— Harwell’s receiving, Reynolds’ defensive speed put them atop ratings
Waco, Texas ? After an emotional loss to West Virginia that knocked Baylor from the ranks of the unbeaten, two weeks off followed by a visit from Kansas University’s football team proved to be the perfect tonic for the Bears.
“It’s not like baseball, where you can just come back and play the next day and get over it,” BU receiver Clay Fuller said following Saturday’s 60-14 victory over KU at McLane Stadium. “You have to wait a week. In this case, it was two weeks. So today was obviously a good win.”
After being held to just 27 points in that 14-point loss at West Virginia, the Bears (7-1 overall, 4-1 Big 12) played with an edge on both sides of the ball. That particularly showed up on offense, where the Bears racked up 669 yards of total offense and scored 60 points or more for the 10th time since the start of the 2013 season. Saturday marked the 31st time in 40 tries that Baylor has topped 40 points and the 35th time in the past 40 tries that it topped 30 points. Both of the latter two feats were nearly achieved by halftime, when Baylor entered the locker room with a 39-7 lead and complete control.
Quarterback Bryce Petty threw for 277 yards and three touchdowns in less than three full quarters and the Bears ran for 326 yards and four touchdowns on 52 carries, good for a 6.3 yards-per-carry average. Perhaps more impressive than that was the way the BU defense stymied the Kansas offense, limiting the Jayhawks to just 16 rushing yards — their lowest total since rushing for 11 in a loss to Oklahoma in 2005 — and finished with three sacks, nine tackles for loss and four forced fumbles.
“There was emotion before we even started,” defensive end Shawn Oakman, who finished a sack, two tackles for loss, a forced fumble and a fumble recovery. “Just the fact that we had to come and play off of a loss, off a loss that we felt as though we shouldn’t have received, that was motivation for us.”
Baylor travels to Oklahoma next week for a showdown with the Sooners and, thanks to Saturday’s confidence-builder against Kansas, the Bears sound ready.
“It doesn’t have to be pretty,” said Fuller. “But we have to band together as a family and find a way to get a win.”