Game 6: Baylor 71, Iowa State 7

Another game at Floyd Casey Stadium, another record-setting blowout!  Baylor fans, we are getting spoiled--and loving it!  Sure, the pollsters put us at 5 or 6, and the computers don't love us, putting us at 8 in the first BCS rankings, but Baylor fans know this is a championship quality team.  There is no team in the country that Baylor couldn't beat.  Every week, more people are coming to realize that.

This was a great night for Baylor football!  The crowd was reported to be the largest ever at which the opponent was not Texas, Texas A&M, or Arkansas.  Given the tiny group of ISU fans present, that tells me this was the largest attendance of Baylor fans ever!  Pretty cool.  It was also reported that students were turned away at the gate--no more student tickets!  Way to go Baylor students!  Love the school spirit!

I loved the recognitions tonight, too.  The 1963 football team was recognized.  They were one of the best ever, finishing at 8-3, and beating LSU in the Bluebonnet Bowl.  Here is a picture of some Baylor greats together.  Legendary Baylor coach Grant Teaff; Don Trull, QB of that 1963 team; and Ian McCaw, Baylor's AD who took over a struggling athletic department in 2003 and under whose leadership Baylor has enjoyed unprecedented success.  Trull is being recognized here for his recent induction to the College Football Hall of Fame.

It was Homecoming, which, of course, accounts for the crowd.  For Homecoming and as a part of the last season at Floyd Casey, there was a card section!  My first year in Chamber was, as I recall, the last year of the card section in the student seating area.  Baylor students from that era will remember looking through the hole reading "This is Bear Country"on the press box across the field.

Here the fans in the south end zone are reading the same, only on the north end zone tarp.  From this perspective it's not too easy to read, but I think these say "Homecoming 2013"and "The Case 1950-2013."  I remember what a logistical challenge it was to get the card out and to get all the fans to cooperate and make this happen.  Kudos to whoever put this together, and the fans who made it work!

So I guess I'm not up on my pop culture.  My sister-in-law was shocked that I didn't know who this singer was.  I was supposed to have been thrilled to hear a live performance from the one, the only, Lorena's own Holly Tucker!!!  Apparently she had a successful run on one of those TV singing competitions.  I would say I can't stand those shows, but to say that I would have to have actually watched on.  So I'll just say I can't stand the promo spots for those shows and leave it at that.  In any case, congratulations Holly, good luck in your music career, and thanks for coming out to support the Bears!

Oh, but what about the game?  Ah, the game.  What a game it was!  Baylor punted on their first drive; that was discouraging.  But then they dominated from start to finish.  This was the best defensive performance Baylor has had all year.  No defensive scores, but 2 interceptions, 5 sacks, a forced fumble, and 174 (!!!) total yards allowed kept this game all in the hands of Baylor.  The offense had plenty of ammo, racking up over 700 yards.  It was a shut out until ISU scored a TD with under a minute left in the game.  But the game didn't end on a down note; Corey Coleman returned the ensuing kickoff 97 yards for a touchdown!

This was total dominance by Baylor over a team that lost to Texas Tech by 7 last week, and to Texas by 1 the week before (and if you saw that game, you know ISU really won . . . .).  In fact, although ISU had 4 losses coming in, the largest margin had been by 8.  This 64 point margin was the largest margin of victory ever for Baylor against a conference foe, SWC or Big 12.

This team just keeps on getting better.  I know, like many Baylor fans, I'm feeling greedy, but I would love to see the Bears score 70 on the road next week in Kansas!  And here is the all important scoreboard:

Sic 'em!

Game 3: Baylor 70, Univ. of Louisiana-Monroe 7

The wind kept the flags flapping, and factored into
some of the kicking and passing game.

Another weekend of football, another big blowout in Waco!  I don't know about you, but I am having fun watching Baylor's offense rack up the points and the defense shutting down the competition!  It's an historic season so far, and as the competition gets tougher, Baylor just keeps on getting better. 

Elliot, Drew, Uncle Brian.  He's hard to see because of the camo.

Saturday was about as perfect a day for football as we could ask for.  Breezy and 81 at game time, and the shade hit our seats right around kickoff.  Nice!  In spite of the perfect day, Zippy chose to stay home.  I even bribed him with snacks and the privilege of choosing the restaurant!  So Elliot and I took off for Waco alone.  We picked up Uncle Brian and Drew and headed to Touchdown Alley to partake of a Fuddrucker's burger, courtesy of the Baylor Alumni Network.

Before the game, we stopped to check out the statue of Grant Teaff outside the stadium.  Teaff was the coach in all of my formative years, from earliest memory up to my time on campus.  After a long string of dismal years and mediocre coaches, I think we finally have a successor to Teaff.  Art Briles has returned a winning tradition to Baylor, and he seems to share Teaff's emphasis on character and faith.  When will Briles pose for his statue?

The interlocking BU is hard to see from this angle.

I am guilty of not giving the Baylor University Golden Wave Marching Band enough love.  But watching them march in, forming the interlocking BU a the BAYLOR spell out is awesome.  Honestly, I usually head to the Bear Club for a snack at halftime, but this week I watched the show.  The marching was pretty amazing!  These kids work their tails off, and I should be ashamed for not sticking around for the halftime show each week!

Elliot and Drew have grown up watching Baylor football.  They both talk about going to college somewhere else, but it's hard to imagine them not wearing a Baylor Line jersey and running onto the field in the new Baylor stadium!

Mom and Dad were out of town this weekend, but there were plenty of Mastins to fill the seats.  Laura and Brian were there with all their girls, Lisa and David came, and of course Mark's family.  Thankfully there were a few empty seats around us.

And of course, this is the greatest sight of all!  Baylor exactly matched not only the score from last game, but also the number of offensive yards!  A double school record.  So, heading into Big 12 play, Baylor leads the nation in scoring, yards per game, quarterback rating, passing yards per game, and is second in points against.  If they can keep this kind of dominance up, there will be no stopping the Bears this year!

I guess Elliot was a bit tired on the ride home.  He took off his shirt to use as a pillow.  Don't worry, Elliot, Baylor has a bye week again this weekend, so you can get some rest.

Sic' em!!

Baylor artifact: my record of the 1983 football season

On the shelf of Elliot's room sits a piece of my childhood.  I must have picked up this button, which is about 6 inches in diameter, on one of my many trips to the Baylor Bookstore.  On the back, I kept a record of the 1983 football season, which was not a bad one. 

After 1982's rather disappointing 4-6-1 season, in which they were 5th in the Southwest Conference, Cody Carlson, Gerald McNeil and Alfred Anderson led the Bears to a tie for 3rd in the SWC and the Bluebonnet Bowl. 

The opening game against BYU in Waco, the first-ever meeting the Baptists and the Mormons, was a classic.  Late in the 4th quarter, Baylor trailed 36-33.  The Bears methodically moved the ball down the field, capping the drive with Anderson leaping over the crowd for the touchdown with 49 seconds left.  This was BYU's only loss for the season.  Steve Young led the Cougars to win the WAC and beat Missouri in the Holiday Bowl, ending the season ranked in the top 10. Someone posted the final drive on YouTube!

Baylor didn't fare quite as well, losing to Texas Tech and 13th ranked SMU, and tying with Texas A&M.  The regular season ended with a heartbreaking loss to #2 ranked Texas in Austin.  Despite getting behind 17-0 to the undefeated Longhorns, Baylor scored 2 TDs in the 4th quarter, losing 24-21.  Texas beat A&M the next week, finishing the season at 11-0, but lost 10-9 to #7 Georgia in the Cotton Bowl.

Baylor's performance against Texas earned them a #20 ranking and a trip to the Bluebonnet Bowl to face Oklahoma State in the Astrodome.  Unfortunately, Baylor got behind 21-0 in the first half.  Even though they knocked out the OSU QB and held the Cowboys scoreless in the second half, the Bears couldn't gain any ground and lost 24-14. 

I was 14 during the 1983 football season.  Elliot will be 14 for this year's season.  Here's hoping we'll see some upsets, a winning record, and a bowl game!

Relive the pain!  The 1983 Bluebonnet Bowl is on YouTube, too!
First half:

Second half:

The Baylor Libraries Athletic Archive has a neat scrapbook of the 1983 football season that Marjorie Hayden put together for Grant Teaff.