Game 3: Baylor Bears @ Rice Owls Game Thread

Did y’all know we used to have a special “Game Thread” type of post that would auto-create with the box score in the top of it? We did. It was pretty cool. I enjoyed using it for ... seven years?

We don’t have that anymore for whatever reason, and I don’t know why. That makes me sad.

You know what doesn’t make me sad? BAYLOR PLAYS IN A LITTLE OVER AN HOUR (from the time I’m writing this, not the time I’m posting it). But before we get to that, let’s survey some of the bigger games of the day so far in CFB.

• Wisconsin 35, Michigan 14—I watched most of this game, and it wasn’t nearly as close as the score makes it seem. Wisconsin crushed Michigan. They embarrassed them. I loved it.
• LSU 66, Vandy 38—LSU’s offense is really good, if you weren’t aware. Their defense is not so good, which makes me again question the early-season hype for Ehrlinger in Austin.
• Florida 34, Tennessee 3—Is Jeremy Pruitt going to last the year? Tennessee is now 1-3 this season and may be one of the worst P5 teams in the country.
• Auburn 21, A&M 3 (3Q)—I ... did not see this coming. Aggie fans on Twitter seem extremely upset about their offense in this one.
• Pitt 21, UCF 10 (3Q)—I REALLY did not see this coming. Pitt football is basically a virus that you just hope you aren’t unlucky enough to catch. UPDATE—UCF has taken the lead at 24-21, so it looks like Pitt may have tired itself out in its confusion.
• SMU 31, TCU 17 (3Q)—I’m afraid to say anything and jinx it, but I did see this:

I’m sure there are other things happening or that have happened that I didn’t mention. NOW ON TO OUR GAME!

The Bears are in Houston today to take on the Rice Owls, who are 0-3 this season with losses to Army, Wake Forest, and Texas. They’ve scored a combined 41 points in those three games while giving up 103 and are 128th in Bill C’s SP+ (formerly S&P+ and now housed at ESPN), which is third-worst in the entire FBS. FEI (still at FootballOutsiders.com) doesn’t really disagree, ranking them 124th. They appear to be good at nothing. Baylor, on the other hand, is 2-0 and coming off a bye week ranked 29th in SP+ and 18th in FEI. SP+ favors our offense slightly over our defense but thinks both are decent (top 40-ish) while FEI loves our offense (7th) and doubts the defense (73rd).

Here’s a few tweets (about our game) to get things going:

/kisses fingers/

I love it.

Let’s have a good, clean game thread, everybody! Go Bears!