Wednesday, November 6, 2019

Baylor 2019 Football Overview



2019 Baylor Football Schedule: vs Stephen F. Austin, won, 56-17; vs UTSA, won, 63-14; at Rice, won, 21-13; vs Iowa State, won, 23-21; at Kansas State, won, 31-12; vs Texas Tech, won, 33-30 (2OT); at Oklahoma State, won, 45-27; vs West Virginia, won, 17-14; November 9, at TCU; November 16, vs Oklahoma; November 23, vs Texas; November 30, at Kansas.

2018  Baylor Football Results: vs Abilene Christian, won, 55-27; at UTSA, won, 37-20; vs Duke, lost, 40-27; vs Kansas, won, 26-7; at Oklahoma, lost, 66-33; vs Kansas State, won, 37-34; at Texas, lost, 23-17; at West Virginia, lost, 58-14; vs Oklahoma State, won, 35-31; at Iowa State, lost, 28-14; vs TCU, lost, 16-9; defeated Texas Tech, 35-24 (AT&T Stadium, Arlington, Texas); defeated Vanderbilt, 45-38 (Texas Bowl, NRG Stadium, Houston, Texas).

2019 Baylor Football Media Guide: here

2019 Baylor Video:
here


2019 Baylor Football: In December 2016, in the midst of Baylor's Title 12 and rape scandal that involved the football program and rocked the campus of the Baptist university, Waco and the Big 12, former Temple coach, Matt Rhule was hired as the Bears' head football coach and given a seven-year contract. 

Rhule took over for Baylor acting head coach Jim Grobe, who took over the Bears' program on May 30, 2016, after head coach Art Briles was fired on May 26.


After going 7-6 (30-6 Big 12) in 2016 under Grobe, Rhule and the Bears had a rough 2017 season. Baylor went 1-11, with the sole victory coming against Big 12 cellar-dweller Kansas. In 2017, Baylor lost games to such powerhouses as Liberty, the University of Texas at San Antonio (UTSA), and Duke.

In 2018, Rhule and the Bears rebounded. During the regular season, they went 6-6 (4-5 Big 12), earning a spot in the Texas Bowl in Houston. They beat Vanderbilt, 45-38, to end the season with a winning record (706).

Earning a bowl bid and winning the game were milestone for the Bears, who lost 17 of 19 at one point during their rebuilding process.


Matt Rhule
Now, Rhule and the Bears want more.

This season, Baylor is 8-0, 5-0 Big 12, and ranked No. 12 in the College Football Playoff ranking. The Bears are in position to possibly play in the Big 12 Championship game in December and stake a claim for one of the four spots in the College Football Playoff, although that possibility is razor slim.

Offensively, Baylor is averaging 36.1 points and 480.2 yards per game.

The Bears are averaging 281 yards per game through the air. They have scored 15 passing touchdowns.

Baylor is averaging 199 yards per game on the ground. The Bears have scored 22 rushing touchdowns.

Baylor's offense is led by junior quarterback Charlie Brewer (#12), 6-1, 206 pounds, who has been named one of 20 semifinalists for the 2019 Maxwell Award, which is presented annually to the Collegiate Player of the Year.

Brewer has completed 150 of 222 passes for 2,143 yards. He is averaging 268 passing yards per game. He has thrown 14 touchdown passes and just three interceptions. He has run the ball 80 times for 170 yards and six touchdowns. 

Redshirt freshman Gerry Bohanon (#11), 6-3, 221 pounds, backs up Brewer. Bohanon has appeared in six games. He has completed 10 of 15 passes for 104 yards and one touchdown. He has run 20 times for 194 yards and two touchdowns.

Charlie Brewer
Baylor quarterbacks have been sacked 21 times.

Senior wide receiver Denzel Mims (#5), 6-3, 215 pounds, is Baylor's leading receiver. He has caught 38 passes for 618 yards and six touchdowns. He has a long catch of 46 yards.

Sophomore wide receiver Tyquan Thornton (#81), 6-3, 176 pounds, has caught 31 passes for 593 yards and three touchdowns. He has a long catch of 78 yards.

Wide receiver R.J. Sneed (#13), a 6-1, 200-pound sophomore, has caught 39 passes for 337 yards and three touchdowns. He has a long catch of 38 yards.

Wide receivers Chris Platt (#14) and Josh Fleeks (#21) and running back Trestan Ebner (#25) each have caught one touchdown pass.

Baylor's leading rusher is junior running back John Lovett (#7), six-foot, 212 pounds. He has carried the football 77 times for 495 yards. He has scored four touchdowns and has a long run of 46 yards.

JaMycal Hasty (#6), a 5-9, 205-pound senior running back, has gained 439 yards on 70 carries. He has scored four touchdowns and has a long run of 73 yards.

Ebner has two rushing touchdowns, and Fleeks, running backs Qualan Jones (#27) and Abram Smith (#28) and wide receiver Chris Platt (#14) each have one rushing touchdown.

The Bears have lost seven of 15 fumbles.4

Defensively, Baylor is hold opponents to an average of only 18.5 points a game. Opponents are averaging 341 yards per game; 219 yards through the air and 122 yards on the ground.

Baylor defenders have intercepted seven passes, sacked opposing quarterbacks 26 times,  recovered eight of 15 fumbles and blocked a punt.

The Bears' leading tackler is senior linebacker Clay Johnston (#4), who injured a knee in Baylor's sixth game of the season, against Texas Tech, and is out for the season. He had 58 tackles, eight tackles for loss, 2.5 sacks and one interception.

Terrel Bernard (#26), a 6-1, 222-pound sophomore linebacker, has 49 tackles, 2.5 tackles for loss and 1.5 sacks.

Senior linebacker Jordan Williams (#38), six-foot, 223 pounds, has 38 tackles, 4.5 tackles for loss, a half of a sack and two interceptions.

Baylor also has a defensive tackle and a defensive end who destroy opposing offenses.

Junior defensive tackle James Lynch (#93), 6-4, 295 pounds, only has 21 tackles, but he has 11.5 tackles for loss and 8.5 sacks.

Senior defensive end James Lockhart (#9), 6-2, 263 pounds, only has 16 tackles, but he has 5.5 tackles for loss and 3.5 sacks.

Linebacker Blake Lynch (#2) and cornerbacks Jameson Houston (#11), Grayland Arnold (#1) and Kalon Barnes (#12) each have intercepted a pass.

In the Bears' 17-14 win over West Virginia in Waco on Halloween evening (Thursday, October 31), defensive tackle Bravvion Roy (#99) came up with his first blocked kick of the year, as he deflected a West Virginia field goal attempt with 3:33 left in the fourth quarter that would have tied the game at 17-17.  The block earned last week's Big 12 Special Teams Player of the Week honors.

Redshirt freshman Issac Power (#43) is Baylor's punter. He has punted 38 times for an average of 37.6 yards per punt. He has a long punt of 59 yards. He has not had a punt blocked.

Baylor's main field goal kicker is redshirt freshman John Mayers (#95). He has made six-of-eight field goal attempts, with a long field goal of 38 yards. He has not had a field goal attempt blocked.

Freshman Noah Rauschenberg (#99) missed his only field goal attempt of the season.

Rauschenberg and sophomore Jay Sedwick (#89) handle the Bears' kick-off duties.

Baylor Football: The Baylor football program began in 1898. The Bears' overall record is 604-574-44 (.509). The program's bowl record is 13-11. The Bears have won nine conference titles in their football history, Baylor has not won a national championship in football.

Baylor played its first home game against Toby's Business College (in Waco) in 1899, its first away game on 4 November 1900, at Austin College and its first neutral-site game against Texas A&M in 1901.

Since beginning its football program, there have been three years in which Baylor did not compete in football: 1906, following a ban opposing the violence of football; and 1943 and 1944, during World War II.

Baylor first joined an athletic conference in 1914, after the conclusion of the football season, when it became a founding member of the Southwest Conference (SWC). Baylor won the SWC Championship in 1915, 1916, 1922 and 1924. The 1924 SWC Championship would be the last for many decades.

In 1966, John Hill Westbrook of Elgin, Texas became the first African American to play varsity football in the Southwest Conference when he joined the Baylor team.

Grant Teaff
The 1974 season, with the Bears' football program under the direction of head coach Grant Teaff, was one of the most memorable in school history. Baylor had finished in last place in four of the previous seven seasons, including 1973. Furthermore, coming into the 1974 season, Baylor had lost 16 consecutive games to the Texas Longhorns. The 1974 Texas vs Baylor game looked like another easy win for Texas as the Longhorns took quick control of the game and went into halftime leading 24-7. Baylor was energized starting the second half, however, sparked by a blocked punt early in the third quarter. The Bears rallied to a 34-24 victory. Baylor went on to win the SWC title that year. The season was dubbed the "Miracle on the Brazos."

In 1996, Baylor parlayed political clout into joining Texas, Texas Tech and Texas A&M, along with the Big 8 Conference schools, to form the Big 12 Conference.

In 2011, Baylor quarterback Robert Griffin III became the first Baylor player to win the Heisman Trophy.

In 2013, Baylor claimed its first Big 12 Championship and quarterback Bryce Petty finished seventh in the Heisman Trophy race. In 2014, Baylor won a Big 12 co-championship with TCU. Both teams finished conference play with 8-1 records.


Both TCU and Baylor were left out of the inaugural College Football Playoff. The Bears were ranked fifth. The Frogs were ranked sixth.

Baylor played in the Cotton Bowl Classic. The Bears lost, 42-41, to Michigan State, to finish the year at 11-2 and ranked seventh in the country.

TCU played in the Peach Bowl. The Frogs beat No. 9 Mississippi, 42-3, to finish the year at 12-1 and ranked third in the country.

In addition to its rivalry with TCU, the Baylor Bears are Texas Tech's most played opponent with 75 meetings between the teams dating back to 1929. The Bears have played the University of Austin more than 100 times. SMU is a big rival of the Bears, with the  two teams having played many times, starting in 1916.

The Bears had an acting head coach, Jim Grobe, for the 2016 season, after Art Briles was fired amid an ongoing rape scandal that involved the football program. Briles had coached at Baylor eight years, rejuvenating a program that had been read its last rites. In 2010, Briles led Baylor to its first winning season and bowl appearance in 15 years. Briles won more Big 12 conference games in his years as head coach than Baylor won in the 12 seasons preceding his arrival. Briles and Baylor won the Big 12 championship in 2013, before sharing it with TCU in 2014.

In December 2016, former Temple University head coach Matt Rhule was hired as the head Baylor football coach and given a seven-year contract. Rhule subsequently replaced all of the prior football coaches and support staff and completed the hiring process in February 2017.

Rhule was at Temple from 2013 to 2016. He compiled a record of 28-23. In 2015, his third season, Rhule's Temple team went 10–2 in the regular season, winning the American's East Division and taking part in the conference's inaugural championship game. In 2016, Rhule took the Owls to their second consecutive championship game, where they won their first conference championship since 1967.

In his first season at Baylor, Rhule went 1-11. In 2018, the Bears went 7-6, including a win over Vanderbilt in the Texas Bowl in Houston.


The NCAA still is investigating Baylor's football program. Recently, it was announced that the case may be moved to the NCAA's new Independent Accountability Oversight Committee, which was formed “for reviewing select complex infractions cases in Division I.”

What this means is that the Baylor case would be investigated and handled by an independent group, as selected by the NCAA.

Under this new process, when a ruling is made, there is no appeal. Whatever decision is made will be final.

Read more here: https://www.star-telegram.com/sports/spt-columns-blogs/mac-engel/article236483023.html#storylink=cpy

Baylor Football Stadium: Baylor plays football on campus in McLane Stadium, moving into the new stadium in 2014 from their long-time, off-campus home of Floyd Casey Stadium.

Prior to playing at Floyd Casey Stadium, the Bears played at Waco/Municipal Stadium (1936–1949), Cotton Palace (1926–1929) and on campus at Carroll Field (1906–1925 and 1930–1935). Prior to McLane Stadium, Carroll Field has been the only on-campus home for the Bears.

In 1950, Baylor moved into newly constructed Floyd Casey Stadium, which originally was named Baylor Stadium, located four miles from campus with a seating capacity of up to 50,000 spectators. Construction had begun in 1948, after World War II. The stadium cost $1.8 million to construct and was placed on land donated by a local Baylor landowner.

Following the "Year of the Bear," in July 2012, Baylor announced that a $260-million McLane Stadium would be constructed on campus.

The "Year of the Bear" is the name given to the 2011-2012 year in Baylor Athletics. During this year, the Baylor football team defeated Big 12 rivals TCU (No. 14 AP) and Oklahoma (No. 5 AP) and ended the season 10-3 and ranked No. 12 (No. 13 AP). Junior quarterback Robert Griffin III won the 2011 Heisman Trophy and National Player of the Year. The men's basketball team had a 30-8 season (the best in school history), a berth in the NCAA Elite Eight (its second in three seasons) and a No. 10 ranking. The women's basketball team won the program's second national title, becoming the first basketball program – men's or women's – to finish 40-0. Brittney Griner was named the National Player of the Year. Coach Kim Mulkey was awarded National Coach of the Year. The baseball team won 49 games, including a Big 12-record 18-game conference winning streak and a school-record 24-game winning streak. The team finished in the NCAA Super Regionals, with a No. 9 ranking.

Baylor's four major programs (football, men's and women's basketball, and baseball) finished with an NCAA record 129 wins during the year (an overall record of 129-28 for a winning percentage of .822) and Baylor was the only school to have all four programs ranked at the end of their respective seasons. The football and (men's and women's) basketball programs also set NCAA records with a combined 80 wins between them, including a stretch from November 1, 2011, to January 16, 2012, when the three programs had 40 consecutive wins between them. Baylor was one of only two schools that had all 19 of its sponsored sports advance to the post season.

McLane Stadium opened in fall 2014. It holds 45,140 spectators, features Field Turf and is situated on 93 acres of land on the north bank of the Brazos River, along Interstate 35 South. It is named after Drayton McLane, Jr., who donated a significant amount of money toward the stadium's construction. McLane Stadium is the largest construction project undertaken in the history of Waco and Central Texas.

Complementing McLane Stadium is the Highers Athletics Complex, which features three football practice fields, two with a natural surface and the other with artificial turf,  the Simpson Athletics and Academic Center and the Jay and Jenny Allison Indoor Football Practice Facility.

The Simpson Athletics and Academic Center is a 97,000-foot facility that houses Baylor's football operations. The building is over three stories tall and houses the main athletic training room, football team locker room, equipment room, coach's locker room and a large primary football weight room. The Simpson Center also houses academic support rooms for studying and academic work. There also is equipment for sports and athletic rehabilitation, including underwater treadmills.

The Jay and Jenny Allison Indoor Football Practice Facility is a full football field and air-conditioned building that allows Baylor athletes to practice in all weather conditions year round.


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