Sept. 18, 2000
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SOUTH FLORIDA at BAYLOR
Floyd Casey Stadium (50,000)
Waco, Texas
September 23, 2000 * 6:00 p.m. (CDT)
The Skinny
Baylor (1-1, 0-0 Big 12), which lost its home opener to Minnesota, 34-9, hosts South Florida (2-1) at Floyd Casey Stadium (50,000). The Bulls, a team in transition to I-A who will play in Conference USA next year, beat James Madison at home last week, 26-7.
Coaches
Kevin Steele (Tennessee, 1981) is 2-11 in his second season at Baylor. He has never faced South Florida.
South Florida's Jim Leavitt (Missouri, 1978) is 22-14 in his fourth season as the Bulls' head coach. He has never faced Baylor.
Series
Baylor and South Florida have never met on the gridiron.
BU Among Turnover Leaders
Baylor, currently tied for fifth nationally in turnover margin, has totalled a plus-four margin after its first two games. The Bears did not commit a turnover in their first six quarters of play this season. BU finished 1999 minus-five in turnover margin.
Dossett Paces Kickoff Returns
Baylor is tied for 17th nationally in kickoff returns, averaging 25.3 yards per return. Senior Martin Dossett leads the Bears and is tied for 19th nationally with 26.0 yards per return.
Al-Amin Among NCAA Best
With an interception in each of Baylor's first two games, strong safety Samir Al-Amin is tied for third nationally in that category. Al-Amin had one interception during the entire 1999 season.
Bears Lose QB Cicero To Injury
Junior QB Greg Cicero, a junior college transfer who had won the starting position in spring drills, was lost for the season with a broken collarbone sustained in the first quarter against Minnestoa.
Cicero completed 19-of-30 passes for 228 yards, no touchdowns and no interceptions in his four-plus quarters of play this season.
Passes Fill Floyd Casey
Three Baylor quarterbacks combined for 40 pass attempts against Minnesota, the most by the Bears in a non-overtime game in 12 seasons.
Baylor threw 43 times in a 49-42, four-overtime loss to Missouri in 1996. The last time BU had 40 pass attempts in a regular-length game was in 1988 in a 27-24 loss to Houston.
17 Tackles for Simmons
Redshirt freshman WLB Anthony Simmons, playing just his second college game, collected a team-high 17 tackles against Minnesota, including 11 solo stops.
Simmons is currently tied for the team lead with 27 tackles.
Micheaux Collects Tackles, TD
Senior MLB Kris Micheaux is tied for Baylor's team lead with 27 tackles through two games. He had 14 in the Bears' loss to Minnesota.
Micheaux made quite an impact in Baylor's 20-7 win at North Texas, collecting a team-high 13 tackles and returning a fumble 14 yards for his first career touchdown.
Micheaux is ninth on Baylor's career list with 171 solo tackles.
Punt Block "Cash"es In
Redshirt freshman Derrick Cash blocked Baylor's first punt in six years, setting up the game's first points against Minnesota.
Baylor's last blocked punt came against TCU in 1994.
Newhouse Hits Century Mark
Sophomore WR Reggie Newhouse had a career day at North Texas, catching five passes for 105 yards and topping his 1999 receiving yardage total.
As a true freshman in 1999, Newhouse caught seven passes for 77 yards. He has already matched that total through two games as a sophomre, with seven receptions for 122 yards.
Bears Pick Up Road Win at UNT
Baylor snapped a 16-game road losing streak with its 20-7, season-opening win at North Texas. It marked the Bears' first road win since defeating Fresno State, 37-35, on Sept. 6, 1997.
Bears in the NFL
Twelve former Baylor players made opening day NFL rosters, including a pair of 1999 Bears:
Ray Crockett, DB, Denver Broncos
Santana Dotson, DT, Green Bay Packers
Derrick Fletcher, OL, New England Patriots
Albert Fontenot, DE, San Diego Chargers
Daryl Gardener, DT, Miami Dolphins
Kelvin Garmon, OL, Dallas Cowboys
Dwight Johnson, DT*, Philadelphia Eagles
George McCullough, DB, Tennessee Titans
Fred Miller, OT, Tennessee Titans
Frankie Smith, DB, Chicago Bears
Justin Snow, TE*, Indianapolis Colts
Derrius Thompson, WR, Washington Redskins
* - 1999 Baylor letterman
Penalties Down Under Steele
One sign of the discipline Kevin Steele has brought to the Bear football program is the low penalty numbers. Baylor finished 1999 with its lowest penalty totals in nearly 30 years.
The Bears were flagged 57 times for 492 yards last season. It was fewest number of Bear penalties since committing 53 in 1973, and the fewest yards penalized since 1972 (472).
Last year was also the first since 1988 (67) that Baylor has held its season penalty total under 70.
BU has been flagged four times or less in 7-of-13 games under Steele.
Family Ties
A number of Bears have noteworthy family connections:
- LB Kris Micheaux is the cousin of Larry Micheaux, an all-american on the University of Houston's famed Phi Slamma Jamma basketball teams of the early 1980s.
- WR Reggie Newhouse is the son of former Dallas Cowboy RB Robert Newhouse.
- The father of true freshman TE Jonathan Evans, Dr. Tony Evans, is the host of a nationally syndicated daily radio program which can be heard on 250 stations in the U.S. and in 40 countries. He is founder and president of The Urban Alternative, a national organization seeking spiritual renewal in urban America through the church. He also serves as chaplain for the NBA 's Dallas Mavericks.
- True freshman WR John Martin is the son of Dave Martin, current associate AD at Oklahoma State and one-time interim commissioner of the Big 12.
- Defensive graduate assistant coach Brian Polian is the son of Indianapolis Colts GM and President Bill Polian, the man credited with building Buffalo's AFC championship teams of the 1990s.
Bear Captains Named
A trio of seniors, CB Daniel Wilturner, LB Kris Micheaux and TB Darrell Bush, were selected by teammates as captains for the 2000 season.
Bush Climbing Career Charts
Senior TB Darrell Bush, who finished 10th in the Big 12 a year ago with 61.9 ypg, is ranked eighth at Baylor in career rushing yardage (1,791), tied for eighth in career attempts (388), fifth in yards per game (57.8) and sixth in yards per carry (4.6).
Bush needs one attempt to move past Larry Hickman (388, 1956-58) into eighth on the career carry list and 66 yards to pass Robert Strait (1,856, 1990-93) for seventh on the yardage chart.
Baxter Makes Thorpe List
Senior CB Gary Baxter, the top NFL prospect at his position according to some sources, is one of five Big 12 players on the 40-man, preseason Thorpe Award "watch list."
The Thorpe Award is given annually to the nation's most outstanding defensive back. Baylor's Everett Thomas won the inaugural Thorpe Award in 1986.
Baxter, along with fellow Bear corner Daniel Wilturner, is another in Baylor's long list of outstanding defensive backs. The Bears have sent 21 DBs into the NFL.
Bears Close in on Win No. 500
Baylor needs nine more wins to join the 500-win club all-time. The Bears are 491-449-44 since beginning football play in 1899.
Entering the 2000 season, 47 schools have reached the 500-win plateau.
Bears Face Tough Schedule
Five of Baylor's 11 2000 opponents (Minnesota, Oklahoma, Texas, Texas A&M and Nebraska) participated in bowl games last season, while seven of them posted winning records (including Texas Tech and South Florida).
The Bears' opponents have won nearly 58 percent of their games in 1999, combining for a record of 62-45.
"Green-to-Gold" Defense
Baylor coach Kevin Steele began a program last season to give his defensive players added incentive to perform on a daily basis. The system, which Steele calls "Green-to-Gold", puts the most productive defenders in special practice jerseys which can be awarded or taken away at any moment as performance dictates.
Steele, who was an assistant at Nebraska for six seasons, based the concept on the Cornhuskers' Blackshirts defense. The jerseys are green around the torso with gold shoulders and sleeves.
First-Time Bears vs. UNT
Of the 55 Bears who played against North Texas, 20 were playing in their first game ever for Baylor. Included in that number were 14 freshmen.
Five true freshmen saw action in Denton (TB Jonathan Golden, DB Bobby Hart, DB Matt Johnson, WR John Martin and DB Danielle McLean).
BU "D" Holds UNT To 7 Points
Baylor's defense limited North Texas to just seven points Aug. 31, the fewest points allowed by the Bears since a 34-6 home win over Rice in 1995.
Multi-Sport Bears
Baylor's Kevin Steele believes strongly in recruiting multi-sport athletes. On the current Bear roster, wide receivers Martin Dossett and Randy Davis are members of the Baylor track squad, while true freshman wideout Robert Quiroga is a member of the AAU 1,600-meter national champion relay team.
Academic Power
For the fourth time in five years, the American Football Coaches Association recognized Baylor for producing one of the top football teams in America in terms of academic performance.
The Bears were one of 25 schools nationally - and the only one in the Big 12 Conference - to receive the AFCA's award for graduating over 70 percent of its players.
Baylor Through the Years
Baylor is 491-449-44 since beginning football play in 1899 ... Baylor has had winning seasons in nine of the last 15 campaigns ... The school record for wins came in 1980 when the conference champion Bears won 10 games ... Baylor has 16 seasons of eight-or-more wins and five of nine-or-more victories ... The Bears' last eight-win season came in 1991 and the last nine-win mark in 1986.
Baylor Football on the Air
The Baylor Radio Network provides Bear broadcasts to 21 stations throughout the state of Texas. For a list of affiliates, click here.
Baylor Games on the Internet
The radio call from all of Baylor's games can be heard live on the internet on Baylor's official online website, www.GoBaylorBears.com, or at www.yahoo.broadcast.com.
GoBaylorBears.com also offers real-time game coverage of all Bear home football games.
Preseason BU Honors
A trio of Bears were honored during the preseason by a number of publications.
CB Gary Baxter was named first-team All-Big 12 and was ranked the No. 15 corner in the nation by The Sporting News.
LB Kris Micheaux was a second-team All-Big 12 preseason selection, and was named the No. 10 inside linebacker nationally by TSN.
QB Greg Cicero was recognized as the Big 12 Newcomer of the Year by several publications.
BU Staff Returns Intact
For the first time in 11 years, Baylor returns its entire coaching staff intact. The legendary Grant Teaff was the last Bear head coach to keep the same staff in place for consecutive seasons.
Bear Miscellany
With its 20-7 win at North Texas, Baylor improved to 64-30-5 all-time in season openers.
Inside BU Sports TV Show
Inside Baylor Sports, a half-hour look at the world of Baylor athletics, will air weekly throughout Central Texas and other regional outlets. The program, co-hosted by John Morris and Lori Scott-Fogleman, airs on KCEN-TV Channel 6, Fox SportsNet Southwest and the College Channel (Waco cable channel 18).
KCEN carries the show at 10:30 p.m. Sundays while Fox shows it at 1:00 p.m. Wednesdays.
