Baylor vs. Buffalo - Impressions from Attendees

My (pbpope) Impressions

This week I arrived at the stadium about an hour and a half before game time. I had my parents and a friend with me, all who wanted to stop by the bookstore to check out the gear. It was readily apparent the moment that I arrived that the heat was going to be keeping a fairly large number of people away from this game. The tailgate scene, while active, seemed much less boisterous than it did last week. But that's not really a surprise.

It was HOT. The temperature may not have been as high as last week's, but the fact that the game started at 2:30 instead of 6:30 made a huge difference. I invested in one of those frogg togg chilly pad things, but donated it to the cause of keeping my mother cool (she raved about it). No way I'd miss the game on that point, though.

Baylor Line, I'm so disappointed in you. I expected there to be fewer of you than last week; that's something we're all used to. Actually, I was surprised a little by how many of you actually showed up. The source of my disappointment, however, is how few of you actually ran the field. You didn't even fill the entire tunnel while you were waiting for the run. And, once the "tunnel" for the players to run was formed, I saw far too many of you streaming through the stadium entrances, heading down to your seats. That's bush league. Run, people. Do your class proud.

By the second half, there tens of people on the visitors side not in band uniforms or Baylor Line jerseys, and there were probably 5-6 rows of Liners left. Briles found that disappointing, and while I do agree with him, I can't entirely fault them for it. It was blazing, and the visitor's side of the stadium was in the sun the entire day, whereas the home side benefitted from the shade of the press box from the 2nd quarter onward. Had the game been in doubt still, I suspect more people would have stuck around, but the combination of heat and a 56-13 halftime score drove the kids away. Ultimately, I sincerely hope that we never see that kind of desertion ever again, though.

I'll save my thoughts on the team for position grades and perhaps the podcast, other than to say this: HOLY CRAP OUR TEAM IS FAST. If our offense continues to play like this, there is no one in the country that we can't hang with. I'm not taking a ton away from this game, necessarily, but I'm simply saying that this could be a special year.

Colby Conner's Impressions Follow @colbyconner

It was hot there again, as I’m sure is no surprise to anyone. I have a nice little sunburn in the shape of a v on my upper chest where my polo was unbuttoned. There was, however a nice little breeze yesterday before the game that made tailgating bearable so that was nice. It seemed like everyone got a much later start for this game. The student tailgate site was not really a happening place until about 1:00, but you’ll hear more about that in my weekly post I’m going to start doing, so just be aware that that is on the way.

The stands were not as full for this game as they were for the game against Wofford. It looked like the Case was maybe 70-75% full. That’s just a rough estimate, and I’m going from just after kickoff, because anytime later the fan base percentage probably dwindled down near 10%. I forget how many people showed up for Wofford last week, but Buffalo had probably 40-50 fans show up yesterday to support their team. A lot of which were hanging out by the lemon chill stand trying to escape the heat from the stands. Also, strawberry chill > lemon chill. For sure.

You may think I’m lying here, but I saw the flea flicker coming about half a second after the ball was handed off. Our safety was beat, but then the ball was lobbed downfield and Burt had a lot of time to turn around and make a play on the ball instead of the man. Our corner situation scares me. I’ve never been a KJ fan, but Joe Williams is supposed to be more solid out of the two.

Tevin Reese is fast. He made the catch on what would be his first touchdown, and as soon as he got around the DB, it was over. Lache was impressive as always. I love watching Shawn Oakman get in the game, because he just eats people. I saw him walking around the Castellaw Communications Building on Friday, even without pads, he is a big dude. The amount of speed Baylor has on offense is ridiculous and I love being able to watch it in person. Which is probably why watching the Bryce Hager fumble recovery return for a TD so amusing. Reese, Seastrunk, Goodley, Linwood, finish that return in, what, 8 seconds? Hager just kind of rumbled around, had one of the slowest changes of direction I’ve ever seen around, and went in for the score. It was great. This bye week isn’t going to be fun. I want to watch more Baylor football.

I texted my friend from high school who is a student at Ohio State asking how they only beat that team by 20. His response is that he was impressed with how we played, but also quickly mentioned they just destroyed San Diego State. SEC kills each other off and we get Baylor-Ohio State? Just a thought.

David Fankhauser's Thoughts Follow @dfank_BU

Well that was fun, wasn't it?

This definitely wasn't the greatest crowd we've ever had but it was sort of expected given the opponent and the stiffling heat. Still, I'd like to see us take the next step as a fanbase. We should be done with games where there are acres of empty bleachers at Floyd Casey. The new stadium will help, but the football program has stepped it up a notch and we as fans need to do the same with our support. </soapbox>

On the field, wow. Just wow. I get that we've "only" played Wofford and Buffalo thus far but Baylor has outscored opponents 139-16 in 2 games (94-13 in the 1st half). I don't think I can say anything new about the offense that hasn't already been said, typed, tweeted, etc. Art Briles has built an absolute machine and there isn't going to be anybody slowing it down anytime soon it appears. Bryce Petty looked incredibly comfortable and confident in his decision making yesterday. The offensive line dominated the line of scrimmage (remember how everyone was worried about Khalil Mack going into the game?) and made life easy for our skill position guys to do what they do. Baylor could've scored 120 points and had 1,000 yards yesterday if the starters had played the entire 60 minutes. It was as dominant of an offensive performance as I can remember.

I thought the defense played well for the most part. The D-line and linebackers shut down the run game and had consistent pressure on Joe Licata. Buffalo wasn't able to move the ball without the explosive play down the field. However, you can expect to see the Baylor secondary frequently tested over the top in upcoming games until the Bears prove that they can shut that down. It's now on tape and other teams will look to exploit this weakness. I think the return of Demetri Goodson will help but this is a definite concern as we know there are several Big 12 opponents that are capable of these explosive plays. It's also worth pointing out that Alex Neutz is a real playmaker on the outside for Buffalo. I'll be interested to see what kind of numbers he puts up for the rest of the season. If you're a fan of #MACtion, Buffalo has a pair of Tuesday night ESPN games in November.

The biggest disappointment from this game? We have to wait a whole 2 weeks for another Baylor game. I bet we can score 40 points in our bye week though. Get on board with this team if you haven't already done so. I get the sense that we have a fun ride ahead of us.

Were you at the game? Plan on attending the ULM game and want to participate? Let me know, and I'll be happy to include your impressions in the next installment of this series. Let me know in the comments,  on Twitter, or just email me your comments and I'll include them.