12/30 Daily Bears Report: Alamo Aftermath

I'm sitting on my couch right now watching the beginning of the Armed Forces Bowl, which has BYU and Tulsa playing in Dallas this year, knowing that it can't possibly live up to the offensive display we saw last night from Baylor and Washington. Baylor bookended its season nicely; 2011 started on a Friday night in Waco with a 50-48 shootout against TCU and ended with a 67-56 spectacle in San Antonio. Both games were televised nationally, the former definitely impacting coverage of the latter, and both should be just about all it takes for Art Briles to walk into an offensive recruit's house and know he has a shot with that player.

Now that the season is officially over-- an incredibly depressing thought, to be sure-- we here at ODB are going to be in a transition mode of sorts. Recruiting will take a bigger role in what I intend to do as National Signing Day (February 1) approaches since there will come a day when we should no longer live in 2011 but instead look to the future of Baylor football, which looks as bright as it ever has.

But that day is not today. We can still reasonably take stock of what happened last night and what is likely to happen in the very near future, particularly with regard to whether RG3 will go to the NFL. We can and should celebrate what has been simply an incredible year.

• Baylor wins record-breaking Alamo Bowl - CBS News- In Robert Griffin's possible college farewell, Baylor tops Washington 67-56 in highest-scoring regulation bowl game ever.
• Griffin, Baylor Win Record-Breaking Alamo Bowl - ABC News
• Baylor wins Alamo Bowl shootout – USATODAY.com- Heisman winner Robert Griffin III didn't dazzle but Baylor pulled out a thrilling Alamo Bowl win in the highest-scoring bowl game in history.
• Baylor, Washington smash offensive records in Alamo Bowl – This Just In - CNN.com Blogs- If you ever wanted to see two skillful college football offenses make the presence of two defenses look fairly pointless, Thursday night’s Alamo Bowl was your chance.
• Robert Griffin III ponders NFL Draft after Baylor’s wild win; Keith Price makes a 2012 statement - The Early Lead - The Washington Post
• Baylor's 67-56 Alamo Bowl victory downright offensive - Houston Chronicle- After 59 combined first downs, a bowl-record 1,397 yards and 123 points, most of the capacity crowd of 65,256 was exhausted by all of the offensive fireworks. The win punctuated Baylor's 10-3 record, marking the first time since 1981 and only the second time in school history the Bears have notched at least 10 victories in a season. [...]
• Griffin shows leadership in Baylor's Alamo win- Robert Griffin III will decide about the NFL in a few weeks, but for now, he'll enjoy an Alamo Bowl win.
• Baylor Vs. Washington Recap, Alamo Bowl 2011: The Numerical - SBNation.com- The stats that mattered from Baylor's 67-56 win over Washington in last night's Valero Alamo Bowl, from Terrance Ganaway's rushing yards, to streetfights, to "Robert Griffin's NFL prospects."
• Instant analysis: Baylor 67, Washington 56 - College Football Nation Blog - ESPN- That was what we thought it would be, at least in the sense of an offensive explosion.
• Baylor Vs. Washington Score: Bears Win Wild Alamo Bowl, 67-56 - SB Nation Dallas
• Baylor's Griffin should go to the NFL | Baylor Bears |- Star Telegram - The Heisman QB should strike while the iron's hot.
• Alamo record setter - The Boston Globe- Heisman Trophy winner Robert Griffin III wasn’t dazzling - and didn’t need to be - as No. 15 Baylor pulled out a thrilling Alamo Bowl victory in the highest-scoring bowl game in history, beating Washington, 67-56, in a record-smashing shootout last night in San Antonio.
• Plenty of points, records in Alamo Bowl - Stats & Info Blog - ESPN- Robert Griffin III finished a Heisman-winning season in thrilling fashion. The Alamo Bowl may not have the prestige...