Baylor Bears Defense Leads Way in Statement Win at Texas

By Ed Morgans @writered21 on October 4, 2014

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The last thing most people would call the Baylor Bears is a defensive football team. But on Saturday in Austin against Big 12 and state rival Texas, the Bears showed new dimensions to their game that should cause concern for the rest of the conference. Baylor scored a special teams touchdown and the defense held the Longhorns to a mere seven points in a 28-7 rout.

Baylor, which traditionally just tries to score as many points as it can without regard for what the other teams does, had to find a new winning formula today. Bears standout quarterback Bryce Petty was just 7-for-22 for 111 yards, yardage he usually amasses in a quarter; though, he did throw for two touchdowns.

But the offensive numbers quickly mattered less when the Bears (5-0, 2-0 Big 12) opened the scoring on a 62-yard touchdown return of a blocked field goal by Terrell Burt in the second quarter. The defense stepped up in a big way, not letting Texas (2-3, 1-1) into the end zone until there was just 2:14 left in the game and Baylor had built a 28-point lead. It was perhaps the most inconsequential touchdown the Longhorns will score in what is quickly becoming an inconsequential season.

While the Bears’ defense did allow 334 yards of total offense, such numbers are more commonplace than alarming these days. Of more importance, Texas quarterback Tyrone Swoopes completed only 45 percent of his passes for only 143 yards. Baylor held Swoopes to a rather pathetic 4.3 yards per attempt. And while Texas ran for a decent 192 yards, led by 81 from Johnathan Gray, the Bears forced three turnovers that kept the Longhorns from taking advantage of whatever ground it managed to gain against the green-and-gold defense.

With Oklahoma falling at TCU today, the Bears have to now be considered the favorite to repeat as Big 12 champions. This in a season where they are trying to redeem themselves after last year’s Fiesta Bowl loss to Central Florida. Baylor will certainly need its defense to continue to perform well in the near future, with a home game vs. aforementioned TCU next, followed by a road trip to West Virginia. Baylor still also has tough games against Oklahoma, Oklahoma State and Kansas State to go.

Entering today, no one would have counted on Baylor’s defense to be a factor in those games, and most probably thought that would be what eliminated the Bears from conference title contention. Today’s performance, while it came against a Texas team that hasn’t shown up well in big games yet this season, should send an alarm to the rest of the Big 12 that Baylor is a more complete team than many people thought.

Ed Morgans is an ACC Basketball Writer for www.RantSports.com. Follow him on Twitter @writered21 and add him to your network on Google.