Sept. 27, 2009

After a 68-13 win over Northwestern State, the Baylor football team will cap off its three-game homestand Saturday against Kent State. Kickoff is set for 6 p.m. at Floyd Casey Stadium.

Here are head coach Art Briles' thoughts on the Bears' victory against Northwestern State and Saturday's game against the Golden Flashes:

On the passing game:
"Our plan in the spring was to make people respect the pass on us. We felt like last year we ran the ball pretty effectively. We thought for us to be more dangerous on offense that we needed to be more effective throwing the football. That was our mindset going into the season."

On the offensive production:
"Our goal was to run 40 plays in the first half and I think we ran 38 so that was something that we were really trying to shoot for. When you get defensive touchdowns, which is great and its big time, but it also takes away from offensive possessions. We really didn't get that much work done in the second half like we needed to get done with some of these other guys. I think the balance is a little more indicative of what we would like to do."

On the play of Clifton Odom and Chance Casey:
"I thought (Clifton Odom) and Chance Casey did well. Chance is a dynamic player and Cliff was real steady. That is a position we are looking at and we have confidence in both of those guys right now."

On the importance of backups getting playing time late in the game:
"That makes it fun from a program standpoint to see the guys that always give and never get to get. Some of these guys got to get a little action last night and some playing time. That is good from that standpoint."

On the true-freshman getting playing time:
"We had planned on playing all of those guys. I think all of those guys would have played regardless of the game. We were going into the game with the mindset that they have to get their feet wet because they are good football players and are in positions where they have an opportunity to get a little (playing time)."

On Blake Szymanski:
"Blake is mature. He is a weathered, he is a veteran and he understands. When he is on the field we have a pretty good indication of what the outcome is going to be because he pays attention and he is knowledgeable. He can get things done from an offensive standpoint. When he gets on the field we expect good things to happen. He is a good player."

On the running backs:
"(Jarred Salubi) is good football player and (Terrance) Ganaway did a nice job and added a dimension that we will definitely need down the road. We have complete confidence in both of them. They did well. It was not surprising to us because we have seen that from them (in practice)."

On the slow start in the first quarter:
"We really need to emphasize `start faster' on both sides of the ball. What we can't do is the first time we have people step out onto the field and having people pulling on us. First drives need to be dead drives for our opponents. That is something that we are really going to work on and try to emphasize even more because you shouldn't wait until you get hit to start fighting--you have to come out and fight."