1000 Days of Waco Magic

On October 13, 2012, an underdog TCU Horned Frogs team led by an unknown freshman QB named Trevone Boykin stepped into old Floyd Casey Stadium and pulled away late for a 49-21 win over your Baylor Bears. This game dropped the Bears to 3-2 on the 2012 season and 0-2 in Big 12 play, having lost to their two newest conference mates, West Virginia and TCU. Now why on earth, you ask, am I bringing that game back into your memory bank? Well October 13, 2012 was exactly 1000 days ago from the date of this publication.

And Baylor hasn't lost a home game since.

That's right. It's been 1000 days since Baylor lost a home football game. At the time, One More Night by Maroon 5 was the #1 song on the charts. The average gas price in the US was over $3.50. Robert Griffin III was the toast of the NFL as the league's Offensive Rookie of the Month. Bill Cosby was still America's Dad. DeAndre Jordan was a Los Angeles Clipper. Those were wild times, man.

Baylor's next home game was a 41-14 Homecoming win over Kansas, a fairly innocuous result at the time. But sparked by a massive upset over #1 Kansas State two weeks later, the Art Briles' ruthless killing machine has turned Waco into the toughest place for a visiting team to win in all of college football. 16 consecutive opponents have walked into Floyd Casey or McLane Stadium and taken an L.

But Baylor hasn't put together a nice lucky streak. The Bears flat out CRUSH opponents at home and destroy their will, winning by an average score of 55-19 during the 16 game streak. Baylor has dropped 60 or more points 8 times in this span while the opponent has only reached as much as 30 on three occasions. And while BU has been the national leader in yards/game the last two seasons, it goes full throttle in front of the home fans. Baylor has averaged 661 YPG during the streak (365 pass, 296 run). That 365 yards passing is 50 yards more than Baylor opponents have averaged in terms of TOTAL offense.

And it starts as soon as the game kicks off. The combined 1st quarter score in those 16 games is Baylor 307 Opponents 65. More often than not, the Baylor offense kicks it into high gear, lifting the crowd into a frenzy and rendering the opponent burnt.

Well I mean, that's cool and all but Baylor plays a weak non-conference schedule which totally skews all the numbers right? Nah. the Briles locomotive stops for no one. Big 12 opponents are taking a 26 point beating on average. And ranked opponents have lost eight consecutive games in Waco dating back to the beginning of the 2011 season.

In 960 minutes of play during the streak, Baylor has held a 20 point lead or larger for 449:45. That's 46.8% of game time! On the other side, Baylor has trailed for less than 60 minutes and has only been down by 20 or more for 59 seconds, the time it took for Baylor to score the first touchdown of a certain epic comeback that took place the last time Baylor played TCU at home.

Without further adieu, I give you my top 7 games during the streak. Because we like touchdowns 'round here:

7. October 5, 2013: Baylor 73 West Virginia 42

Remember when the national pundits said our offense was a gimmick? Then we dropped 56 in a half.

6. August 31, 2014: Baylor 45 SMU 0

I don't know about you but opening a brand new on-campus stadium seems like kind of a big deal.

5. December 6, 2014: Baylor 38 Kansas State 27

First time for ESPN College Gameday on campus and they get to see the Bears clinch a second straight Big 12 title. Nice headgear pick tho Corso.

4. November 7, 2013: Baylor 41 Oklahoma 12

The first Blackout game. Still the best game atmosphere I've ever seen at a Baylor game.

3. November 17, 2012: Baylor 52 Kansas State 24

First and only time Baylor has ever beaten a #1 ranked opponent. And after that amazing run by Lache to cap it off, fun was had.

2. December 7, 2013: Baylor 30 Texas 10

The first conference championship in 33 years in the last game ever at the Case. I'm pretty sure I'm still trying to warm up from that game.

1. October 11, 2014: Baylor 61 TCU 58

I think the score speaks for itself at this point. But thanks to Ted, you can condense the whole game in 14 minutes.