Post-Game Reflections on Baylor-UNT Football
9/5/2000 12:00:00 AM | Football
Sept. 5, 2000
Editor's Note: Articles such as this one by staff writer 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.
Happy and satisfied aren't always synonymous, as illustrated by coach Kevin Steele and his players after Thursday's 20-7 victory over North Texas. To a man, they were happy to have won a season opener for the first time since 1996, especially since it came on the road. But no one was satisfied, everyone saw room for improvement before the Bears resume play on Sept. 16 at home versus Minnesota.
"I'm proud of those guys, they deserve it," a sweat-soaked Steele said. "It's been a long time coming. To get a win and start it off that way, it's big. To win on the road, it's been a long time since that happened (Sept. 6, 1997, at Fresno State), so that's something to build on. The first half went our way in a lot of ways. We didn't turn the ball over, we had no penalties, we come in 17-0 with some other opportunities that we should have taken advantage of, but we shot ourselves in the foot.
"The second half, I was a little bit frustrated that the defense had the little letdown when they made the quarterback change, and they go down and score. We had no penalties in the first half, but the offense comes out in the second half, we get a penalty on the first play, we squander the first possession, and then we let them go down and score. That was frustrating. But we refocused and wound up the game with no turnovers and only two penalties and finished off with a victory, and that's huge right now."
THE WIN MATCHED the Bears' 1999 season total, with last year's lone victory also coming over North Texas by an identical 13-point margin. "People will look at it, compare scores and say, `Well, you should've had this, you should've had that, or you could've had this or you could've had that,' but right now, a win's a win, and we've got to build on that," Steele said. "It's very unusual to play a first game and not have any turnovers and only two penalties. That's highly unusual, so that was huge. These guys are very disciplined, so I'm not surprised, but I'm very happy."
Meanwhile, his defense created four turnovers, but as in all else this steamy night, they left room for happiness but not total satisfaction. "I thought the defense played with great effort and great intensity," Steele said. "Any time you can score on defense, it's huge. I think we had two interceptions, of course one of them was late in the half, and we took three tries at it before we got it. but we still got two interceptions, so that's big. You win the turnover game and win the penalty game and you've got a chance."
THE LATE FIRST-HALF interception, courtesy of redshirt freshman safety Matt Amendola, came on a third-and-10 play after senior Gary Baxter and junior Samir Al-Amin had dropped certain picks on the previous two plays. Amendola's interception also provided one of the game's most unusual highlights. He grabbed UNT quarterback Richard Bridges' overthrown ball at his own 20, raced down the right sideline to about midfield, cut it back toward the middle and made it to about the North Texas 30 before lateraling to trailing linebacker McKinley Bowie, who was tackled on the Eagle 20 with no time left on the clock.
"As I was running down the field, I saw a crease and ran up the crease," Amendola said. "Then all I saw was two green jerseys in front of me at about the 15, and I figured with no seconds left on the clock, I better do something to try to make a play before the half ended. I could hear him (Bowie) back there, but I had no idea who it was. He wasn't really calling for the ball, but I figured I was going to get tackled at about the 15, so I'd try to make something happen."
Trying to make something happen last year cost the Bears the UNLV game when the Rebels returned a Darrell Bush fumble 100 yards for a game-winning touchdown as time expired. Ever since, Steele has had to endure repeated criticism for not taking a knee to run out the clock.
GUESS WHAT? This game provided him a second opportunity. As the Bears were trying to run out the clock, quarterback Greg Cicero and wide receiver Reggie Newhouse hooked up for a 36-yard completion to the UNT 5-yard line with 59 seconds remaining in the game. This time, Steele took no chances, even with a 13-point lead, having Cicero drop to a knee twice to kill the clock. But even this call was second-guessed -- tongue-in-cheek, of course.
"It just emphasized the victory," said senior linebacker and captain Kris Micheaux, breaking into a big grin. "Honestly, personally, I wish we had run the ball in. But Coach made a good decision, and I support it all the way."
Here's what else they were saying after the victory.
Steele, on the kicking game: "I thought our punting game was good. I was very, very disappointed in our right side on the extra point-field goal. We've got some things we have to work on there. We were solid in that we got points out of the kicking game. I think our return game was very good, both kickoff (Elijah Burkins) and punt (Andra Fuller). There was a lot of effort out there. Overall, minus the extra point-field goal right side, it was good."
Micheaux, on his 14-yard return of a fumble recovery for a second-quarter touchdown: "I was dropping back in coverage, and I saw (cornerback) Daniel Wilturner make a great play on the wide receiver. It was God willing that the ball bounced my way, and it was just like second nature, so I just picked up the ball and the next thing you know, I was in the end zone. The main thing we focused on was making a lot of big plays on first down to put them in long-yardage situations. We have a lot to work on in this off week, we have to prepare ourselves to make a lot of plays. We can play a lot better."
WILTURNER, A CO-CAPTAIN, on his role in the defensive touchdown: "I saw them run a quick hitch, and I just broke on the ball and just tried to make a tackle. I thought it was an incomplete pass, and when I saw the guys running in the end zone, I thought, `That's cool.' When the defense goes out there and scores a touchdown, it's always going to be big, no matter who's doing it -- me, Kris Micheaux, whoever -- because for the defense to score, that's big for the whole team, not just the defense. For the first game, we did pretty good, but we can improve."
Baxter, on defensive coordinator Brick Haley: "When you've got a defensive coordinator like Coach Brick Haley, he's a mean guy, he's a tough, demanding guy, he pushes you, and if you just listen to what he's saying, the guy is right, and he can take us where we've never been."
Cicero, assessing his first Baylor start. "I grade my performance as a C, because I thought I could do better. As far as winning, I expect us to win ballgames, so I think we could have done a little bit better on offense. I personally could have done things better on offense, and I'm sure other guys on the team feel the same way. I got the job done, and normally in school, you call that average, so I give myself a C. You've got to give a lot of credit to our defense. They really played well tonight, and they gave us every opportunity to make this game a lot more lopsided than it was. If you gave game balls out, it would have to be the whole defense because they're the ones that kept us in the game and gave us great field position all game. We were able to capitalize on some of those, and some of those we need to work on. In the passing game, we need to improve. I thought we did okay, and certainly that last play helps our yardage, but I'm not satisfied, and I know our receivers and the coaching staff aren't satisfied. I'm glad we have the week off right now. I think we're going to have a chance to enjoy our win this weekend, and when Monday comes, we need to start re-evaluating ourselves as a football team and work toward the Minnesota game, because they are in a lot of estimations a lot better team that North Texas is."
Editor's Note: Articles such as this one by staff writer 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.
