Other than the one on the left side of the win-loss column, Baylor sophomore running back JaMycal Hasty says that "numbers don't matter" to him.

"For me, even when we're winning, the numbers don't matter," said the 5-foot-8, 200-pound sophomore from Longview, Texas.

Hasty put up some impressive numbers last year as a redshirt freshman, finishing third on the team with 623 yards and three touchdowns on 119 carries (5.2-yard average). Poised for a breakout sophomore campaign, he suffered a knee injury in the first half of the season opener and missed the next 4 ½ games.

Returning for the Oct. 14 game against Oklahoma State, Hasty totaled just 90 yards on 26 carries in his first four games back. But, over the last two weeks, he's rushed for 159 yards on 30 totes and added 17 catches for 75 yards.

While his knee is "definitely feeling a lot better than when I first came back," Hasty said he doesn't have a good answer for his increased production in the games against Texas Tech and Iowa State.

"To be honest, I don't know," he said. "I guess on game day, I'm just feeling it."

Junior offensive tackle Patrick Lawrence noticed that Hasty has a "little fire under him right now."

"Hopefully, he'll keep that going and we'll keep giving him the ball and the o-line will keep blocking as well as they can for him," Lawrence said.

Head coach Matt Rhule said it was just a matter of the sophomore running back getting a little bit healthier week to week.

"JaMycal is a guy that's got explosiveness and quickness and tremendous change of direction," Rhule said. "When your knee's not 100 percent, some of that gets limited. But, I think as he gets healthier, you see more and more of what he can do."

Part of that is being much more involved in the passing game. Before the Tech game two weeks ago, his career totals through 17 games were 10 catches for 55 yards. He nearly topped that in one game against the Red Raiders, hauling in a career-high nine passes for 51 yards and adding 73 yards on 13 carries.

"With (freshman quarterback Charlie Brewer), he pretty much works through his progressions," Hasty said. "And if he doesn't see anything down field, he doesn't want to make a risky throw. We talk about, 'I'll always be out in the flats if you need me. So just check it down if you get in trouble.'''

Against Iowa State, Hasty set another career best when he broke off a 41-yard run on the Bears' second play from scrimmage. It was originally ruled as a 63-yard touchdown, but the replay overturned the call on the field, determining that he had stepped out at the 22.

"I pretty much had a feeling that I probably stepped out, but I just kept going with it, and hopefully they didn't review it," he said. "I just wanted to make a big play and get the game started, get the crowd involved early, just get on the board quick. . . . That's pretty much my only run since I've been here, so it felt good to finally pop one."

Despite being sidelined for four games and limited most of the year, Hasty is still the Bears' second-leading rusher (305 yards and one TD on 67 carries) going into Friday's season finale against 10th-ranked TCU (9-2, 6-2), which kicks off at 11 a.m. at Amon G. Carter Stadium in Fort Worth.

"It's been a challenge, just because everything we do is different," he said. "I just have to do a good job adapting to the situation and understand that I can't change it, just move on. . . . . This week, I'd just like to win for all the seniors and send them out with a good win, a good feeling, so they don't have that bad taste in their mouth."