Sept. 30, 2007

After dropping a 34-10 decision at Texas A&M in the Big 12 opener for both teams yesterday at Kyle Field, the Baylor football team (3-2 overall/0-1 Big 12) returns to the friendly confines of Floyd Casey Stadium to host the Colorado Buffaloes (3-2 overall/1-0 Big 12) on Saturday, Oct. 6. Kickoff for the Parents' Weekend game is set for 6:05 p.m. The Buffs are fresh off a 27-24 home field victory over No. 3 Oklahoma and carry a two-game win streak into Waco.

Tickets for the Baylor-Colorado game are priced at $35 each and may be purchased by calling the Athletic Ticket Office at 254-710-1000 or on-line at baylorbears.com. Fans interested in purchasing tickets for both the Bears' Parents' Weekend and Homecoming (Nov. 3 vs. Texas Tech) football games can do so for the special price of $60 each, a $15 savings off the purchase price if the tickets were purchased on a per-game basis

Here are Bears' coach Guy Morriss' thoughts on the Texas A&M game as well as his early look at the Colorado game:

On the Texas A&M game: Morriss: "We had 10 drops, and about a half dozen bad throws. It was a combination of poor decisions, bad throws and drops that really killed us. They didn't do anything much different than we expected. They were trying to jam us. They rushed with four. The good thing about it is that our offensive line protected pretty good. It was their best outing this year by far. I think Blake Szymanski got hit three times, and they weren't devastating hits or anything. But they put leather on him."

How was OT Jason Smith after the game? Morriss: "He's got to get back in the grove so to speak with the technical stuff, and I think he will once he sees the film. But his knee looked fine."

How did the defense hold up against Texas A&M? Morriss: "We've got to tackle better, no question. They kind of hurt us on the weak side. That's some stuff we are going to have to clean up. We've got to be more disciplined and do a better job there on the option. I don't think anyone in the Big 12 runs it any better than A&M, but there's probably another team or two we're going to see. I think Kansas might run a little option. But we've just got to tackle better, that's all there is to it. We don't need to leave our defense on the field that long either. Our offense didn't help them (Baylor defense) any. We only had seven first downs and that's not very good. That didn't help either."

What do you think about Colorado defeating Oklahoma? Morriss: "We were heading back when I heard about it. It was kind of hard to believe. All I can remember is watching (Oklahoma) play Miami that second Saturday, and it was a pretty impressive win. All the hype was that they were untouchable, and then you get a score like that and you wonder what's going on. We just have to work on offense this week and clear some stuff up. I think our kids played really hard (against Texas A&M). From a physical standpoint, we played really hard. We just didn't play smart."

Did you think about replacing any of the receivers after the drops? Morriss: "I think our first concern was our inside receivers. They didn't have a very good day. I think Justin Akers was alright. I think we might use some bigger bodies. They were jamming some of our smaller kids and disrupting routes that way. I think some of our bigger guys have a better chance of banging around in there with safeties and linebackers. We are going to play a lot of the same people. We will probably use more people."

What can you do to prevent more drops? Morriss: "Well, they are catching a ton of balls in practice, but we have to start staying later in the evenings and catching more balls. They are going to have to do some of that on their own because we are right at the 20 hour rule now."

What did you think of Caleb Allen's long field goal? Morriss: "It was good to see. You need a guy that can hit them from that distance, and he's been pretty consistent production wise for us. He can come in and kick from long distance and punt some for us. He had the fake against Texas State that got called back, but it was nice run. He does a lot of duties for us. He holds on the field goals."

The Texas A&M players said they knew the fake punt was a fake when Michael Machen walked out on the field. What is the solution for that? Morriss: "We told the kids that if they kind of smelled it out, and they did and were pointing and so on, then just go on and punt the ball. We didn't get that done. I guess the next best thing would have been to call time out, and we didn't get that done either."

How did the players feel after the game? Morriss: "They were disappointed, and we talked about how it comes down to how bad do you want to win. But there are two halves to that. One is that you need to go play hard and with some emotion, and for the most part, we played real hard from the opening snap to the end of the game. But you also have to be smart and execute what you are being coached to do. That's where we didn't do a very good job."

What problems did you have with the option? Morriss: "At the end of the game, they were a little worn down. In the beginning, the end is supposed to take the dive and was freezing for a minute. The linebacker scrapes outside and we got cutoff. Our alignment wasn't right. We should have been lining up a little wider, but there was execution problems."

How do you think the offensive line performed? Morriss: "I thought for all the game except for about three hurries, they did a real good job. This was by far our most physical game we played. J.D. Walton especially was really banging people around. We need them to play that way every week."

What do think about Colorado? Morriss: "Anytime you go out and beat the No. 3 team in the land then you are doing something right. The only comfort I can see that we can afford ourselves is that we are playing in Floyd Casey, and we always seem to play better at home. But we've got to be ready to play Saturday."

Baylor Sunday Notes: For the first time since Baylor's 2004 game against North Texas, the Bears' offensive line did not allow a sack in the Texas A&M loss, ending a 35-game string by Baylor foes with at least one sack ... Blake Szymanski's 69-yard completion to David Gettis against the Aggies was Baylor's longest play of 2007 and its longest since a 79-yard pass from Shawn Bell to Dominique Zeigler against Texas A&M last year in Waco ... LB Joe Pawelek had a season-high 12 tackles (four solos) against Texas A&M, while FS Jordan Lake (18) and SS Brandon Stiggers registered career-highs of 18 and 13 tackles, respectively ... Lake's 18 tackles were the most by a Baylor defender since Maurice Lane's 23-tackle effort against Texas Tech in 2003 ... The Baylor defense has forced at least one turnover in six consecutive games dating to last year's loss at Oklahoma State ... ROV Jake La Mar registered his second career interception, which he returned a career-long 27 yards to set up the Bears' 1Q field goal against Texas A&M ... Caleb Allen's 46-yard field goal marked the first points of his career and was the Bears' longest made field goal since Ryan Haven's 47-yard boot at Colorado last year ... Through five games in 2007, Baylor has been whistled for 27 penalties compared to 42 after five games a year ago ... Baylor reported no serious injuries from the Texas A&M game.