Nov. 13, 1999
WACO, Texas - Baylor's growing pains continued Saturday as Colorado claimed a thoroughly dominating 37-0 win over the Bears in their annual Homecoming celebration.
The Buffaloes controlled every phase of the game, piling up 462 yards total offense and 27 first downs while limiting the Bears to 114 yards and a half-dozen first downs.
"The special teams had breakdowns, we were inept on offense and the defense had some spurts but got worn down," said Baylor coach Kevin Steele, whose Bears fell to 1-9, 0-7 in Big 12 play. "We're in a rebuilding process and this is a work in progress. It's not very pretty yet. There's not any element of this football program that can't be improved upon."
Baylor's offensive woes continued as the Buffaloes (6-4, 5-2 Big 12) limited the Bears to 74 rushing yards. BU quarterbacks finished the day hitting four of 21 passes for 40 yards. Of Baylor's 12 possession, eight went three-and-out.
CU passers connected on 19 of 27 passes for 228 yards.
"We had a complete game," said Colorado coach Gary Barnett, whose team posted its first shutout in 36 games. "We made good decisions, and our running game was better than it has ever been."
"We're not pointing fingers," Steele said after watching his offense get no closer to the CU endzone than the 24 yardline. "We are where we are. We have a plan and we'll get out of this. One day we'll enjoy the aftermath of these games."
Each team's opening possession was a harbinger of things to come. After Baylor's opening drive went three-and-out the Buffaloes put together a 10-play, 48 scoring drive to grab an early 7-0 lead.
Cortlen Johnson, who finished the day with 41 yards on 14 carries, ran untouched four yards off left tackle for the score at the 9:08 mark of the first quarter, but not before Mike Moschetti gained two yards on a fourth-and-one play from the five.
It was to be the first of five fourth-down situations on as many attempts CU converted on the day.
Another big Buff play in the drive came when Moschetti hit John Minardi for a big gain while facing third-and-six from the 33. Moschetti left the game in the third quarter after hitting 18-of-23 passes for 210 yards and a touchdown.
Colorado gained great field position again when Robert Haas broke clean up the middle block Kyle Atteberry's punt. After the ball wobbled out of bounds, the Buffaloes took over at the Bear 31.
Baylor held though, thanks in large part to Charles Mann's sack of Moschetti for a loss of seven yards. Two plays later Jeremy Aldrich's 43-yard field goal attempt sailed wide right.
On Colorado's next possession the Bear defense appeared to be poised for another big series, but Moschetti, facing fourth-and-one from his own 43, found a streaking Marcus Stiggers open down the middle for a 57-yard pass completion to the two. The Dallas native Stiggers led the CU receiving corps with 80 yards on four catches.
Sophomore fullback David Andrews then scored his first career touchdown on a dive over the middle to cap the five-play, 67-yard drive that took 1:58. With 3:54 to go in the first period, the Buff lead went to 14-0.
With the Bear offense again coming up short on third down, Colorado started yet another drive in Bear territory. But cornerback Gary Baxter stopped an inside pass cold and linebacker Rodney Smith halted a screen pass in the right flat to force an Aldrich punt.
Odell James then replaced Jermaine Alfred at quarterback and promptly scrambled up the middle for a 17-yard gain and Baylor's initial first down of the game at the BU 37. The drive, however, stalled at the 37.
"It was just a gut feeling," Steele said of inserting James. "There was nothing anything anybody did wrong. We were just trying to get a spark."
Colorado took over and moved 73 yards to the Bear seven before having to settle for a 24-yard Aldrich field goal that upped the lead to 17-0 with 9:47 to go before halftime.
James came back in the game and helped orchestrate the Bears' most promising drive of the game to that point. First the Houston junior again took off on another long scrambling run, this time for 32 yards to the CU 37. And then another James run, this one around left end for seven yards, gave BU a first down at the CU 27.
But the drive stalled at the Buff 24 so Baylor called on Atteberry for a 41-yard field goal attempt, which sailed wide right and kept the CU lead at 17.
When Colorado took back over, the Bear defense again appeared to have stopped CU short, but the Buffs overcame another fourth-down situation with a trick play. With the Buffs facing fourth and long, up-back Gabe Leonard took a short snap from punt formation and rambled up the middle 29 yards to the 27.
"A lot of those things (fourth-down conversions) are dictated by where they are on the field and how the game is going," Steele said.
A few snaps later Moschetti found tight end Miles Koon in the endzone for a three-yard scoring strike. The 76-yard drive took 11 plays and consumed 5:01 as Colorado went ahead 24-0 with 2:08 remaining in the half.
After holding Baylor without a first down, CU used its hurry-up offense to move 43 yards in seven plays and reach the Bear 24 with two seconds remaining. From there Aldrich hit a 37-yard field goal making it 27-0 as the first half expired.
The Buffaloes kept their high-scoring ways going and put the game away by scoring on their first two possessions of the half. First, Aldrich hit a 47-yard field goal to cap a 10, play, 52-yard drive consuming 4:34. Then Dwayne Cherrington hit paydirt from six feet out to conclude an 11-play, 82-yard scoring march that consumed 4:33.
With 3:29 to play in the third quarter, CU had built a commanding 37-0 margin and that would be all the damage the Buffs would do. Playing a slew of substitutes while employing mostly runs between the tackles, Colorado generated little more offensively while continuing to stifle the Bear offense. The Bears took only five snaps across the 50 yardline all day.
"We're a team and we'll always be a team," Steele said. "If you're a team and you care, you don't give up. It's not easy, but nobody ever said it would be."
