD catches for the season.
Shea Brewster kicks the extra point to cut the deficit to 14-7 with 9:17 left in the first half. The Bears have put together two nice drives and kept the ball away from Oklahoma State’s offense for the most part.
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Have you heard of the option?
Baylor’s defense has struggled mightily against the option and bootleg runs by Oklahoma State quarterback Zac Robinson, who has 63 yards on eight carries. Robinson just completed a five-play, 84-yard drive with an 18-yard TD run to give the Cowboys a 14-0 lead with 13:25 left in the half.
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Another red-zone gaffe
After driving it 65 yards in eight plays, the Bears blew up again in the red zone when quarterback Blake Szymanski was sacked for a 10-yard loss on third-and-three and freshman Shea Brewster missed badly on a 42-yard field goal attempt.
At least the offense kept the defense off the field for a little while.
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Not the best of starts
After an ugly three-and-out by Baylor’s offense, it took Oklahoma State all of 13 seconds to score on Zac Robinson’s 30-yard play-action TD pass to a wide-open Seth Newton. 7-0 Cowboys with 13:22 left in the first quarter.
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I had to think about that one
Baylor/Big 12 Football Podcast
- audio: Click here
Since I had to get glasses recently because of my failing eyesight, maybe my hearing is going as well.
But late in Thursday’s Lady Bear game at the Ferrell Center, I heard the Baylor band’s courtside players chanting, “Palindrome! Palindrome! Palindrome!” dragging it out every time they said it. Since I wasn’t exactly sure what they were saying, I asked Jon Brown with Baylor’s media relations office what it was.
And this was classic. It didn’t dawn at me at the time, but the score when they were chanting it was itself a palindrome: Baylor, 73-37, over UT-Pan American. The Wikipedia dictionary defines palindrome as a word, phrase, number or other sequence of units that has the property of reading the same in either direction.
Melissa Jones scored on a layup with 3:03 left to give the Lady Bears the 36-point lead. And for the next 75 seconds, the courtside players filled the arena with their “Palindrome!” chants.
There are very few times when I hear a heckle that good. That’s just brilliant. I’m sure the visiting Lady Broncos didn’t appreciate it, if they even understood it. But it gave me a big smile at press row. So thanks, courtside players.
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Blame it on the turnovers
Baylor/Big 12 Football Podcast
- audio: Click here
If Guy Morriss is out at the end of this season, as expected, he can place part of the blame on 35 turnovers.
Let that sink in: 35 TURNOVERS!!!!!! That’s four more than the next-worst team in Division I. Winless Florida International (0-9) has turned it over 31 times, while Idaho (1-9) and Northern Illinois (2-8) have lost 29 apiece. So if you really look at it, Baylor’s probably fortunate to have three wins.
“That makes it real hard to beat anybody,” Morriss said Tuesday. “That’s my biggest concern … or is now. We don’t give ourselves a chance to get in the ball game. We keep beating ourselves.”
As well as the Bears played Saturday in a 52-21 loss to Oklahoma. It was still the same song, 11th verse. Two red-zone interceptions by Blake Szymanski kept them from maybe taking the game into the fourth quarter.
Coaches aren’t blameless. You can’t convince me that a fade route is the right call on first-and-goal from the 3. I don’t care if the Sooners had 11 men in the box. But I think the players also have to take some of it on themselves for the decisions they make, the passes they throw, the catches that get deflected and picked, and the balls that are left on the ground.
For Baylor to ever compete in the Big 12, it can’t turn the ball over 35 times. Call me crazy, but I don’t think fourth-ranked Kansas’ talent is head and shoulders above Baylor’s. But the Jayhawks have turned it over just 11 times all year and are first in the nation in turnover margin at plus-20. By comparison, Baylor is minus-16. And this is what minus-16 gets you.
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Szymanski breaks Bell’s record
Blake Szymanski hit Thomas White with a 42-yard touchdown pass with 1:30 remaining in the third quarter to cut Oklahoma’s lead to 42-21.
On the play, Szymanski passed Shawn Bell to become the Bears’ single-season record holder with 2,593 yards passing and 20 touchdowns.
Through three quarters, Szymanski hit 20 of 34 passes for 256 yards and two touchdowns.
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OU leads 28-14 at halftime
Baylor had a chance to go into halftime trailing by only a touchdown to Oklahoma.
But DeMarco Murray had other ideas.
Murray returned a kickoff for a 91-yard touchdown to give the Sooners a 28-14 lead with 50 seconds left in the first half.
Murray fielded the short kickoff and shook off a tackle by Jeremy Williams before cutting back to the right sideline, where he was escorted by a convoy of blockers into the end zone.
The Bears cut the Sooners lead to 21-14 when Blake Szymanski hit Thomas White with a 75-yard touchdown pass with a minute remaining in the first half.
The Bears piled up 307 total yards at halftime as Brandon Whitaker ran five times for 107 yards and caught six passes for 61 yards. Szymanski hit 16 of 25 passes for 181 yards.
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That didn’t last too long
And just like that, the lead is gone.
In back-to-back offensive plays, Oklahoma scored on a 25-yard TD run by DeMarco Murry and a 51-yard pass from Sam Bradford to Malcom Kelly to take a 14-7 lead with 1:08 still left in the first quarter. That was two scores in a span of 68 seconds.
Welcome to Sooner Nation!
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Quick, take a picture
Talk about shocking the nation.
Ten minutes into the game, Baylor just took a stunning 7-0 lead on fourth-ranked Oklahoma with a 46-yard TD run by senior running back Brandon Whitaker.
The Bears threw away an opportunity on their previous series, when Reggie Smith picked off a Blake Szymanski pass in the end zone after a 57-yard run by Whitaker down to the 3-yard line.
With 4:56 left in the first quarter, the Bears have a 148-24 edge in total offense.
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Where there’s smoke …
You don’t have to hit me over the head more than once.
When two newspapers reported Thursday night that Guy Morriss is done, I didn’t doubt that it was true. My problem is that not one of the stories names a source. I’ve written my share of stories with unnamed sources, but I think it’s a bad policy for the most part and one that our paper has all but eliminated.
This might sound like a jealous writer who got scooped, but my question is why the regents (or whoever the “high-ranking university officials” were) picked now to leak the story to newspapers in Dallas and Houston? My guess is that Joseph Duarte and Brian Davis weren’t just going through their rolodexes calling all their Baylor sources to try to dig up the story.
Remember, the Chronicle (along with CBS Sportsline) jumped the gun on Monday when it said Texas A&M was already working on a buyout plan with coach Dennis Franchione. They had to come back later and print a retraction. Do you think they could be wrong twice in four days?
Since a 58-10 loss to Kansas on Oct. 13, my guess has been that Morriss probably wouldn’t survive. But I never believed it was a “done deal,” like so many were saying. Maybe it is now, but Ian McCaw has never wavered. His response then, now and seemingly forever is, “We will evaluate the program at the end of the season.”
Which, honestly, is how it should be. I thought one of the worst things Baylor ever did was fire Kevin Steele with three games left in the 2002 season. “Yeah, Kevin, did you get the memo? Listen, we’re going to go ahead and fire you. But about that, we’re going to need you to go ahead and come back in and coach these last three games. K?” What idiot thought that would be a good idea?
Could it be that some power-happy, micromanaging regents just made this call on their own and decided to get back to Ian, Guy, Baylor president Dr. John Lilley and any other parties when the time and mood suits them?
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Killeen WR solid for Sooners
Former Killeen receiver Juaquin Iglesias doesn’t get nearly as much publicity as Oklahoma teammate Malcolm Kelly.
But Iglesias has put together quite a career for the Sooners, who host Baylor Saturday night.
Iglesias leads the Sooners with 45 catches for 676 yards and has scored four touchdowns. In three seasons, he’s been a key part of their passing game by making 105 catches for 1,480 yards and eight scores. He’s made redshirt freshman quarterback Sam Bradford’s transition smoother.
He’s also an excellent kick returner, averaging 28.2 yards on 15 returns.
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Sometimes it’s what you don’t say
During Monday’s Big 12 coaches’ teleconference, Guy Morriss was asked if Baylor had things in place, “like facilities and administrative support,” to be successful in the Big 12.
Rather than coming up with some ambiguous, say-nothing answer, he said, “I think I’m going to duck that question. To be honest, I don’t really want to go there right now.”
The facilities are obviously on the way in the form of the $31 million, on-campus practice facility. But it’s coming more than five years after he was promised it would be built when he took the job in December 2002. And for him, anyway, it’s coming too late.
As for the administrative support, I’m not sure that’s ever been there. Maybe when he first got here, and there was something of a buzz. But for the most part, Morriss has had little support from the administration and Board of Regents in his five years here.
That doesn’t completely excuse what’s happened on the field, but I definitely think it’s played a part. If he gets the facility built earlier — instead of dirt being turned in his fifth year — and he had received the contract extension he deserved after a 5-6 finish in 2005, I’m guessing he wouldn’t have lost out on recruits like G.J. Kinne and Lonnie Edwards. And maybe the Bears would be better off, or at least not in the crapper like they are now.
It seems like a coaching change is inevitable. But if Baylor doesn’t get the other things in place — and fast — you could bring Nick Saban, Bob Stoops and Mack Brown in here, and the Bears still wouldn’t win.
I can’t remember specifically who said it, but I remember the quote when Baylor joined the Big 12 Conference: “If you want to run with the big dogs, you’ve got to get off the porch.” Well, Baylor needs to get off the porch now.
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This just got a little uglier
I have to say that my expectations weren’t that high when I went to the stadium today. But I got sucked in when the Bears drove 56 yards on their opening series and appeared on the brink of taking a surprising early lead on Tech.
And then reality hit. Baylor’s red-zone troubles continued with a fumble by quarterback Blake Szymanski off a sack — the fourth in the last two weeks — and Tech scored 38 unanswered points in a 38-7 homecoming blowout of the Bears.
The sad thing is you could see where there were plays that could have been made. Twice, quarterback Blake Szymanski missed wide-open receivers (Ernest Smith and David Gettis) on plays that could have been touchdowns.
At times, the defense played well. But the Bears were never able to bring the kind of pressure that helped Colorado and Missouri send the Red Raiders to back-to-back losses. If you let him have time, Tech quarterback Graham Harrell will rip you apart. And that’s exactly what he did to Baylor’s defense.
As much as I’d like to think that Guy Morriss can rally the troops and somehow pull one off in the last two games against Oklahoma and Oklahoma State, I think the Bears are done. There just doesn’t appear to be a light of fire and either side of the ball.
Wake me up when this nightmare of a season is over.
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Tech opens up 38-0 lead
Aaron Crawford scored three third-quarter touchdowns to stretch Texas Tech’s lead over Baylor to 38-0 through three quarters.
After Danny Amendola returned a 65-yard punt return, Graham Harrell hit Crawford with a 17-yard touchdown pass.
Crawford ended an 80-yard drive with a 17-yard touchdown run before adding a seven-yard scoring run later in the third quarter.
Through three quarters, Harrell hit 36 of 45 passes for 418 yards and three touchdowns, setting a Tech career mark with his 10th 400-yard passing day.
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Tech grabs 17-0 halftime lead
Graham Harrell hit Eric Morris with a 37-yard touchdown pass in the first quarter as Texas Tech opened up a 14-0 halftime lead against Baylor.
The Bears threatened first by driving to Tech’s 12 before Brandon Williams blindsided Baylor quarterback Blake Szymanski and forced a fumble.
The Red Raiders moved downfield for Harrell’s touchdown pass to Morris. Later in the first quarter, Aaron Crawford ran for a three-yard touchdown to open up a 14-0 lead.
The Bears threatened again by moving to Tech’s 19 where Jacoby Jones was stopped a yard short of the first down on fourth down late in the second quarter.
The Red Raiders quickly moved to the 6 where Alex Trlica nailed a 23-yard field goal as time expired.
