By Jerry Hill
Baylor Bear Insider
           
Trailing 23-0 at halftime of Saturday's game against Duke, Baylor coach Matt Rhule had one message for his team: "We're going to play the whole game."
           
Tyquan Thornton took it to heart.

Filling in for an injured Denzel Mims, the freshman receiver hauled in a 25-yard touchdown pass from Jalan McClendon and set up two other TDs with catches of 39 and 28 yards from Charlie Brewer as the Bears made a game of it before falling, 40-27, Saturday afternoon in their final conference tune-up.

"Those were two huge plays," Rhule said. "That's all we said to them was the plays are there. The first half, we had play after play after play that was either dropped or just as a guy was coming open, (the quarterback) got hit and we weren't able to make the throw. To see Tyquan make those plays, that was awesome."

The first half could not have gone any worse.

Connor Martin, who had not missed a kick through the first two games, missed a 44-yard field goal and had a 47-yarder blocked. A fumble by John Lovett set up Duke's first touchdown and the Blue Devils scored on a 66-yard TD pass in the last few minutes of the second quarter to go up 23-0.

"It was pretty simple at halftime – just be us," said sophomore defensive lineman James Lynch. "We showed everybody who we really weren't. The coaches came in calm and told us that they're really not better than us, we were just beating ourselves. We just had to come out in the second half and be us, and play like Baylor should play."

After the defense forced a quick three-and-out, Brewer was a an efficient 4-for-6 for 63 yards and finished it off with a three-yard run to get the Bears on the board. It was the highlight-reel catch by Thorton, though, that sparked it. He went up over two defenders for the 39-yard grab down to the Blue Devils' 12.

"That's all we practice in practice is going up and high-pointing the ball, staying focused, locking in on the ball and making good catches," said Thornton, who had a career-high three catches for 92 yards.

Brewer, who threw for 175 yards and rushed for two touchdowns, said "he's known all along, since (Thornton) got here. . . . He can jump through the roof, like y'all saw on a few of those plays today."

"That's something he's done all spring and summer and fall camp," said McClendon, who was 10-of-16 for 95 yards and one TD and added 51 yards on 10 carries. "None of us were blind to any of the things he did today."
           
Part of the same recruiting class, freshman safety Christian Morgan came up with another huge play when he blocked an Austin Parker punt that JaMycal Hasty scooped and scored from 33 yards out to get the Bears back in at 23-13 with still a quarter and a half to play.
           
"I think Christian is an extremely, extremely talented football player and he's got all the physical gifts," Rhule said. "He's working hard to be a guy who can play on defense and on (special) teams. Where we are right now, we're playing a lot of freshmen on special teams. . . . Christian, he's an elite athlete."
           
The Bears also got a 41-yard kickoff return from freshman Josh Fleeks on the opening kick of the game. He finished with 95 yards on five returns.
           
"If he had a little more protection blocking, he might have had a couple more. So, we'll continue to use him as a weapon and continue to grow his role on offense as we move forward."
           
Duke slowed down the Baylor comeback with an 11-play, 75-yard scoring drive, going back up 30-13 on a seven-yard pass from Harris to T.J. Rahming on third-and-goal.
           
The Blue Devils had gone seven games without giving up a single point in the fourth quarter, but the Bears put up 14 in an eight-minute stretch. Thornton hauled in the 25-yarder from McClendon over the coverage of cornerback Myles Hudzick.
           
"I was very excited, just to be a great teammate and step in for (Mims) and make big plays," said Thornton, who had two catches for 22 yards through the first two games. "(Losing) kind of hurts me, my first chance being able to step up and play. But, we're going to get it right next week."
           
Baylor was able to put together one more scoring drive late in the game when Brewer went 4-of-5 for 73 yards and then ran it in from two yards out to get it back to a two-score game.
           
"It's in those moments that you find out who wants to do it or not," Rhule said. "That was my thing. Guys, we're going to play the whole game. Whatever is happening to this point, go play the second half. I thought we did that."
           
Baylor stays home to host Kansas (2-1) at 2:30 p.m. next Saturday, Sept. 22, at McLane Stadium in a game that will be televised by FS1. The Jayhawks have won two in a row, routing Rutgers, 55-14, on Saturday in Lawrence.