Baylor Beats SMU
WACO, Texas — It took Baylor until the third quarter, but the 23rd-ranked Bears eventually imposed their will on SMU.
Baylor shrugged off an early six-point deficit and gained control in the second half to defeat the Mustangs 40-13 on Saturday at McLane Stadium.
Bears quarterback Seth Russell wasn’t sharp as he completed 26 of 47 passes for 261 yards with two interceptions. But he threw a 31-yard touchdown pass to Blake Lynch and ran 19 yards for a score in the third quarter to help Baylor (2-0) gain momentum.
“I think it’s a situation where you know a guy like Seth Russell’s maybe not got his best stuff, you don’t worry about him,” Baylor interim coach Jim Grobe said. “You just hang in there with him because you know it’s coming.”
Safety Orion Stewart added to the Bears’ third-quarter barrage when he returned an interception 33 yards to put Baylor ahead 26-6 and effectively squash SMU’s hope for an upset.
SMU freshman quarterback Ben Hicks, who played high school football just 10 miles from Baylor at Hewitt Midway, made his first collegiate start in place of injured starter Matt Davis. Hicks passed for 229 yards and a touchdown but threw three interceptions, including two to fellow Midway alum Stewart.
“I thought the first half (Hicks) was as dynamic as anybody around,” SMU coach Chad Morris said. “I thought he was
on it. He was ready for the moment. I thought the second half he had a couple of things go wrong. One mistake led to another. That’s being a young kid. You’ve got to let those things go.”
Russell added a 32-yard touchdown pass in the fourth quarter to KD Cannon to give Baylor a 20-point edge. But the Bears quarterback was later stopped on a fourth-down rushing attempt from the SMU 3 that ended a Bears scoring drive.
SMU slipped to 1-1, and the Bears still left room for doubt whether they can keep their top 25 status through the rigors of Big 12 play.
“Obviously, I think we can be a good football team,” Grobe said. “I don’t think we showed today the kind of football team that we can be.”
Hicks looked sharp at the beginning. He guided two first-quarter drives inside the Bears’ 10 as the Mustangs posted two field goals to take a 6-0 lead.
However, SMU’s failure to score touchdowns became a theme.
Near the nine-minute mark of the second quarter, Hicks appeared to hit wide receiver James Proche in stride behind the Baylor defense at midfield. But Proche dropped the pass and SMU had to punt.
On Baylor’s ensuing possession, Mustangs cornerback Jordan Wyatt intercepted Russell’s pass and returned it to the Baylor 12.
But Stewart took the ball back for Baylor. The Bears safety grabbed an interception in the end zone to stop the Mustangs from adding to their lead.
“We had opportunities to make plays and, a team like Baylor, you can’t settle for field goals. You’ve got to have touchdowns,” Morris said. “We’ve got to clean up a lot of things. We’ve got to put the ball in the end zone.”
Baylor’s usually prolific offense managed to tie the score with a couple of field-goal drives, but nothing more in the first half as the two teams went to the locker room tied at 6.
But the Bears weren’t all that worried.
“It was really frustrating just because we weren’t really playing very well,” Russell said. “You have four quarters. We’re sitting there on the sideline in the first quarter thinking, ‘It’s just three points. We can do that really quick.'”
SMU outgained the Bears 239-194 in the first half. But turnovers marred the first and second quarters for both teams as the Mustangs and Bears each gave up the ball twice.
Baylor ended with a 4-3 edge in the turnover category.
“The defense kept us in the ballgame,” Russell said. “They won the game for us, I feel like — big interceptions in the end zone. It shows how hard they’ve been working.”
