Oct. 2, 2004
Final Stats
By JIM VERTUNO
AP Sports Writer
AUSTIN, Texas (AP) - Cedric Benson ran for 188 yards and three touchdowns and Vince Young passed for two scores as No. 5 Texas cruised past Baylor 44-14 Saturday.
Benson passed Earl Campbell for second place on the school career rushing list and Young threw his first scoring passes to a wide receiver, both going to Tony Jeffery in the first half.
While rain and an early start kept many fans away from Royal-Memorial Stadium, the Longhorns (4-0, 1-0 Big 12) made quick work of the Bears (2-2, 0-1) in their final tuneup before next Saturday's matchup with No. 2 Oklahoma in the Red River Shootout in Dallas.
By the time it was over, the fans who stayed until the end chanted "Beat OU!" as Texas left the field.
The Longhorns have lost four straight to their border rivals and had hoped Baylor would be a good chance to work on an unproven passing game and an untested pass defense.
They got both.
Texas led 14-0 after its first two drives, behind Benson's 11-yard TD run and Bo Scaife's fumble recovery in the end zone. Benson dropped the ball just before he reached the goal line, and Scaife grabbed it.
Baylor answered with a 24-yard scoring pass from Dane King to Marques Roberts to make it 14-7.
It was Baylor's first points against Texas since 2001, but little else went right for the Bears. The Longhorns ripped off 23 points to close the half as Young and his wide receivers started heating up.
Michael Griffin blocked a punt for a safety and Young connected with Jeffery on scoring passes of 23 and 14 yards. The second came when Jeffery spun out of a tackle at the 5 and strolled over the goal line.
Benson added his second TD run, this one from 5 yards, and the Longhorns led 37-7 at halftime.
Benson has a touchdown in 11 straight games. His third made it 44-7 early in the third quarter.
He has rushed for at least 181 yards in every game this season. He finally came out of the game after passing Campbell on the first drive of the fourth quarter to reach 4,452 yards, nine more than Campbell - who played from 1974-1977. Ricky Williams holds the school rushing record with 6,207 yards.
The emergence of a more diverse passing game should help open up the field for Benson. Texas had to replace nearly its entire receiving corps after last season and the new group was slow to catch on during the first three games.
Young, who had made his tight ends his favorite targets, was finally able to spread the ball around to seven different receivers, finishing with 189 yards on 15-of-21 passing.
King completed 18 of 37 for 165 yards and one interception for Baylor.
