GAME 3
BAYLOR at RICE
Sept. 21 | 6 p.m. CT | Rice Stadium | Houston, Texas
TV: CBSSN
Game Notes: Baylor | Rice | Big 12

STORY LINES
• Baylor plays its final non-conference game of the season Saturday when it faces Rice in Houston, the 82nd all-time meeting between the former Southwest Conference rivals.
• The Bears have won four straight games for the first time since opening the 2016 season 6-0.
• Baylor leads the nation in scoring at 59.5 points per game and yards per carry at 8.37.
• BU has out-scored SFA and UTSA a combined 70-7 in the first half. Eleven different Baylor players have accounted for a touchdown.
• Baylor has scored 40+ in three straight for first time under Rhule (45 vs. Vandy, 56 vs. SFA, 63 vs. UTSA).
• BU is tied for second nationally with 2 blocked kicks. The Bears have 6 blocks in the last 7 games & 11 in 27.
• Thirty-nine players have made their Baylor debuts in 2019. Baylor has played 81 different true or redshirt freshmen over the last two-plus seasons.
• A Baylor player has scored three touchdowns in each game in 2019 (Trestan Ebner, SFA & Denzel Mims vs. UTSA).
• BU's 63 points vs. UTSA are its highest total since putting up 66 vs. Kansas on Oct. 10, 2015. Baylor is tied for the Big 12 lead in scoring offense through two games (59.5 ppg).
• Baylor running backs have 129 receptions over the last 27 games after totaling only 40 catches from 2013-16.
• Baylor offensive lineman Sam Tecklenburg leads the team with 27 consecutive starts. Sixth-year senior wide receiver Chris Platt leads the roster with 45 career games played.
• Denzel Mims ranks 10th in BU history with 2,052 receiving yards, & has a catch in 26 straight games played.
• Matt Rhule coached teams have won 34 straight games when leading entering the fourth quarter.
• Baylor is 77-15 since 2008 when scoring 30 points or more.
• Freshman kicker Noah Rauschenberg ranks ninth nationally in touchback percentage (83.3%, 15-of-18).
• BU is playing its 118th season of football. BU holds a 598-574-44 (.510) record all-time. Baylor has scored in a school-record 152 straight games — the previous record was 89 games from Dec. 31, 1979 - Oct. 23, 1987.
• The Bears are second in the Big 12 averaging 7.82 yards/play in 2019. BU is averaging 532.0 ypg (3rd, B12).

RICE SERIES HISTORY
• Baylor travels to Houston and Rice Stadium to face the Owls in its final non-conference matchup of 2019.
• Former Southwest Conference rivals, Baylor holds a 49-30-2 advantage in the all-time series with the Owls. In Houston, BU has won 27 of 49 meetings. The all-time series dates back to 1914.
• Baylor has won the last eight meetings including a 38-10 win in Houston on Sept. 24, 2016. Seth Russell passed for 337 yards and three scores and JaMycal Hasty posted his first career 100-yard rushing game to lead BU to a win.
• BU is 66-35-2 against members of Conference USA. Additionally, the Bears face Rice in Houston on Sept. 21.
• The Bears hold a 375-231-31 all-time record against current Division I schools in the state of Texas.
• BU assistant Frank Okam had a four-year stint at Rice from 2014-17, the last two seasons as defensive line coach.

NEXT UP
• Following the matchup with Rice, Baylor opens its Big 12 Conference slate with a visit from Iowa State.
• Baylor leads the all-time series with the Cyclones 9-8, but has has dropped two straight for the first time since losing four in a row from 1997-2004. The all-time series dates back to 1988.
• In Waco, BU has won 5 of 8 meetings including four straight before losing a tight 23-13 game in 2017.
• In last season's meeting, Baylor came up short 28-14 in Ames despite out-gaining ISU 505-355. Kickoff temp of 25 degrees was the coldest for Baylor since the final game at Floyd Casey vs. Texas in 2013.

RUN GAME SUCCESS
• The Bears have done damage on the ground over its first two victories averaging 318.0 yards per game, good for 2nd in the Big 12 and 5th nationally. Baylor leads the conference with 4.5 rushing touchdowns per game.
• Eight different players have scored a rushing touchdown, while RB John Lovett and QB Gerry Bohanon share the team lead with 88.5 rushing yards per game (t-6th, Big 12).
• BU's 368 rushing yards on only 39 carries set a new program record for yards on less than 40 carries. The Bears had only rushed for 350+ yards on fewer than 50 carries once before, 426 on 42 carries vs. Washington State in 2008.
• Baylor opened the 2019 season with another strong effort on the ground, posting 268 rushing yards against SFA - the third-best opening week total in the Big 12. Three different players recorded a rushing touchdown and John Lovett (108 yards) recorded his fourth career 100-yard performance.

BEVY OF BAYLOR DEBUTS UNDER RHULE
• After ranking among the top teams in the country to feature freshmen in 2017 and 2018, Baylor continued to introduce new players into its lineups in the opening week of 2019.
• Against SFA and UTSA, Baylor had 39 players make their first appearances in a Bears' uniform, including 21 true freshmen (Brandon Bass, Davis Baucum, Will Baxter, Blake Bedier, Jacoby Clarke, Colby Delashaw, TJ Franklin, Blake George, Jackson Gleeson, Gabe Hall, Bryson Jackson, Colby Johnston, Matt Jones, Qualan Jones, Josh Landry, Alex Lanham, Collin Losack, Paul Matavao-Poialii, Cole Maxwell, Michael McNair, Tripp Mitchell, Kyle Peterson, Casey Phillips, Prince Pines, Garmon Randolph, Noah Rauschenberg, Trystan Slinker, Shevin Smith, Sam Snyder, Yusuf Terry, Solo Turner, Brayden Utley, Skyler Wetzel, Brandon White, Harrison White, Jonah White, Kolby White, Will Williams, Niadre Zouzoua).
• Offensive linemen Blake Bedier and Prince Pines made their first career starts against SFA.
• Over the last two-plus seasons, Baylor has played 81 true or redshirt freshmen.

RHULE'S NEW SCORING RECORD
• Baylor's 63 points against UTSA established a new scoring record for a Matt Rhule-coached team. In his six seasons as a head coach, Rhule had never had a team tally more than 60 points in a game.
• Rhule's previous high-water mark was the 60 points tallied by Temple in a 60-40 victory at SMU in 2015.
• BU established new high-scoring totals under Rhule in consecutive games following the 56 scored against SFA in the opener.
• The last time the Bears scored 60+ points was when they scored 66 on Oct. 10, 2015 when they scored 66 in a 66-7 victory at Kansas.
• Baylor is averaging 50.5 ppg on its currently four-game win streak dating back to last season vs. Texas Tech.

NEW KICKERS CONVERT
• Baylor head coach Matt Rhule has showed confidence in a trio of freshman specialists through the first two games of 2019.
• Redshirt freshman punter Issac Power has seven punts with a long of 51 yards. Redshirt freshman place kicker John Mayers is a perfect 13-for-13 on extra points. The Bears are yet to attempt a field goal.
• True freshman kicker Noah Rauschenberg has 18 kickoffs, including 15 touchbacks, and has added four XP. He leads the Big 12 and ranks ninth nationally with touchbacks on 83.3 percent of his kickoffs.

ARNOLD'S RETURN FOR THE RECORD BOOK
• Junior safety Grayland Arnold busted loose for a 73-yard punt return touchdown against UTSA. It was the first punt return touchdown of Arnold's career and the first for Baylor since Levi Norwood in 2013.
• At 73 yards, Arnold's return was the longest for Baylor since Shaun Rochon had an 85-yarder against Samford in 2005 and it tied with Don Huggins (1970 vs. TCU) for the ninth longest in program history.
• Arnold's score was the first allowed by UTSA in program history (9 seasons) and he is one of just 14 players in FBS to return a punt for a score over the season's first three weeks.

SHARING THE WEALTH ON OFFENSE
• Baylor has a multitude of talented players with which to distribute the football on offense and has made use of many of those options in its 2-0 start.
• That emerging offense leads the Big 12 and the country at 59.5 ppg.
• The Bears have had 12 different players score a touchdown, a total that is tied for second nationally with Oregon and Maryland.

COMPLETE GAME NOTES