By Larry Little
Jerry Hill's Baylor Bear Insider

Lost in the glitz and glamour of highlight-reel performances from running (wild) backs and wide (open) receivers is this simple fact: Even in the era of the spread, games still are largely won and lost in the trenches.

Baylor proved that fact Saturday afternoon in 63-35 victory over Texas Tech at AT&T Stadium, dominating the line play on both sides of the ball.

For the offensive line, it started early. Shock Linwood blasted through a gaping hole between guard and tackle on the right side for a 79-yard touchdown run on the game's third play.

"They were moving people," quarterback Seth Russell said of the offensive line. "You could probably drive a semi-truck through (the hole)."

Linwood said once he hit that hole, he knew he was gone.

"Just put on the blinders, and don't let anybody catch you," he said. "I just have to give credit to the O-line. Whenever a play is called, we just execute it pretty good."

Head coach Art Briles said Linwood's long touchdown run was a long time coming.

"He's got great balance, great vision; he's strong, explosive," Briles said. "But he's got a great O-line."

It didn't stop. Baylor piled up 368 yards rushing-221 yards from Linwood, who gained at least five yards on nine of his 12 first-half runs.

"We know we can throw the football, and we know we can be explosive throwing the ball," Briles said. "But, if you can run a football, (it) kind of hurts them in the heart. And that's the thing you have to be able to do. You have to be able to rush the ball."

Tackle Spencer Drango said Linwood's long touchdown run on the game's first drive set the tone for the offensive line.

"We had a good plan going in," tackle Spencer Drango said. "We took it on ourselves to go get it. That gave us confidence moving forward. We like to run the ball first, and if we can do that, we're going to do it all day. Sometimes we're going to throw it, and we're good at that, too."

Drango talked about the aspect of imposing your will on a defensive line, calling it "disheartening" for the opponent.

"It's definitely fun for us," he said. "There's that turning point where they're giving up. A couple years ago, it was Kansas State. They stopped the ball and all of the O-line and anybody else pushed the line for four yards for a first down to clinch it. You could just feel the momentum shift."

Drango was asked whether other teams realize how dominant Baylor's offensive line is.

"I don't know. I'm thinking they do," he said. "I'm betting they do."

They do.

"Their line is at a high level," Texas Tech head coach Kliff Kingsbury said.

Russell finished 15-of-23 for 286 yards and four touchdowns and was hardly breathed upon in the passing game all day. In fact, he was hurried only once in 23 pass attempts-that coming on a somewhat discombobulated play right before the end of the first half. Russell also had 81 yards on 12 rushes with two more scores.

"Being able to run the ball strong, it definitely opens up the pass game because they have to load the box," Russell said. "And that leaves one-on-one with what I feel are the best receivers in the nation. It puts a lot of stress on the defense."

Meanwhile, Baylor's defensive line shined, as well. Tech entered the game averaging 197.3 yards rushing per game. The Bears held them to 106. Sure, the Red Raiders abandoned the run most of the second half, but that largely was due to the fact that the holes simply weren't there.

"That's the most important thing for us-stop the run," defensive end Jamaal Palmer said. "If we can stop the run, that makes them one-dimensional."

DeAndre Washington gashed TCU a week earlier for 188 yards and four touchdowns. Saturday against Baylor, he managed only 39 yards on 13 carries with only one run longer than seven yards and no touchdowns.

"Early on, (Baylor) did a great job against the run," Kingsbury said. "And then you get behind by that many points, you try to save time and start throwing it."

While Mahomes-arguably the most underrated quarterback in Big 12 Conference-tallied 415 yards passing with three touchdowns, he needed 50 passes to achieve those numbers. And they did not come easily as the Bears were able to get consistent pressure on the elusive sophomore all day.

"Mahomes is impossible to tackle," Briles said. "It's not just us; it's everybody. But I thought (the line) did a great job. It's just-if you can disrupt a little bit, then you got a chance. But he's hard to get a handle on. He's really good."

The pressure led to a pair of interceptions.

"They were pretty relentless," Briles said of the defensive line. "That's really all you can ask for, a great relentless effort and hope something good happens."

Palmer said the line went into the game knowing that simply getting pressure on Mahomes is good enough.

"Making him work out of the pocket and having to throw on the run, we'd rather do that because he's a great passer out of the pocket," Palmer said. "But we got pressure on him, made him move around a bit. That was a big thing for us."

The Bears switched to a three-lineman look most of the game, and the line still was able to apply pressure. Palmer said the change was beneficial.

"That allowed me to rush the guard on the inside," he said. "I was pushing the guard, pressuring the guard. I was able to make Mahomes think about it and not just look down field."

Baylor never sacked Mahomes, but the Bears posted 13 hurries. Palmer, led the way with four, called Mahomes very slippery.

"If you don't get your hands on him, he's going to bust it outside and keep running," Palmer said. "For us, it was just chase him down. Make him throw it away. Make him do things that he normally doesn't do. We did a lot of that this game."

Palmer said not being able to ever get Mahomes to the ground never got frustrating.

"Getting off the field was important to us," Palmer said. "We were getting off the field. We were getting stops."

Baylor stopped Tech on third down 10 of 18 times and three of five times on fourth down. The Bears also forced three punts and turned four turnovers into 14 points.

"You gotta be realistic," Briles said. "If you're racing (Trayvon) Bromell, and you're a 9.94 guy, and he runs a 9.92 and beats you? What do you do? You did about as good as you could do.

"We understand they're a really good offensive football team. Our defense made the plays-if you can get two or three stops, you can flip the game. We got two or three stops, the next thing you know, we're up 28."