Nov. 20, 2000

Editor's Note: Articles such as this one by Carroll Fadal appear in each edition of the Baylor Bear Insider Report, available upon membership in the Baylor Bear Foundation. For information on joining the Bear Foundation, click here.

One theme was constant among Baylor players and coaches immediately after the Bears' 50-22 season-ending loss to Oklahoma State, and it wasn't an obscure one. To a man, they all pointed to a nightmarish first quarter that saw Baylor turn the ball over on its first four possessions, leading to a 23-0 OSU lead that in effect ended the game.

"It was a brutal beginning," Bruin boss Kevin Steele said. "Twenty-four points, boom, all on turnovers quick, and we were moving the football.

"We had some rhythm, had some things going, and you spot them 24 points, and it wasn't that we were not executing plays, we were executing plays.

"Basically, you can write the story on this game, as far as Baylor is concerned, you write the first 24 points for Oklahoma State and how you got to that point, you can stop writing. You're not going to line up and run your offense, run the ball and keep them off balance, running and throwing and play-action passing and score 33 points like we had to do the second half.

"I'VE BEEN IN GAMES where there would be a hole in the dam and you stick your finger in and another one springs out over here, but that was like standing in front out there and they didn't just let the flood gates open, the dam broke."

The four first-quarter turnovers occurred during Baylor's first 14 snaps, and all were at least partially attributable to redshirt freshman quarterback Josh Zachry, making his second career start. On the Bears' first offensive play, Zachry was sacked, fumbled and OSU recovered at the Baylor 1. The next possession, he threw an interception. The third, he fumbled at the end of an option run, and on the fourth, a low shotgun snap hit him in the ankle and the Cowboys recovered. Understandably, Zachry was upset after the game and blamed himself for the loss.

"It was pretty much my worst nightmare," Zachry said. "I fumbled, threw an interception, couldn't handle a snap, and they capitalized on all of it. We couldn't move the ball very well in the first half. We could have scored so many points on them, but I just couldn't execute my plays. I didn't execute in the first half as well as I should have, and it cost us the game."

ZACHRY CAME BACK from that tough beginning to hit 17-of-35 passes for 227 yards and a pair of touchdowns, and through it all, neither Steele or Zachry's teammates lost confidence in him.

"Josh is a fighter," Steele said. "He's very competitive. There's a lot of guys who couldn't have come back and done the things he did in terms of the completions he threw and the plays he made later on, because he started out with two or three pretty huge turnovers. It would have been very easy for the normal football team to say, 'Hey, what's going on? Where's our quarterback?' In credit to our team, they didn't do that, and in credit to Josh, he didn't knuckle under to it, he just kept fighting."

"We knew it happened, but there's only one way to get out of it, and that's to stay positive and go out there and keep fighting," said sophomore receiver Reggie Newhouse, who had six catches for 110 yards and a touchdown. "Josh is a great player, and he's going to go out there and make plays. You've just got to keep him positive and keep him motivated. He didn't start out right, but he came back and finished up strong."

"At first, we started getting a little bit frustrated," echoed freshman receiver Robert Quiroga, who had five catches for 46 yards and a touchdown, "but we started to calm down and regroup and get together, and we started making plays after that."

Here's what else they were saying after the game.

Steele, on the possibility of coaching staff changes after the season. "For me to change a football coach, he's going to have to be unethical or immoral or break NCAA rules. Or, it's going to have to be a point through a long-term evaluation of me saying, 'You need to do this, you need to do this, you need to do this better,' and there's no improvement. That's what professional people in this business do, because if you just start saying, 'We've got to blame somebody, so let's just go around the room and pick somebody,' what you're doing is saying, okay, it's everybody's fault, so let's get the heat off us and blame somebody. I don't believe in that, and it's not going to happen. We have not been in this program long enough to build this thing.

"Everything I've told those young people about life and about handling adversity and about fighting through things and about building things and having character and faith and all those things, if I do that, then they walk out the door and say, 'Well, he preached a good sermon, but he doesn't live that way.' Because these assistant coaches work their tail off. Every time I ask them to do something better, they improve it. They're morally and ethically sound, they don't break rules. So, nah, we're not going there."

Senior tailback Darrell Bush, who rushed for 95 yards on 15 carries, on ending his career: "Being a senior, you wan't to leave on a winning note. Unfortunately, the offense came out and started turning over the ball, and that led to our loss. I don't know how many yards I have, I was just concentrating on winning and trying to go out there to work hard for my team. Other than the turnovers, we played pretty good. Without the turnovers, it would have been a pretty close ballgame. We didn't give up, being our last game, you might expect some teams to give up when they're down, but we didn't. We went out there and played hard."

Freshman linebacker John Garrett, who had six tackles, a sack and a fumble recovery: "On a couple of them, I was stunting. Me and the linebackers crossed, so I came up free on two of them and made the play when I could. We had some good points and bad points, but that's life, you've just got to keep playing hard."

Freshman defensive end Aaron Lard, who forced a fumble that led to Baylor's first points: "I'm starting to fit in, I'm actually starting to fill out my position now. I know what the coaches expect of me, and now, I'm hitting on all cylinders at the end of the season. We've really started to understand how we're going to rush the passer. I'm starting to use my hands more, and I've felt more comfortable in my pass rush, so I'm getting to the quarterback more."

Editor's Note: Articles such as this one by Carroll Fadal appear in each edition of the Baylor Bear Insider Report, available upon membership in the Baylor Bear Foundation. For information on joining the Bear Foundation, click here.