QUARTERBACK TALK

By Jerry Hill
Baylor Bear Insider

Spanning more than 50 years of Baylor football, from All-American Don Trull (1961-63) to two-time Big 12 champion Bryce Petty (2011-14), a group of legendary quarterbacks shared their experiences and opinions to a sellout crowd at Monday's Great Waco Chamber of Commerce Kickoff Luncheon.

Other than "Commander" Cody Carlson (1983-86), who picked SMU and Texas A&M as the Bears' biggest rivals during his playing career, the quarterback panel was near-unanimous in naming the Texas Longhorns as their biggest nemesis.

"I hate to say it, but Texas was our biggest rival," said Trull, who played six years in the NFL with the Houston Oilers and New England Patriots. "We played them back in '63 and lost 7-0 in Austin for the Southwest Conference championship. And then Darrell Royal and the Longhorns went on to win the national championship. So, we were close."

Petty had a little different take, saying "You've got to be able to lose to people for it to be a rival, right?" In his two years as the starter, Petty was 2-0 against both Texas and Oklahoma, defeating the Texas Longhorns, 30-10, to win the program's first Big 12 title in 2013 and then blowing out the Sooners, 48-14, on the road in 2014.

"For us, I think that started from the top down, and Coach (Art) Briles hated Coach (Gary) Patterson up in Fort Worth," said Petty, who will join the other three in the Baylor Athletics Hall of Fame as part of the 2025 class, "and that just permeated through the whole building during TCU week. For us, it was probably TCU and Texas, just because Texas loves to sit here and think that they're Texas from 1965, all the time."

Both Carlson and Jay Jeffrey (1980-81) listed SMU as one of their chief rivals during the early 1980s, when the Mustangs "set the standard for NIL." Long before Name, Image and Likeness was a thing, SMU was handed the "death penalty" for paying players and went without football for two years.

"Those two conferences were two of the best in the country," Jeffrey said of the old Big Eight and Southwest Conference that combined to form the Big 12 in 1996. "Of course, UT was a big rival of ours, but SMU was up there with (Eric) Dickerson and (Craig) James and an All-American quarterback in Mike Ford. We had some real battles with them. They were probably our biggest rival, along with UT."

Saying Texas was "down a little bit," Carlson pointed to SMU and Texas A&M as the Bears' biggest rivals during his playing days. Carlson lost a 31-30 shootout with Kevin Murray and the Aggies that ultimately decided the conference champion in 1986.

"SMU, my first two years, they had Pony Express Version I and Pony Express Version II," said Carlson, who played seven years with the Oilers. "I would argue that we had the most talent on the defensive side of the ball, particularly my junior and senior year, Texas A&M was the most talented all-around team, and they had the best home-field advantage. If I look back, it's probably Texas A&M, because I'm still mad at losing to them."

Asked about the facility upgrades that have included McLane Stadium and the Fudge Football Development Center, Jeffrey said the facilities at Baylor "are as good as anybody's in the country" now.

"They may not be as big, but absolutely unbelievable," Jeffrey said. "It's amazing what Grant Teaff did at Baylor with the facilities that he was given. I went to Missouri, which had incredible facilities, training table, everything. I came to Baylor, which would have been spring of '79, and our facilities were dismal, just horrible."

Coming to Baylor just two years after Jeffrey led the Bears to the SWC championship, Carlson obviously didn't see a lot of upgrades in facilities.

"It was pretty appalling," he said. "There was mold everywhere. The weight room was subterranean, it was dingy. But we turned that into an advantage. I think we had a lot of guys who took pride in the fact that we didn't have the resources, we didn't have the facilities, but we were going to out-compete teams. We were under-resourced, but we could go out there and play with any of the other teams."

All of them struggled to narrow a "favorite Baylor moment" down to one game or one play, but Petty said "going up to Norman (to face 16^th-ranked Oklahoma) and hearing 90,000 people boo their own team was awesome."

"We had never won in Norman, either," he said, "so we were just ready for OU that week," referencing a quote he repeated after every question he was asked in the postgame session following a 60-14 Homecoming win over Kansas in 2014. "But there were a lot of exciting times, a lot of exciting moments that made it fun, and we all got to do it together."

Carlson listed a 20-13 win over No. 3 at the Los Angeles Coliseum in 1985 and beating LSU, 21-7, in the Liberty Bowl that same year as two of his favorites.

"We played really good competition and fared very well," he said, "and we're proud of what we accomplished on the field."

For Jeffrey, it was the matchup against SMU during the Bears' run to the SWC championship in 1980. Already facing a 14-0 first-quarter deficit, "our quarterback throws an interception for a touchdown" he said. "To be fair, I hit him in stride. So, I'd like to think I had something to do with (defensive back John Simmons) being a first-team All-American."

In a sideline confrontation with Teaff after that play, Jeffrey asked him, "Coach, are you going to take me out?"

"Coach Teaff did what he always does, he asked a question, 'Jay, what do you think I should do?' And I said, 'Well, leave me in, and we'll win the game. If you take me out there's nothing I can do about it.' And Coach Teaff did what Coach Teaff does. He said, 'Jay, I believe that you believe that.' True story, he took three steps, turned back around said, 'Jay, you're my quarterback.'''

Jeffrey led the Bears to a dramatic 32-28 come-from-behind victory, part of an 8-0 conference slate that helped Baylor win the league by three full games and earn its second Cotton Bowl appearance in seven years.

Like Carlson, Trull mentioned a bowl victory over LSU, but "when you've got receivers like Lawrence Elkins and James Ingram, it makes it pretty easy."

The Bears are practicing every day this week before the "Meet the Bears" event this Saturday at the Allison Indoor Facility.

Baylor opens the 2025 season against Auburn on Aug. 29 in a nationally televised matchup (FOX) at McLane Stadium. For season-ticket or single-game options, go to the link at 2025 Baylor Football Tickets.

QUARTERBACK TALK

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