Oct. 23, 2005

After Saturday's heart-breaking 37-30 double-overtime loss at Oklahoma, Coach Guy Morriss' 4-3 Baylor football team returns home to host No. 17 Texas Tech on Oct. 29 in an 11:30 a.m. contest which will be televised on Fox Sports Net. Here are Morriss' comments on a variety of subjects heading into this week's game against the Red Raiders:

What do you think turned it around at the half?

"The major thing is we just went after them a little bit more, listened a little more. I think our kids were pretty emotional at halftime and then they just kind of settled and started playing. It wasn't really a panic it was more of a wake-up type deal. A couple of players were at a fever pitch and it must have woke us up. I gave them my opinions at first and then the players kind of took it from there. I told them we weren't playing our style of football, we needed to be more aggressive and more running, executing, putting the ball on the ground and stuff and they kind of took it from there."

Why did the first half go the way it did?

"It was the same kind of deal as Nebraska last week. It was a lot that they did and a lot of things we did to ourselves. We couldn't sustain drives and couldn't get any consistency going. We missed a lot of tackles in the first half...I would be interested to see us play a game when we just don't destroy ourselves in this kind of game against a really good opponent. That's what we are trying to learn, how to play in those kinds of environments. I don't think the crowd bothered us, I don't think the travel hurt us; I don't think anyone panicked and we managed to climb back in the second half. We are going right back into that cooker this week. I can't explain it; I was pretty down about it last night. That's what happens when you hang in there and don't quit. We just kept kicking and scratching and people were hustling to the ball and in the third quarter, we got on them pretty good defensively. We sacked a guy three times; we started making some plays and got the ball turned over."

On Oklahoma's long touchdown drives:

"Every time we go out on defense, someone has to be in charge of containment and we didn't do a good job of that and they caught us and blocked us. We didn't recover from that."

On the fumble by Trey Payne:

"It was just getting sloppy with the ball. If you don't have it close to your body it comes out. That's something we work on everyday, the circuit we've got. It's frustrating to me because it's not something we are not working on. Every fumble we've had this year has come from a quarterback on the exchange or receivers and it's got to come from upstairs, they have to mentally think about that stuff and take care of the ball better. I think sometimes we get a little sloppy with the ball in practice too and that's where we've got to go back and make them understand that they've got to take care of the football."

On forcing fumbles:

"It's something we work on and we do pretty good at getting the ball out and getting on it but then we get pretty generous about giving it right back to them. That's something we work on."

"It's good for the kids to know that we can get the big plays and quick strike. We couldn't have done that one any better, it was just good protection, the throw was on the mark and Ziggy (Dominique Zeigler) caught it on the run. I don't think the wind really effected the passing game for either team very much."

Did you feel like you had to score in the first overtime?

"It would certainly help our chances of winning. I felt like if we could get seven we could win the ball game but we just couldn't come up with the play. I thought they were good calls but we just misread one, if we had have made the right read we probably would have scored. You've got to put up the points, I mean, they've got a guy that if they don't move an inch they can still kick a field goal, so, if we tie, we still get a shot at anther overtime there. I didn't want to give them another shot at the end zone and where that ball would have ended up is about where that kid has been at his best. We thought we might be able to block it."

On Oklahoma's winning touchdown:

"We just got beat, man coverage and we lined up a little too far inside and we just got beat. C.J. (Wilson) just lost his leverage and the guy went by him. He was just too far inside."

Was the whole game frustrating for you?

"Yeah, it's the same thing that happened to us at A&M and Nebraska. We just haven't handled those things very well for an entire ball game. We just don't have the consistency. The penalties are killing us; we just have to keep pushing through it. As long as we are learning from it, it's good for our underclassmen down the road. They will have experience and, say what you want to, but double overtime losses, one to A&M and Oklahoma and losing by about 9 to Nebraska, all pretty good programs, it may sound like moral victory but I don't think it's that at all, I think it's a learning experience for those guys that will line up next fall. It's good for all those kids that are coming up the ladder to experience and learn from it and learn to handle the pressure. I think the more you get exposed to those kinds of games the better it's going to make you because you deal with it better next time you face it, hopefully."

Are you afraid with these close calls that they might quit?

"Last night they could have quit at halftime, they could have quit last week at halftime, they could have quit against Iowa State at halftime, they didn't play the best first half there. We can't spot this bunch coming up a half because there won't be any rallying back but, there have been all kinds of opportunities to quit and I haven't seen that out of them. They don't give up. It seems like it takes us about a half to get warmed up and cranking and we've got to try and get that fixed too. We can't spot those kinds of teams a half."

Does the schedule get overwhelming?

"It doesn't bother me. I learned not to deal with all that playing in the NFL but, this is what you signed up for. You knew what you were getting into. We just keep growing and learning from all this and it's just going to make us better in the long run."

On playing on the road:

"I think maybe some of it is about taking the opposing crowd and letting that motivate you. That was a loud crowd last night. They are good fans and they know how and when to cheer and they set the band right behind your bench and you can't think on the sidelines. It can be annoying and distracting with the noise in your ear and we did a good job of operating with that. I don't think the noise bothered us. We are learning to play on the road and how to handle the noise and fans and everything."

Did the defensive line play better in the second half?

"They played better. Julian (Hill) was pretty effective. Marcus (Foreman) showed up this week a little better, Michael Gary was good. I don't know what it was but it kind of gassed everybody up and got us going."

Sunday Baylor Notes: Baylor's 4-3 record is its best through 7 games since an identical mark in 1996 ... Baylor allowed season-highs in total yards (474) and points allowed (37) against Oklahoma ... Baylor has scored first in six straight games ... The Bears have forced 13 fumbles this season, the most by a Baylor team since the 2001 squad forced 22 fumbles...Baylor's defense has nine interceptions on the season, the most by a Baylor team since the 2001 Bears had 11 picks ... Junior QB Shawn Bell has completed at least on TD pass in six consecutive games. That is the longest streak for a Baylor QB since Brad Goebel had a TD pass in seven consecutive games during the 1987 season ... Bell's fourth-quarter, 55-yard TD pass to WR Dominique Zeigler was the longest career pass play for both players ... Bell extended his streak of consecutive passes without an interception to 145 dating to a third quarter pick at Army (Sept.17) ... Bell moved into 13th place on Baylor's career passing yardage list; he now has 2,479 career passing yards ... Bell increased his career TD-to-INT ratio to 16-to-5 (3.2) ... Junior WR Trent Shelton has caught at least one pass in 29 consecutive games ... Junior WR Dominique Zeigler has caught at least two passes in each of his last 17 games played ... Zeigler established a career high for reception yardage with his 9-catch, 141-yard effort against the Sooners. His previous high was 121 against Texas A&M in 2004 ... Zeigler's receiving yardage tied for the 26th-best single-game total in school history and ranked as the most by a Bear since Reggie Newhouse's 164-yard game at California in 2002 ... Zeigler moved into sixth place on Baylor's career receptions list; he now has 96 career receptions ... Shelton moved into ninth place on Baylor's career receptions list; he now has 90 career receptions ... With 52 receiving yards, Shelton became the 22nd player in Baylor history to amass 1,000 career receiving yards. He now has 1,047 career receiving yards ... Senior WR/KR Shaun Rochon's second-quarter, 98-yard kickoff return for a TD was the first of his career and the first by a Baylor player since Robert Quiroga's 100-yarder against Texas Tech in 2003 ... Rochon's third-quarter TD reception was the first of his career and moved his season TD total to 4 (1 by rush, 1 receiving and 2 return--1 kickoff and 1 punt return) ... Redshirt freshman Jason Smith's first quarter TD reception was the first of his career ... Junior P Daniel Sepulveda extended his school record for career punts of 50-plus yards. With two such punts against Oklahoma, he now has 59 punts of 50-plus yards ... Senior LB Colin Allred established a career high with 12 tackles. His previous high was nine tackles on two occasions ... He also posted his first career multiple-sack game ... Junior DE Marcus Foreman established a career high with nine tackles. His previous high was seven on two occasions ... Junior CB James Todd established a career high with seven tackles. His previous high was four on two occasions ... Baylor lost back-to-back games for the first time this season ... Bears' three 2005 setbacks have been by a combined total of 19 points with 2 of the losses (at Texas A&M and at Oklahoma) in overtime ... Baylor falls to 2-4 all-time in overtime games, 0-3 away from Waco ... Baylor leads the all-time series against Texas Tech, 32-30-1, but the Bears have lost 9-straight games in the series since a 9-7 win at Waco during the 1995 season, which also marks the last time Baylor faced a ranked Tech team (Red Raiders are 17th in this week's Associated Press poll ... Baylor enjoys an all-time series edge of 18-9 against the Red Raiders at Waco.