Bears Open 2007 Season at No. 22 TCU
8/27/2007 12:00:00 AM | Football
Aug. 27, 2007
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GAME ONE
BAYLOR (0-0) vs. #22 TCU (0-0)
SATURDAY, SEPT. 1, 2006 • 5:00 P.M. CDT
AMON G. CARTER STADIUM (44,008)
SERIES RECORD
Baylor leads 49-48-7
LAST MEETING
TCU 17, at Baylor 7 (Sept. 3, 2006)
COACHES
BAYLOR: Guy Morriss (TCU, 1973)
Record at Baylor: 15-31 (5th season)
Career Record: 24-45 (7th season)
Record vs. TCU: 0-1
TCU: Gary Patterson (Kansas State, 1983)
Record at TCU: 54-20 (7th season)
Career Record: 54-20 (7th season)
Record vs. Baylor: 1-0
BAYLOR/ISP RADIO NETWORK
John Morris, play-by-play
J.J. Joe, color analyst
Ricky Thompson, sideline
Sirius Satellite Radio, Channel 161
COLLEGE SPORTS TELEVISION
Tom Hart, play-by-play
Trev Alberts, color analyst
INTERNET FEEDS
www.BaylorBears.com
OLD FOES MEET IN 2007 SEASON OPENER
Baylor faces former Southwest Conference foe TCU in the 2007 season opener for both programs Saturday, Sept. 1. Kickoff is scheduled for 5 p.m. CDT at Amon G. Carter Stadium in
Saturday's game will be televised live nationally on CSTV. Fans in
BAYLOR-TCU SERIES
Baylor and TCU meet for the 105th time Saturday. Despite the fact that the teams have met just once since 1995, this still is the most-played series in Baylor football history, ahead of Texas A&M (103 meetings) and Texas (96 meetings). The Bears hold a slim 49-48-7 edge in the all-time series; Baylor has won six of the last eight meetings.
The Bears and the Horned Frogs first played to a scoreless tie in the final game of the 1899 season, Baylor's first year of intercollegiate varsity football.
The teams faced each other twice two years later; Baylor won both games by scores of 39-0 and 42-9. That was the first of nine consecutive seasons in which the Bears and the Frogs played each other at least twice, including three meetings during the 1902, 1904, 1905, 1907 and 1908 campaigns (Baylor did not field a team in 1906). Baylor and TCU once were crosstown rivals when both institutions were located in
Baylor went 7-0-3 against TCU in the teams' first 10 meetings before TCU scored a 5-0 victory Nov. 24, 1905, in
BAYLOR vs. MOUNTAIN WEST CONFERENCE FOES
Baylor is 60-52-7 all-time against teams currently playing as members of the Mountain West Conference. The vast majority of those games -- 104 of the 119 -- have been against TCU. Baylor also is 3-1 against
BAYLOR IN SEASON OPENERS
Baylor is 66-34-5 in season openers; however, the Bears have lost four of their last five and seven of their last 10 season openers.
The Bears open their season on the road for the third time under head coach Guy Morriss and for the seventh time since 1998. Baylor's last season opener on the road was a 28-23 victory at SMU in 2005 that propelled the Bears to their first 3-0 start since 1996.
Baylor is 12-19-1 all-time in season openers on the road, including a 10-17 mark in such games played on the opponent's home field.
QUICK NOTES
• This marks the second time in head coach Guy Morriss' tenure that Baylor has opened consecutive seasons against the same opponent. The Bears faced UAB to start the 2003 and 2004 seasons; prior to that year, Baylor had not played the same opponent in consecutive season openers since facing
• This is the first time Baylor has played consecutive season openers on television since 1999 (at
• This is the first time in school history that Baylor has opened consecutive seasons on national television. In fact, the Bears have played on national television in their season opener only four times prior to this year (1966 vs.
• Baylor is 117-60-2 all-time in September, including a 9-5 mark under head coach Guy Morriss.
• Baylor is 41-148-6 all-time against ranked opponents.
• Baylor is 37-67-2 all-time in televised games.
• RB Brandon Whitaker is 14 receptions shy of cracking Baylor's career receptions list. He also is 15 receptions shy of tying Jeffrey Murray's school record for receptions by a non-receiver (77 from 1986 to 1989). Whitaker has recorded 30 receptions in each of the past two seasons.
• WR Mikail Baker enters the 2007 season with a kickoff return average of 23.73 yards per return with 22 career returns. That would rank as the sixth-best average in school history; however, a minimum of 25 career receptions is necessary in order to rank.
• Baylor is one of only seven Division I-A schools with a student-athlete who previously played professional baseball. QB Michael Machen played two seasons with the Atlanta Braves organization and one season with the Baltimore Orioles organization. The other schools are
• 93 of the 114 student-athletes on Baylor's roster hail from
• One year after losing 32 seniors, including 24 fifth-year players, Baylor's 2007 roster features 70 underclassmen -- 44 of whom are either true (24) or redshirt (20) freshmen -- and just 16 seniors.
LAST TIME vs. TCU
TCU 17, BAYLOR 7
Sept. 3, 2006 • Floyd Casey Stadium •
TCU scored 17 unanswered second-half points to erase a 7-0 halftime deficit and rally past Baylor in the season opener for both teams. It was the first football meeting between the two former Southwest Conference schools since 1995, the league's final season.
Marcus Jackson's 84-yard TD pass to Aaron Brown with 1:17 remaining in the third quarter gave TCU a 10-7 lead, its first of the game. The Frogs pushed their lead to 17-7 when
Jackson, who spelled senior starter Jeff Ballard at the start of the third quarter, finished 11-of-13 for 148 yards and two TDs. Ballard, who was 7-of-14 for 85 yards and one interception, did not play in the second half after taking a solid hit from Geoff Nelson late in the second quarter.
Baylor grabbed the momentum three plays into the second quarter when C.J. Wilson picked off Ballard's third-and-seven pass and returned it 46 yards to the TCU 20. Four plays later, the Bears grabbed the game's first lead when Shawn Bell hit Mikail Baker in the front right corner of the end zone for a 21-yard TD.
The Bears' next drive was thwarted when a third-and-five conversion to the TCU 12 was called back for holding. The next play resulted in an eight-yard loss, and Baylor was forced to punt.
That was a sign of things to come for the Bears, who twice in the third quarter committed turnovers inside the TCU 20.
TCU quelled Baylor's momentum on the opening kickoff of the second half as Donald Massey raced 69 yards down the right sideline to the Baylor 27. However, the Bears' defense forced the Frogs to settle for a Chris Manfredini 27-yard field goal.
Terrance Parks led Baylor receivers with seven catches for 65 yards. Trent Shelton snagged five passes, tying Baylor's all-time record for consecutive games with at least one catch at 34.
BAYLOR-TCU CONNECTIONS
• Baylor head coach Guy Morriss is a 1973 TCU graduate.
• Baylor assistant head coach Kasey Dunn served as cornerbacks coach at TCU during the 2003 season.
• TCU assistant coach Eddie Williamson served as offensive line coach at Baylor during the 1983 season and as offensive coordinator at Baylor during the 1998 campaign.
BAYLOR vs. RANKED OPPONENTS
Baylor is 41-148-6 all-time against ranked opponents, 26-129-5 when unranked and playing a ranked opponent. The Bears are 2-34 against ranked opponents since the inception of the Big 12 Conference (33-30 against 20th-ranked
Since the Associated Press began conducting weekly polls in 1936, Baylor has played at least one ranked opponent every season except 1987.
This is the 17th time Baylor has opened a season against an opponent ranked in the Associated Press Top 25. The Bears are 3-13 in such games with all but three of those games being played on the road. This is the first time Baylor has opened consecutive seasons against a ranked opponent since facing eighth-ranked
BAYLOR vs. RANKED OPPONENTS IN SEASON OPENERS
1953 No. 20 Baylor 25 No. 14
1964 Baylor 14 No. 7
1966 Baylor 35 No. 7
1967 Baylor 7 No. 10
1968 Baylor 36 No. 15
1970 Baylor 0 No. 11
1972 Baylor 14 No. 16
1973 Baylor 14 No. 11
1974 Baylor 11 No. 1
1977 Baylor 7 No. 8
1984 Baylor 13 No. 13 BYU 47
1989 Baylor 7 No. 8
1990 Baylor 0 No. 7
1993 Baylor 42 No. 25
1997 Baylor 14 No. 13
2006 Baylor 7 No. 22 TCU 22
2007 CAPTAINS ANNOUNCED
Senior RB Brandon Whitaker, senior DS Jonathan Weeks and sophomore LB Joe Pawelek were elected 2007 Baylor football team captains. The trio was elected by their teammates.
A three-year letterman and the team's offensive captain, Whitaker will enter his senior season 317 yards shy of becoming the 28th Bear to rush for 1,000 or more career yards. He was Baylor's third-leading receiver in 2006 with 30 receptions for 192 yards and one touchdown.
Baylor's 2007 special teams captain is another senior, Weeks, who joined the program as a walk-on long snapper in 2004 and has gone on to handle those chores for the Bears in 30 of the last 34 games. He was rewarded for his special teams work with a scholarship by the Baylor staff in January 2005.
Pawelek will captain the Bears' defense as a sophomore after earning freshman All-America honors in 2006. He led the Bears in tackles with 86 stops (46 solos), while playing in every game with 10 starts as a rookie en route to 2006 Big 12 Defensive Freshman of the Year honors from multiple media outlets.
BAYLOR IN TELEVISED GAMES
Saturday's game is the 107th televised game in Baylor football history; the Bears are 37-67-2 all-time in televised games. Baylor is 2-14 in televised games under head coach Guy Morriss after posting a 0-5 mark in such games last season. This is Baylor's first-ever football game on CSTV.
Baylor opens its season on television for the second consecutive season after going five seasons without opening on television.
BAYLOR vs. ON TELEVISION IN SEASON OPENERS
1966 Baylor 35 No. 7
1976 Baylor 5
1978 Baylor 14
1990 Baylor 0 No. 7
1997 Baylor 14 No. 13 Miami, Fla.
1999 Baylor 29
2000 Baylor 20 North
2006 Baylor 7 TCU 17
BEARS HISTORICALLY SUCCESSFUL IN SEPTEMBER
Baylor is 117-60-2 all-time in September, including a 9-5 mark under head coach Guy Morriss. The Bears have posted an above-.500 record in three of Morriss' first four seasons.
The Bears have played at least one game within the year's ninth month each season since 1933. Baylor's first September game was a 17-5 loss to
Baylor has played at least three September games and gone winless only twice, going 0-3 in 1978 and going 0-4 in 1999. Interestingly, the Bears' two September ties came in consecutive weeks during the 1975 season -- a 10-10 draw at home against
FORMER WALK-ONS EARN SCHOLARSHIPS
Six senior walk-on members of the Baylor football team were awarded scholarships for the 2007-08 academic year: OG Ricky Hasoon, LB Daniel Lopez, CB Ralph Rodriguez, OL Ted Tanner, SS Zach Jones and FB Keegan Vann.
At the end of spring practice, the Baylor staff also placed junior WR Thomas White on scholarship. Including the seniors receiving scholarships prior to the start of the season, Baylor's 2007 roster features eight walk-ons who have earned scholarships.
Since Morriss' arrival in 2003, 30 Bears have gone from walk-on to scholarship status.
BAYLOR CONTINUES TO IMPROVE UNDER MORRISS
Introduced as Baylor's 24th head football coach on Dec. 11, 2002, Guy Morriss inherited a proud program that had fallen on hard times and produced just 13 victories in the six seasons (1997-2002) prior to his arrival. He and his staff have already posted more wins both overall (15) and in Big 12 play (seven) in four years than the Bears registered in the six previous years (13 overall/three Big 12) before Morriss' Central Texas arrival.
Morriss has directed Baylor to seven of its 11 all-time Big 12 Conference victories and its only two conference road wins, while improving the Bears' league win total in each of the last three seasons. He owns a 15-31 record in four seasons at Baylor and is 24-45 in six seasons as a head coach overall.
Baylor has recorded 14 non-offensive scores in 46 games under head coach Guy Morriss, notching at least one such score in each of Morriss' four seasons.
• 2003 vs. UAB -- James Todd blocked punt for safety
• 2003 vs.
• 2003 at
• 2003 at
• 2003 vs. Texas Tech -- Robert Quiroga 100-yard kickoff return
• 2003 vs.
• 2004 vs.
• 2004 vs. North Texas -- Braelon Davis blocked punt recovery in end zone (blocked by
• 2004 vs.
• 2005 vs. Samford -- Jamaal Harper 29-yard fumble return (forced by Colin Allred)
• 2005 vs. Samford -- Shaun Rochon 85-yard punt return
• 2005 at
• 2005 vs.
• 2006 vs.
AFCA SALUTES BAYLOR FOR GRADUATION RATE
Baylor was one of 34 NCAA Division I-A schools to have its football program honored with the 2007 Academic Achievement Award by the American Football Coaches Association.
In the most-recent AFCA survey, four institutions registered graduation rates of 90 percent or more for their 2001-02 freshman football class, including Northwestern and Notre Dame, which earned top honors from the Touchdown Club of Memphis with their 95 percent marks.
Baylor joined Big 12 schools
The Baylor football program was also recognized in the AFCA's 1996, 1997, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2003 and 2006 surveys.
2007 SCHEDULE FEATURES EIGHT 2006 BOWL TEAMS
After playing seven of 12 games a year ago against teams that went on to earn bowl invitations, Baylor will face eight 2006 bowl teams this season, including six of its eight Big 12 opponents. But, that's nothing new for coach Guy Morriss' program, as 28 times in his first 46 games (including 25 of 32 Big 12 contests) along the Baylor sideline he's faced an opponent who ended the season in a bowl game.
The Bears' 2007 opponents combined for an 85-67 (.559) record a year ago and eight earned bowl bids -- TCU (Poinsettia champion), Rice (New Orleans), Texas (Alamo champion), Kansas State (Texas), Texas A&M (Holiday), Texas Tech (Insight champion), Oklahoma (Fiesta) and Oklahoma State (Independence champion). Baylor's eight 2007 Big 12 foes went 60-43 (.583) a year ago and recorded all three of the league's bowl wins.
Six of Baylor's eight losses in 2006 came at the hands of eventual bowl-bound teams while it knocked off Texas Bowl participant
Over Morriss' four seasons in
COACHING STAFF FEATURES FIVE NEW FACES
In the off-season, Baylor's coaching staff underwent a makeover as five new faces were added, and the dean of the Bears' staff, Larry Hoefer, was promoted to defensive coordinator.
After spending the past three seasons as running backs coach at the
Cornell Jackson, who coached running backs at the
Hoefer, the only remaining member of Morriss' original staff, was named the Bears' defensive coordinator in late February when Bill Bradley was hired as secondary coach of the NFL's San Diego Chargers.
Lee Hays returns for his second season as Baylor's offensive coordinator and will also tutor the Baylor signal callers in 2007, while Gary Kinne (linebackers) and Don Wnek (defensive line) are back for their second and third seasons, respectively, in the Baylor program.
The 2007 Baylor coaching staff boasts more than 160 years of experience at the professional, collegiate and high school levels. Seven members of Baylor's staff played NCAA Division I football and five played professional football.
GETTING BETTER YEAR-BY-YEAR
Over the last four seasons Baylor has improved its national standing in 11 of the 14 major team statistical categories tracked by the NCAA. The categories in which the Bears ranked lower nationally in 2006 than they did in 2002, the year prior to Guy Morriss' arrival, were rushing offense, total defense and rushing defense.
Those improvements have obviously made the Bears more competitive. In 2002, Baylor lost five games by at least 40 points, but it has had just six such setbacks in four seasons under Morriss and three of those came in his first year.
Here's a look at Baylor's NCAA and Big 12 statistical rankings in the year prior to Morriss' arrival compared to its standing at the end of his fourth season along the Bears' sideline:
CATEGORY 2002 NCAA 2006 NCAA
Scoring Offense 16.8 115 23.6 59
Total Offense 334.9 95 315.2 86
Passing Offense 231.5 47 275.0 11
Rushing Offense 103.4 105 40.2 119
Pass Eff. Offense 111.6 85 123.42 59
Scoring Defense 41.3 114 32.6 110
Total Defense 405.2 89 408.2 110
Passing Defense 251.6 93 217.1 83
Rushing Defense 163.6 69 191.1 113
Pass Eff. Defense 147.0 107 130.78 73
Turnover Margin -1.42 115 -0.58 97
Kickoff Returns 16.3 115 22.8 22
Punt Returns 8.0 91 7.6 80
Net Punting 26.6 117 39.0 3
BAYLOR HAS 20/20 VISION
In four seasons under head coach Guy Morriss, Baylor has established a bit of a vicenary rule on the scoreboard. The Bears are 13-11 when scoring at least 20 points and 2-20 when scoring less than 20 points since the start of the 2003 season. Likewise, the Bears are 9-3 when holding the opponent to fewer than 20 points and 6-28 when allowing 20 or more points in that time.
BAYLOR TURNS OVER A NEW LEAF
Baylor ranked 113th nationally in turnover margin and forced just nine opponent miscues over the 11-game 2004 campaign, but the last two seasons it has reversed that trend. The Bears' defense has forced 56 turnovers (32 interceptions, 24 fumble recoveries) since the start of the 2005 season to rank second in the Big 12 and 13th nationally among Division I-A teams in that span. Baylor has come up with at least one turnover in 20 of 23 games since the start of the 2005 season, including 14 with two or more.
Baylor forced 34 turnovers over 23 games in Guy Morriss' first two seasons, compared to the 56 it has totaled over the last 23 outings. Here's a look at teams nationally with the most turnovers forced over the last two seasons:
BAYLOR AMONG NATION'S BEST COLLEGES
Other Big 12 schools ranked were:
FOOTBALL OPERATIONS HEADED TO CAMPUS IN 2008
Ground was broken May 10, 2007, on the Alwin O. and Dorothy Highers Athletics Complex and the Simpson Athletics and Academic Center, a $34 million complex that will integrate the Baylor athletics department and football program into the campus environment for the first time since the late 1950s.
The lead gift for the privately funded project and the largest single gift in school history is from the estate of Alwin O. Highers Jr. of Alexandria, La. A native Texan and a 1939 Baylor business graduate, Mr. Highers was well known as the owner of
The focal point of the Highers Athletics Complex will be the 96,300-square-foot Simpson Athletics and
A
Simpson earned a bachelor's degree in accounting and finance, with magna cum laude honors, in 1970 and his MBA in 1971.
The first floor of the Simpson Athletics and
The Highers Athletics Complex will include three football practice fields, two with a natural surface and the other with artificial turf. Construction will take approximately 18 months and is expected to be completed by July 2008.
FAMILY AFFAIR
The Bears' 2007 roster includes the sons of six former Baylor football standouts, three of whom were All-Americans during their Baylor careers. True freshmen Matt Singletary, V.J. McElroy and Chris Francis join three other sons of Baylor legacies already in the program--sophomore offensive guard Sam Sledge, redshirt freshman receiver Ben Randle and sophomore running back Tony Anderson, who must sit out the season as a transfer from
Singletary's father, Mike, was a three-time All-American and two-time Davey O'Brien Award winner who is enshrined in both the College and Pro Football Halls of Fame after standout playing careers at Baylor and with the NFL's Chicago Bears. McElroy's father, Vann, was a two-time All-America defensive back at Baylor who went on to play in two Pro Bowls with the NFL's Los Angeles Raiders. The younger Francis' father, James, earned 1989 All-America and Southwest Conference Player of the Year honors and was a first-round NFL Draft pick of the Cincinnati Bengals.
David Sledge was an All-Southwest Conference performer for the Bears in 1978. Alfred Anderson, the third-leading rusher in school history, and Ervin Randle, an eight-year NFL veteran with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and Kansas City Chiefs, were Baylor teammates in the early 1980s.
OVER THE AIR
Bear football games can be heard live on the Baylor/ISP Sports Radio Network. The network includes nine affiliates across
BAYLOR/ISP SPORTS FOOTBALL RADIO NETWORK
Dallas/Fort Worth WBAP-AM 820
BAYLORBEARS.COM
Baylor's official athletic web site can be found at www.BaylorBears.com. The comprehensive site, which includes releases, photos, biographical sketches and audio broadcasts, is part of the College Sports TV network. CSTV currently hosts sites for more than 100 universities, including four Big 12 schools and the conference office.
BAYLOR GAMES ON THE INTERNET
The radio call from all of Baylor's games can be heard free of charge live on the Internet at www.BaylorBears.com.
INSIDE BAYLOR SPORTS TV SHOW
Inside Baylor Sports, a half-hour look at the world of Baylor athletics, will air weekly throughout
UP NEXT ...
Baylor returns to action Saturday, Sept. 8, hosting former Southwest Conference rival Rice for its 2007 home opener. Kickoff between the Bears and the Owls is scheduled for 6 p.m.
This is the first meeting between Baylor and Rice since a 34-6 Bears' victory at Floyd Casey in 1995, the final season of the SWC. Baylor is 44-30-2 all-time against Rice, making this the fourth most-played series in Baylor football history.
