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Baylor vs. SMU -- The Morning After -- Highlights, Links, Notes, Tweets

After trailing at the end of the first quarter 6-0, Baylor ripped off a 40-7 run the rest of the way for a comfortable win over SMU on Saturday.

By Mark C. Moore
Jerome Miron-USA TODAY Sports
1ST 2ND 3RD 4TH F
SMU (1-1, 0-0) 6 0 7 0 13
BAYLOR (2-0, 0-0) 0 6 20 14 40

Box Score |  Quotes |  Notes |  Photo Gallery 1 |  Photo Gallery 2

Waco, Texas - Attendance: 45,499

Before I get started, I want to say that it seems extremely silly to even be talking about football on the fifteenth anniversary of one of the worst days in American history.  I, like probably most of you, still remember exactly where I was when everything happened on 9/11, and there's nothing we can do here talking about a football game or football games that is more important than remembering those lives lost and the impact that day had on our country as a whole.  Part of the reason this post is delayed is that I was watching the coverage this morning and reading other articles online that put the whole thing into perspective again.  Anyway, that's probably a clumsy opening paragraph that doesn't really do justice, but let's move on.

The Big News:

Baylor is now 2-0 on the young season and one of only three unbeaten teams in the Big 12 Conference after a fairly crazy day yesterday that saw TCU roar back on Arkansas only to lose in double overtime and Oklahoma State honestly, genuinely lose a game that, according to the rule book, they should have won.  I'll say that again -- Oklahoma State should be 2-0 right now, too, even if they didn't look all that great during the game.  They did enough to win and should have based on the rules as they are written. I would support the NCAA allowing an exception for that specific game to overturn the result, even if I know it won't happen and why. Below are the Big 12 standings as of today, two games in:

Big 12 Overall
Team Record Pct Home Away Neutral Streak Record Pct Home Away Neutral Streak
Baylor 0-0 .000 0-0 0-0 0-0 - 2-0 1.000 2-0 0-0 0-0 W2
Texas 0-0 .000 0-0 0-0 0-0 - 2-0 1.000 2-0 0-0 0-0 W2
West Virginia 0-0 .000 0-0 0-0 0-0 - 2-0 1.000 2-0 0-0 0-0 W2
Kansas 0-0 .000 0-0 0-0 0-0 - 1-1 .500 1-1 0-0 0-0 L1
Oklahoma 0-0 .000 0-0 0-0 0-0 - 1-1 .500 1-0 0-1 0-0 W1
Oklahoma State 0-0 .000 0-0 0-0 0-0 - 1-1 .500 1-1 0-0 0-0 L1
TCU 0-0 .000 0-0 0-0 0-0 - 1-1 .500 1-1 0-0 0-0 L1
Texas Tech 0-0 .000 0-0 0-0 0-0 - 1-1 .500 1-0 0-1 0-0 L1
Kansas State 0-0 .000 0-0 0-0 0-0 - 0-1 .000 0-0 0-1 0-0 L1
Iowa State 0-0 .000 0-0 0-0 0-0 - 0-2 .000 0-1 0-1 0-0 L2

So things are exactly as everyone expected going in, right?  The two "favorites" in the conference, Oklahoma and TCU, both dropped an early non-conference game they probably expected to win. Both are still clearly in the conference race and could potentially get back into the national race if things break right for them, but both also have clear flaws that should temper enthusiasm on that point.  Honestly, I don't know how good any of the teams listed above actually are except Iowa State and Kansas, which is not very.

Players of the Game:

I wanted to wait to see the final stats for the defensive side before naming a Player of the Game there, but I didn't actually need to.  It's the same answer.

Offensive Player of the Game:

  • WR Blake Lynch -- 6 catches, 95 yards, 1 TD (should have been 2)

Co- Defensive Players of the Game

  • NB Patrick Levels -- 12 tackles (team high), 1 tackle for loss, 2 forced fumbles, 1 fumble recovery, 2 QB hurries
  • S Orion Stewart -- 8 tackles (2nd on team), 2 INTs, 1 INT returned for TD.

Levels was seemingly everywhere in this game.  Stewart made two of the biggest plays, one of which came in the endzone on an NFL-caliber move.

Thoughts on the Game:

Going to do this in bullet points to save time.

  • I was very impressed with Chad Morris as an offensive coach yesterday against our defense.  There were several times where he had the perfect play called to take advantage of our aggressiveness, and his offense was able to do some things despite being severely outmanned and with a first-time starter at QB.  It worked out for us in the game, but I would note that I thought he should have been more aggressive himself on a couple of key fourth downs that he probably could have gotten to extend drives.  SMU fans probably aren't happy with him today for those decisions.  I wouldn't be.
  • Davion Hall is a soon-to-beast.  He's flashing beast qualities and will get there.
  • Seth Russell will get right in terms of accuracy, but I am slightly concerned if his injury last season didn't affect his arm strength going forward. That is pure speculation on my part, though.
  • Terence Williams and J'Mycal Hasty have a little thunder and lightning thing going on.  Reminds me of Glasco Martin and Lache Seastrunk from a few years ago.
  • SMU's run blitzes gave us fits, and there will be plenty to work on in the film room for the OL this week.  Van Malone did a great job against our running game for 3 quarters.
  • Ryan Reid (high ankle sprain) and Pooh Stricklin (shoulder) are the only injuries that I know of from the game, but if there are others, please post them in the comments.

CFB Playoff:

I'm going to take a stab at this today since we've got a little more information to work with. This is my personal feeling on how things are right now and will obviously change going forward.

  1. Alabama -- Basically undisputed as the best team in the country outside of the state of Michigan.
  2. Michigan -- I keep picking against them beating the spread in the ODB Pick 'Em league, and I keep being wrong.
  3. Florida State -- This one hurts to say.

I honestly don't know about the last spot.  Clemson has looked surprisingly mortal, else I'd put them in there.  My guess is that I'll look silly for not doing it soon enough.  Oklahoma dropped that game against Houston, who might actually deserve the spot.  It could be Ohio State, Stanford, or maybe even someone like Washington.  I'll be interested to see where the AP and Coaches Polls shake out today on this.

Links Links Links Links Links:

Russell, No. 23 Football Roll to 40-13 Win over SMU - Baylor Official Athletic Site
The Official Athletic Site of the Baylor University - Seth Russell threw for 261 yards and two touchdowns and ran for another score, and No. 23 Baylor recovered from a slow start to rout SMU 40-13 on Saturday.

2016 college football rankings, Week 3: Should Clemson still be No. 2? - SBNation.com
Week two was supposed to be a pretty mild weekend, but it resulted in chaos on a number of different fronts. We'll add new rankings as each set is available this Sunday morning.

College football’s Week 2 was supposed to be boring. Um, it was awesome. - SBNation.com
Good morning! This is the Read Option, your daily college football newsletter.

Baylor notebook: Fourth-down plays make Grobe nervous; Stewart’s big day; Reid, Stricklin injured - WacoTrib.com: Baylor Bears Football
Under Art Briles, Baylor was seldom hesitant about attempting a play on fourth down. Since Kendal Briles still calls plays for the Bears, not much has changed in that regard.

College Sports: Baylor quotable: Defense reverses script and leads the Bears, Seth Russell gives health update | SportsDay
Here are highlights from Baylor's post-game press conferences following its 40-13 win over SMU.Head coach Jim GrobeOpening statements:Well, that...

College Sports: Whoops: Baylor quotes tweet about hiring SMU's Chad Morris in middle of game | SportsDay
Baylor struggled through much of the first three quarters against SMU on Saturday.It was an impressive showing from SMU and head coach Chad Morris...

Defense leads Bears to win over SMU, 40-13 - WacoTrib.com: Baylor Bears Football
Baylor’s Jim Grobe is an old defensive coach who remembers when spread offenses weren’t all the rage.

Brice Cherry: Russell, Hicks reveal that education is ongoing - WacoTrib.com: Baylor Bears Football
> PHOTOS: Baylor football vs. SMU at McLane Stadium

College Sports: 5 takeaways: Baylor puts SMU away in second half in game that exposes Bears' weaknesses | SportsDay
Here are five takeaways from Baylor's _____ victory over SMU.1. Slow start. The Bears seemed to forget to show up for the first quarter of the...

TWEETS TWEETS TWEETS TWEETS TWEETS:

There are more, but that's enough for now. Have a great Sunday, everyone!

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