I doubt we see this one go into the CFB annals as any kind of classic, but true freshman Charlie Brewer, in the first start of his collegiate career, finally gave Matt Rhule and the Baylor Bears their first win of the 2017 season. Brewer finished 24 of 30 passing for 335 yards, 3 TDs and no picks, and sophomore Denzel Mims had another big day with 5 catches for 122 yards. He didn’t get any touchdowns, but that was only because true freshman Gavin Holmes had two (one rushing, one receiving), we finally got the TE TDs that we’ve been waiting for, and Terence Williams added his first of the season in the third quarter. The Bears finished with 455 total yards to Kansas’s 288.
Some might argue that there’s not a ton of celebrating to be done when you’re 1-8 on the season and your sole win is over a legitimately terrible Kansas team, but screw trying to keep things in perspective. I guarantee you they’re pretty happy in the locker room right now, as they should be, and I’m happy for them. These guys have been working all season to get this first win, and they’ve earned it. The key to rebuilding a program is getting back up every time you get knocked down and to keep moving forward. They did that. The offense scored 38 without any turnovers and the defense didn’t give up a single TD and held KU to 3 of 16 on third downs. It was a good day.
In addition to the guys listed above, a few other performances today are worthy of note, particularly on our much-maligned defense. True freshman Harrison Hand and James Lynch both played extremely well today, with Hand registering his first-career INT and Lynch looking like a seasoned vet. We’ll know how many tackles for loss he had when the stats go up on BaylorBears.com later. Senior Taylor Young, stepping in at MLB for the injured Clay Johnston, also had a great day, and as I am writing this, Jalen Pitre just shot through the gap on a blitz for what might be his second sack of the day. Despite missing an early FG (only his third miss of the year), TEAM MVP CONNOR MARTIN also had another strong game with 2 outstanding punts and the FG that made it 31-9.
Mostly, though, the story of today’s game was Charlie Brewer. After another slow start by the offense, Brewer went 13 for 17 to finish the first half (including 10 straight completions at one point) and help the Bears build a 21-6 halftime lead. Even considering the opponent, it was about as efficient as we’ve seen the Baylor offense look this season (although Zach’s performance against Oklahoma deserves to be mentioned). Considering we had almost no early success running the ball, Brewer deserves a ton of credit for that.
ACTUALLY, FORGET EVERYTHING I JUST WROTE BECAUSE ISHMAIL WAINRIGHT CAUGHT A TD PASS IN A FOOTBALL GAME AND CLEARLY DESERVES PLAYER OF THE GAME!!!! I DON’T CARE THAT WE’RE NOW GETTING THE RICO-ESQUE “HE’S NEVER PLAYED FOOTBALL BEFORE” STUFF. I AM ECSTATIC. PERSPECTIVE IS MEANINGLESS.
Ish. Wainright. #SicKU pic.twitter.com/2VS0moANRz
— Baylor Football (@BUFootball) November 4, 2017
Anyway, see you guys next week for Texas Tech in Arlington. They’re leading Kansas State right now and could be playing for a bowl game.
We’ll stay here the rest of the day unless things get crazy.