Baylor Routs Buffalo
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AMHERST, N.Y. — Baylor got its Heisman Trophy candidate back in the huddle Friday night and continued rolling through its nonconference schedule.
Quarterback Bryce Petty returned from a one-game injury absence to lead eighth-ranked Baylor to a 63-21 win over Buffalo.
Petty, who sat out last week after cracking two small bones in his lower back during the season opener, passed for 416 yards and four touchdowns in three quarters as Baylor tied a school record for points scored in a road game.
“He came out here and did what he does tonight,” said wide receiver Jay Lee, who caught nine passes for 416 yards and four touchdowns.
The Bears played without four of their top receivers but got plenty of production out of Lee, freshman phenom KD Cannon (six receptions, 189 yards, one touchdown) and Lynx Hawthorne (seven receptions, 123 yards, two touchdowns).
“That’s the Bryce that we are used to knowing,” Baylor coach Art Briles said. “He hasn’t played much this year. He played one series against SMU. This was kind of his coming out party and I thought he was exceptional.”
Running back Shock Linwood rushed for 97 yards and two touchdowns to help the nation’s No. 1 offense amass 669 yards, raising its season average to 654.3 per game.
After playing three games in 13 days, Baylor now has two weeks to get ready for
its next game on Sept. 27 at Iowa State.
“We’ve got a lot of people bruised up,” Linwood said. “With a week off, we are going to be able to recover and get ready for Iowa State.”
Playing at home on ESPN for the first time in school history, Buffalo was eager for the opportunity to play a ranked team in front of a crowd of 24,714 dressed mostly in all black.
The Bulls slowed the Bears down slightly at the start, forcing them to convert three third downs and a fourth down on the opening, 12-play drive that ended with a 2-yard Lockwood touchdown.
But when Marcus McGill dropped a would-be touchdown on Buffalo’s first drive, the rout was on.
On the second play of Baylor’s second series, Petty went deep to Cannon for an 89-yard touchdown that made it 14-0 with 8:44 left in the first quarter. The Bears have scored seven touchdowns this season on drives lasting less than one minute.
Linwood ran untouched for a 24-yard touchdown with 5:15 left in the first quarter, and Petty connected with Lee to put Baylor ahead 28-0 one minute into the second quarter.
Baylor utility back Joey Jefferson scored on a 14-yard run to make it 35-0 with 5:17 left in the second quarter.
Baylor racked up 432 yards and scored more touchdowns (five) than Buffalo had first downs (four) in taking a 35-0 halftime lead.
The Baylor defense allowed its first touchdown of the season when Buffalo running back Devin Hughes took a short pass from quarterback Joe Licata and ran 41 yards to score with 9:31 remaining in the third quarter.
The Bears answered right back as Petty found Hawthorne for an 18-yard touchdown with 7:46 to play in the third quarter.
Buffalo emulated Baylor’s quick-strike offense in scoring its second touchdown 45 seconds later. Running back Anthone Taylor ran 41 yards for a score after Licata connected with receiver Ron Willoughby for a 35-yard gain on a flea-flicker.
“Obviously, we don’t feel good about the way the game played out,” Licata said. “But the good news is we get to come back and play again. We are going to learn from the mistakes we made and we are going to learn from some of the positives we had too.”
Baylor made it 49-14 with 5:08 left in the third quarter on Lee’s second touchdown of the day, a 14-yard pass from Petty.
The Bears didn’t miss a beat once Petty went to the bench. Backup quarterback Seth Russell added a 31-yard touchdown run and connected with Hawthorne on a 37-yard scoring play within the first 3:26 of the fourth quarter.
Wide receiver Malcolm Robinson scored the Bulls’ third touchdown on a 17-yard pass from backup quarterback Tony Daniel with 6:24 left in the game.
“We can play with any team in the country,” said Buffalo coach Jeff Quinn, whose team is 0-2 against FBS teams after a season-opening win over Duquesne. “The only team that can beat us is us ourselves. There were some moments in tonight’s contest where we didn’t deliver our best performance.”
