Baylor Rallies For Win

In Ames, Iowa, the Baylor Bears are no strangers to a shootout and they showed it in the fourth quarter against Iowa State.

The 13th-ranked Bears erupted for 17 points in the fourth quarter to defeat Iowa State, 45-42, on Saturday at Jack Trice Stadium.

Baylor kicker Chris Callahan nailed a 19-yard field goal to give the Bears (5-0, 2-0 in the Big 12 Conference) their first lead of the game as time expired.

Although Iowa State moved the ball at will against Baylor for the first three quarters, Baylor shut out the Cyclones in the fourth to earn the comeback victory.

“Our guys hung in there,” Baylor interim coach Jim Grobe said. “It didn’t look very good, especially late when we were down 14. But our defense hung in and when we had to make plays, we made plays.

“Those last three quarters on offense was just special.”

Baylor quarterback Seth Russell never flinched in leading the Bears’ offense. He passed for only 178 yards, but rushed for 88 crucial yards in keeping Baylor moving in the second half.

Running back Shock Linwood led the Bears with 237 rushing yards and a

touchdown on 25 carries. Baylor starting running back Terence Williams finished with 126 yards and two scores on 16 carries.

“Shock would tell you, as good a day as he had today, he was glad to have Terence Williams come in and give him a break once in a while so they could stay fresh,” Grobe said. “Those two together today were just special.”

Linwood, Baylor’s career-rushing record holder, lost his starting job because he was being outworked by Williams in practice. But Grobe said Linwood had a good week this week and the Bears rusher made it count against Iowa State.

“Once they started giving me the ball, I was able to get a spark going and get it rolling,” Linwood said. “I was able to hit the hole pretty good and get extra yards.”

Iowa State quarterback Joel Lanning passed for 261 yards and rushed for 57 with three total touchdowns. But Baylor shut down Lanning and the Cyclones (1-4, 0-2) when it mattered most.

“I thought their kids really outlasted us,” Iowa State coach Matt Campbell said. “They made some plays when they needed to.”

Baylor trailed until the 6:27 mark of the fourth quarter, when Williams scored on a two-yard run to tie it, 42-42.

Iowa State scored on six of seven possessions from the beginning of the game. Only the clock at the end of the second quarter stopped the Cyclones until Baylor finally made Iowa State punt with 13:43 left in the game.

The Bears’ defense came up with three crucial stops in the final quarter, allowing their offense to take over on the scoreboard.

Baylor started its game-winning drive for a field goal with 4:54 left in the fourth quarter. The Bears marched down the field, running the ball 13 times in 17 plays to reach the Cyclones’ two-yard-line, setting up Callahan’s game-winning kick.

“My background has always been stop the run, and run the ball on offense,” Campbell said. “We didn’t do a good enough job doing that today. A team like that really presents those kinds of issues. You’ve got to kind of pick your poison at times.”

Iowa State grabbed a two-touchdown lead in the first quarter and forced Baylor to play catch-up for the rest of the half.

Lanning threw a 43-yard touchdown pass to wide receiver Deshaunte Jones to give Iowa State a 7-0 lead five minutes into the game. Mike Warren finished a 70-yard drive with a one-yard touchdown run on the next possession to give the Cyclones a 14-0 edge with 3:06 to go in the first quarter.

Iowa State befuddled Baylor throughout the first half by effectively mixing the pass and run. The Cyclones rushed for 153 yards, led by Warren’s 101, and Lanning passed for 164.

But Baylor’s offense answered.

Linwood rushed for 106 yards and a touchdown, Russell had 44 yards and a touchdown, and Williams added a touchdown in the first half. Russell’s three-yard score with 53 seconds left in the second quarter cut Iowa State’s lead to 28-21 at the break.

However, Russell was not as effective passing as his counterpart Lanning in the first half. Russell connected on only 4 of 10 passes for 108 yards in the first 30 minutes.

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