Baylor
Oklahoma St
Baylor Ends Season With 34-14 Loss
7/27/2000 12:00:00 AM | Football
Nov. 20, 1999
WACO, Texas - While Oklahoma State never had cause to question the final outcome, Baylor could take a measure of pride from a solid second half in a 34-14 loss to the Cowboys in Waco.
In a season in which Baylor sought even a glimmer of the positive, the Bears out-scored OSU 14-7 in the final two quarters. Bear coach Kevin Steele said his halftime speech may have helped slow the incoming tide.
"I was as made as I've ever been in my life without getting in a fight," the first-year coach said after his team had produced virtually nothing and trailed 27-0 at the half. "I expressed my concerns in a professional manner, but I did not hide my emotions. I said we'll find out who the fighters are. It could have gotten ugly."
Baylor finished its season at 1-10, 0-8 in Big 12 play while Oklahoma State went to 5-5, 3-4 in the leagaue with a season-finale against Oklahoma in Norman next week.
"I'm disappointed that we couldn't get a victory in the Big 12. I'm disappointed we didn't finish the year off. The first half was a tape recording: a lack of first downs, a lack of getting off the field on third down, the kicking game was nothing special," Steele said.
The Cowboys finished with a whopping 442 yards total offense while Baylor managed a season-low 86. The first-down stats favored OSU 25-4. As telling as those numbers are, the most numbing may be Oklahoma State's margin in time of possession, 42:58 to 17:02.
Cowboy signal-caller Tony Lindsay finished the day completing 17 of 27 passes for 228 yards. OSU fullback Kevin Brown led all rushers with 57, while Jamaal Fobbs, the son of BU assistant coach Lee Fobbs, gained 49 yards on 13 totes.
But Baylor still managed to show some second-half fight, scoring a pair of touchdowns to break a long scoring drought while keeping the game from getting completely out of hand.
OSU thoroughly controlled the first quarter. The Bears netted just two yards total offense, while yielding 134. The Cowboys controlled the clock by a staggering 13:50 to 1:10 margin in the opening period.
The avalanche began when the Cowboys took the opening kickoff and looked like they were ready to punch it in the endzone. But Bear linebacker Rodney Smith sacked Lindsay for a six-yard loss, setting the stage for a 48-yard field goal by Tim Sydnes.
The Bear defense had stiffened just in time to stop the 10-play, 43-yard drive that took 3:36 off the clock and made it 3-0 with 11:14 to play in the first quarter. Meanwhile, the offense continued to struggle to find a way to move the ball as Jermaine Alfred threw an interception to Cowboy cornerback J.B. Flowers at the BU 35.
From there it took the Cowboys seven plays to make it 10-0. Tailback Nathan Simmons, the son of OSU head coach Bob Simmons, bounced in from the three with 15:56 to play before halftime.
"We wanted to come out and establish the run and we had success that way," the elder Simmons said.
On Oklahoma State's next possession they overcame a fourth-and-one at the 26 yardline as Lindsay hit tight end Khary Jackson for a 23-yard gain. The strike set up another Sydnes field goal, this one a 23-yarder which extended the lead to 13-0 with 8:56 to go in the second. The drive went 44 yards in 17 plays and consumed 4:23.
The Cowboys' Kevin Brown made it 20-0 with his one-yard dive over the top with 4:16 before intermission. The scoring drive covered 35-yards in seven plays. The margin very quickly went to 27-0 when Terrence Richardson returned Baylor's next punt 52-yards for a touchdown with 2:20 to go in the half.
Baylor got its lone first down of the half when Darrell Bush bolted up the middle for a 30-yard run, but Odell James, inserted to replace Alfred, promptly threw an interception to halt the drive. By halftime OSU had a 231-12 advantage in total yards and had recorded 17 first downs to Baylor's one. Time of possession: OSU 21:42, BU 8:18.
The Cowboys got it going again in the third quarter by blocking a Kyle Atteberry punt to set up a drive starting at the Bear 27. Tight end Bryan Blackwood caught a Lindsay pass of 12 yards to cap a three-play drive that made it 34-0 with 4:36 remaining in the third. From there, however, Steele's locker room words began to bear fruit.
Randy David jump-started Baylor's next drive with a 55-yard kickoff return to the Cowboy 41. Four plays later, Alfred, back in the game at quarterback, bolted up the middle on a draw play for a 24-yard touchdown run.
"I told him he heard what I said and I appreciated it," Steele said. "You could watch the second half and see we turned it up a notch."
Baylor's first score in eight quarters of play cut the lead to 34-7 with 3:49 to play in the third.
Gary Baxter ended Oklahoma State's next threat when he intercepted Lindsay on a pass play across the middle at the Bear eight. The Bears couldn't do anything with the ball, but another BU interception, this one by Daniel Wilturner, produced more Bear points.
Reading Lindsay when he attempted a throw in the right flat, Wilturner broke on he ball perfectly and returned it 52 yards down the OSU sideline for a touchdown. With 11:08 to play, the Oklahoma State lead had been cut to 20 at 34-14.
The Bears managed to keep the final margin at 20.
"We have a lot of work to do in the off-season," Steele said. "The external viewer would look at the scoreboard and see no progress. But those inside the program will see a lot of improvement. There a lot of components to this the general public doesn't see.
"A big part of improving something is to know what you're needs are. We now know what our needs are. We know what needs to be fixed. It's frustrating not to be able to do it, but we have made improvements. This team never came apart. It didn't point fingers or blame others."
