By Jerry Hill
Baylor Bear Foundation

When the first eight single-digit jerseys were handed out before the season started, they were awarded by a team vote.

Matt Rhule picked the ninth himself, bestowing jersey No. 8 on sophomore quarterback Zach Smith after his performance the last three weeks.

"Ridiculous toughness," said Rhule, when asked what he had seen from Smith over the last three weeks. "He's out there playing, and he's just getting hit. And he gets back up and stands in there and goes and does it again. . . . He's one of the toughest guys I've been around, and I felt like now is the time to make sure everyone knows he's one of our nine toughest guys and he's our leader."

This is the second year in a row that the 6-foot-3, 225-pound quarterback from Grandview, Texas, has had to step into a starting role. As a true freshman, he came in when Seth Russell suffered a season-ending ankle injury, started the last four games, threw for 1,526 yards and 13 touchdowns and led the Bears to a Cactus Bowl victory over Boise State.

This time, with grad transfer Anu Solomon in concussion protocol, Smith has started the last three games and thrown for 742 yards with seven touchdowns and four interceptions.

"It was good to see him step up and do what he was supposed to do," said sophomore receiver Denzel Mims, who's caught 25 passes for 533 yards and seven touchdowns, tied for the most in the country. "He's been in that situation before, and it was good to know that he knows what to do. . . . I look up to him all the time. He's a big leader."

That's a role that Smith has had to assume as injuries and losses have mounted for the 0-5 Bears.

"I would say maybe a little bit, just keeping guys going, keeping guys focused, and really just trying to go out and get a win," he said. "Once we get a win, all this stuff is going to feel a lot easier. . . . 0-5 is never good, but I think we're a strong team, we've got a strong coach and I think we're unified. We've got our heads on straight, and now we've got to go get this first win."

They've been close every week, with a chance to tie or take the lead in the fourth quarter of every game. In Saturday's 33-20 loss at Kansas State, the Bears had a lead late in the third quarter before being undone by a pair of snap snafus.

"It's really frustrating knowing that we've had the ball to go win, and we haven't," said Smith, who was 26-of-44 for 291 yards and a touchdown in the game at K-State. "I think we know as a team how good we can be and how good we are. . . . We've been extremely close, and we've been that close with a ton of missed assignments. We know how close we are, we know how good we can be. It's just getting there, that last step."

Junior offensive guard Blake Blackmar said, "One thing you can say about this team is we're definitely fighters. A lot of times, we put ourselves in those positions through mistakes and stuff earlier in the game, that maybe we could have avoided this. At the end of the day, when we're in a position to win the game, we have to work on execution and finishing the job. But, we've been in every game and we're fighters, and we're going to continue to grind and get better and better."

One obvious need for improvement is the running game. Since a 254-yard outing in the season opener against Liberty, the Bears have rushed for just 338 yards combined on 120 carries for a 2.8-yard average.

"We're all tired of hearing it. We want to do nothing but run the ball in the game," Blackmar said. "I don't think any of us like pass-blocking better than run-blocking. We like 70-yard bombs, because everyone likes getting off the field quick because of a touchdown. But, the thing the offensive line is working on and focused on is running the ball, staying on our blocks longer and really doing what we need to do to kind of move this offense forward."

After a bye week, the Bears will face 14th-ranked Oklahoma State (4-1, 1-1) at 2:30 p.m. next Saturday, Oct. 14, in Stillwater, Okla.