Football Hosts North Texas
9/21/2004 12:00:00 AM | Football
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GAME 3
NORTH TEXAS (0-3) at BAYLOR (1-1)
Sept. 25, 2004 • 6:00 p.m. CDT
Floyd Casey Stadium (50,000) • Waco, Texas
After a weekend off, Baylor returns to action Saturday and hosts North Texas for both teams' final non-conference game of the year. Kickoff is scheduled for 6 p.m. CDT at Floyd Casey Stadium. The game is a part of Baylor University's annual Parents' Weekend festivities. Baylor looks to avenge its only loss in the history of the 12-game Baylor-North Texas series, a 52-14 Mean Green victory last season at Denton, Texas. The Bears had won the previous 11 meetings, the first 10 of which were played in Waco. Baylor is 10-0 against North Texas at home, including a spotless 2-0 mark at Floyd Casey Stadium. Eight of the 12 meetings between these two schools were played prior to World War II. The teams did not renew the series until 1982, a 21-17 Baylor victory in Waco. The Bears (1-1) edged Texas State 24-17 two weeks ago in Waco. The Mean Green (0-3) dropped a 52-21 decision Sept. 18 at Colorado, a game in which freshman RB Jamario Thomas rushed for a UNT record 247 yards and scored twice. North Texas also has lost at Texas (65-0) and at home to Florida Atlantic (20-13). The Bears are coached by second-year head coach Guy Morriss, who is in his fourth season as a collegiate head coach. He has a career record of 13-24 with stops at Kentucky and Baylor. Preseason Sun Belt Conference favorite North Texas is under the direction of seventh-year head coach Darrell Dickey, a 1982 Kansas State graduate. Dickey has a 30-44 career record, all at UNT.
SCOUTING NORTH TEXAS
Three-time defending Sun Belt Conference champion North Texas (0-3, 0-0 Sun Belt) has been out-scored 137-34 in three games with losses to Texas (65-0), Florida Atlantic (20-13) and Colorado (52-21). ... Against Colorado, freshman RB Jamario Thomas rushed for 247 yards, two yards shy of the UNT record, and scored twice. Thomas' rushing total accounts for 60 percent of the Mean Green's team rushing total for the year (412 yards). UNT led 14-7 before Colorado scored 38 unanswered points. ... North Texas averages 306.0 yards of offense per game and 5.0 yards per play. Defensively, the Mean Green surrenders 572.0 yards per game and 7.6 yards per play. ... Thomas leads the rushing attack with 123.0 yards per game; he had minus-1 yard in the first two games of the season, and he has two of the Mean Green's three rushing TDs this season. ... QB Scott Hall has taken the vast majority of the snaps and is 34-of-70 passing for 433 yards, one TD and no interceptions -- a pass efficiency rating of 144.3. ... WR Andy Blount leads UNT with 10 catches on the season; WR Kevin Howard is tops on the team with 49.3 receiving yards per game. P Brad Kadlubar is a force and has averaged 42.0 yards on 23 punts with a long of 53. North Texas has yet to intercept a pass in three games. ... North Texas has appeared in the New Orleans Bowl each of the past three seasons.
BAYLOR-NORTH TEXAS NOTES: UNT's 52-14 victory last season at Denton was the Mean Green's first in a 12-game series which dates back to the 1922 season. ... Baylor won the first meeting 55-0, the 11th-highest scoring output in Baylor football history and the ninth-highest in a non-conference game. It also ties for the eighth-largest margin of victory in Baylor football history. ... The Bears shutout North Texas in five of the first seven meetings, allowing seven points in 1923 and six points in 1925. ... Eight of the 12 meetings occured prior to World War II. The teams did not renew the series until 1982, a 21-17 Baylor victory at Floyd Casey Stadium, where the Bears are 2-0 all-time against the Mean Green. ... The first meeting at Denton was in 1999 when Baylor won 23-10.
SEPULVEDA LEADS NATION IN PUNTING
Through games of Sept. 18, P Daniel Sepulveda sits atop the NCAA statistical rankings with an average of 49.2 yards per punt. A Ray Guy Award nominee, Sepulveda leads Michigan State's Brandon Fields (48.8) and BYU's Matt Payne (47.0). The next-highest ranking Big 12 punter is Colorado's John Torp (11th, 45.1). Texas Tech's Alex Reyes also averages 45.1 yards per punt, but with only eight punts through three games he does not meet NCAA minimum requirements of 3.6 punts per game. Preseason Guy Award favorite Dustin Colquitt of Tennessee has averaged 50.8 yards per punt, but with only five punts in two games also does not qualify for the NCAA rankings. Through two games, Sepulveda has six punts of 50-plus yards and one punt of 60-plus yards. He is seventh in school history with 32 career punts of 50-plus yards, 34.4 percent of his punts and 15 shy of Ron Stowe's school record. He is eighth in school history with four career punts of 60-plus yards, 4.3 percent of his punts and six shy of Kyle Atteberry's school record. Sepulveda established the school single-season record with 26 punts of 50-plus yards last season, including three punts of 60-plus yards (tied for fourth at Baylor).
QUICK SLANTS ...
• A win over North Texas would gave Baylor a non-conference record above .500 for the first time since 2001 and just the fourth time in the last nine seasons. Other non-league marks above .500 came in 1996 (3-0) 2000 (2-1) and 2001 (2-1). Baylor was 2-2 in non-league play a year ago.
• Starting with the North Texas game, Baylor plays seven of its last nine games against 2003 bowl participants. Baylor's eight Big 12 foes are a combined 18-5 (.782) heading into games this weekend.
• Through two games, Baylor quarterbacks have completed 60.3 percent of their passes. The Bears established a school record last year, completing 56.7 percent of their pass attempts.
• OS Willie Andrews ranks fourth in the Big 12 and 39th nationally with 9.6 yards per punt return. He ranks second in the conference and seventh nationally with 28.5 yards per kickoff return. Andrews also ranks ninth in the Big 12 and 45th nationally with 124.0 all-purpose yards per game.
• PK Kenny Webb has converted 31 consecutive PAT attempts during his career. He has never missed a PAT attempt as a collegiate kicker.
• LB Justin Crooks ranks fourth in the Big 12 with 8.5 tackles per game; he is third in the conference among linebackers. He also ranks second in the conference with 1.0 fumbles forced per game and tied for fourth with 0.5 fumbles recoverd per game.
• Crooks has recorded five or more tackles in 12 straight games. He has started 15 straight games for the Bears and had a career-high tying 10 tackles (third time) against UAB in the season opener.
• WR Trent Shelton has caught at least one pass in 13 consecutive games with at least two catches in six consecutive contests.
• WR Dominique Zeigler has nearly as many catches this season (eight) as he had all of last season (10).
• WR Marques Roberts has snagged at least one pass in 15 of his last 16 outings, including each of his last five. He has started 14 straight games for the Bears at wide out. Roberts needs 23 receptions to crack Baylor's all-time top 10 list and 307 yards to become the school's 21st career 1,000-yard receiver.
• 14 different Bears have grabbed at least one pass this season. A year ago, 15 different players had at least one catch over the 12-game season.
• RB Jonathan Golden's 56 rushing yards at Texas State marked the fourth time in his career he's topped the 50-yard mark. Baylor is 4-0 when Golden rushes for 50 or more yards in a game.
• P Daniel Sepulveda's net punt average this season is 46.7 compared to last year's 37.4 mark.
• FS Maurice Lane has recorded five or more tackles in nine consecutive games, including double-digit totals six times in that span. Lane has started every game (25) of his career in the Baylor secondary.
• OS Willie Andrews has been credited with five or more tackles in 10 of his last 11 outings. He has started 14 consecutive games for Baylor.
• OL Quintin Outland has started 28 consecutive games for the Bears along the offensive line and played in all 37 games of his BU career.
ANDREWS NEARS KICK, PUNT RETURN CHARTS
OS Willie Andrews continues to rapidly move up Baylor's career kick and punt return records charts. Andrews enters the North Texas game with 37 career punt returns (ninth all-time at Baylor) for 309 yards, an average of 8.35 yards per return (10th all-time at Baylor). He also has tallied 32 career kickoff returns for 812 yards. Andrews needs 58 punt return yards, one kickoff return and 25 kickoff return yards to crack the school's top 10 list in each category. Last season, Andrews established school season records for total kick returns (55) and total kick return yards (873). He also set school single-game marks with eight kickoff returns for 196 yards against Texas A&M. In the season opener against UAB, Andrews tallied 171 yards on six kickoff returns, including a career-long 58-yard return.
PARKS RECEIVES TIME AWAY FROM QUARTERBACK
Redshirt freshman QB Terrance Parks is not waiting for his number to be called at signal caller to get on the field. Parks has played several snaps at receiver in the Bears' first two games. He has caught three passes for 22 yards and has rushed once for three yards. He is among 10 quarterbacks nationally who are seeing time at other positions:
Jabari Arthur, Akron, WR, 16 rec., 141 yards
Kendal Briles, Houston, WR, 10 rec., 178 yards
Damion Carter, Southern Miss, WR, 1 rec., 5 yards
Curt Dukes, Duke, FB, 9 rush, 39 yards; 3 rec., 22 yards
Matt Lane, La.-Lafayette, S, 2 tackles
Bernard Morris, Marshall, WR, 5 rec., 25 yards
Terrance Parks, Baylor, WR, 3 rec., 22 yards; 1 rush, 3 yards
Beau Pierce, San Jose State, LS, no stats
Michael Robinson, Penn State, WR, 15 rec., 182 yards, 1TD; 17 rush, 107 yards
Dale Rogers, San Jose State, P, 6 punts, 36.3 avg.
BAYLOR AMONG NATION'S YOUNGEST TEAMS
With 96 underclassmen out of 135 players on its 2004 roster, Baylor ranks as the second-youngest team in Division I-A football behind only SMU. The Bears are 71.1 percent underclassmen, while SMU is 76.1 percent (86 of 113). Only one school has more underclassmen on its roster: Army, which lists 120 underclassmen on a roster of 178 players. North Carolina (92 of 135) is the only other team with at least 90 underclassmen. Baylor's depth chart features 29 underclassmen out of 50 spots (two-deep at 25 positions). Eight underclassmen are listed as starters at their respective positions: WR Dominique Zeigler, OL Chad Smith, DT Corey Ford, OS Maurice Linguist, CB James Todd, CB Anthony Arline, P Daniel Sepulveda and DS Jonathan Weeks.
NOTES FROM THE TEXAS STATE GAME
• Baylor's 11-point lead at the end of the first quarter (14-3) was the Bears' largest lead at the end of the first quarter since a 14-0 advantage against Kansas on Oct. 5, 2002.
• Baylor's defense held Texas State to three points in the first half, the fewest first-half points allowed by a Baylor team since Sept. 7, 2002, when the Bears held Samford scoreless in the first half.
• Baylor's 18-point halftime lead was the largest since Sept. 21, 2002, when the Bears led Tulsa 30-6 (24 points) at halftime.
• First career start for OL Evan Stone, CB C.J. Wilson and TE Mike Miller.
• First career action for DE Geoff Nelson and DB James Francis Jr.
• The first-quarter forced fumble by DE Montez Murphy was the first of his career.
• The first-quarter fumble return by LB Justin Crooks was his fourth career fumble recovery and the TD was the first of his career.
• TE Mike Miller recorded his first career TD reception late in the first quarter.
• WR Dominique Zeigler's 27-yard second-quarter reception was the longest of his career. His previous career long was 16 yards.
• WR J Fields' 29-yard third-quarter reception was the longest of his career. His previous career long was 26 yards.
• RB Anthony Krieg's 15-yard third-quarter reception was the longest of his career. His previous career long was 14 yards.
• Career high receptions and receiving yards for WR Dominique Zeigler (5-80 yards).
• Career high receptions and receiving yards for TE Mike Miller (2-21 yards).
• P Daniel Sepulveda recorded his career high in punting average with six punts for 55.0 yards. Sepulveda's long of 60 was his fourth career punt of 60 yards or longer.
• DE Khari Long tallied eight tackles, a career high.
NEXT UP...
Baylor begins Big 12 Conference play Saturday, Oct. 2, traveling to Austin, Texas, for a showdown with No. 5 Texas at Darrell K. Royal-Texas Memorial Stadium. Texas leads the all-time series 67-22-4; the Longhorns have won six consecutive meetings since a 23-21 Baylor victory in Waco and including a 56-0 triumph last fall at Floyd Casey Stadium. Baylor has not won at Texas since 1991.
