Baylor-SMU football game in Waco on Sept. 10, 2016

By DAVE CAMPBELL, Founder of Texas Football Magazine

The football game matching those two old Southwest Conference rivals, Baylor and SMU, was supposed to be a blowout in Baylor's favor. At least that's what the experts had told us. So why had we gone to the McLane Stadium and found the Baylor Bears hibernating?

After all, the experts have all told us that bears hibernate when it gets real cold. Here comes a blizzard or some such and bears find a handy cave, curl up and ride out the winter, right? But last Saturday started with an official reading of 85 degrees, so why were the Bears apparently hibernating? The first quarter of the game had rolled past and then the second quarter and what the announced crowd of 45,499 had seen thus far was a battle of field goals. SMU had kicked two field goals in the first quarter and Baylor had kicked two in the second. A 6-6 game was not what the experts had predicted.

So what had happened? Had the two teams lost their scoring touch? Had touchdowns, so popular last season, suddenly gone out of style? It was so out of character that one of the radio voices in the broadcast booth Saturday was heard to say toward the end of the first half: "John, there's no energy in this stadium."

But when it was all over, Baylor coach Jim Grobe put a slightly different slant on it. "Well, that was interesting," he said as he reached the post-game interview room and prepared to answer a few questions.

Yes, interesting in the way the coaches responded to the change at halftime and interesting in the way the Bears responded. What they did was score 20 points in the third quarter and 14 more in the last period, all the while giving up a single touchdown.

So the final score favored the Baylor Bears, 40-13, and Grobe was able to say the Bears had responded well to some changes made at halftime (like responding to the frequent QB blitzes that the Mustangs were dialing up), but also noting the Bears can play much better, and will.

The next and final non-conference test for BU football this season comes Friday when the Bears travel to Houston to take on the Rice Owls at 7 p.m. That is when we will see how much the Bears have improved, and in what areas, before they start playing those Big 12 Conference games that do really count -- like the one against Oklahoma State in Waco on Sept. 24 (kickoff time has not been announced yet).

Saturday's game turned out to be a game dominated to a certain degree by two products of the nearby Hewitt-Midway High School Panthers. When SMU's senior quarterback Matt Davis (6-0, 214, good speed) was unable to play because of a stomach injury he suffered earlier this season, redshirt freshman Ben Hicks (6-1, 216) had to step in and handle all the quarterbacking duties for the Mustangs. And in view of his very limited experience, he didn't do that badly. He kept his team tied at the halfway mark, and he did complete 17 of his 44 passes for 229 yards and one touchdown.

But Baylor senior defensive back Orion Stewart, who played for the same high school team as Hicks, had an even more memorable game. He was in on 8 tackles (5 solo) and had two pass interceptions. And one of the pass pickoffs he returned 33 yards for a touchdown. It came in the third quarter, it lifted the Bears to a 26-6 scoreboard advantage and it pretty well tore open the game. Baylor fans knew right then that their Bears had pretty much come up with all the right answers.

Davion Hall, (6-2, 205, fast), who came to Baylor as a highly recruited wideout and has since been moved to a starting position in the secondary, also had an interception in the third quarter that he returned for 62 yards (BU end zone to the SMU 38). The Bears took it from there, senior quarterback Seth Russell showing his breakaway speed while sprinting the final 19 yards needed to put the Bears ahead, 20-6, late in the third period.

Earlier, Russell had broken the 6-6 halftime deadlock by completing a 31-yard pass to redshirt freshman receiver Blake Lynch to give the Bears a 13-6 advantage.

Bears looked more like their old selves in the second half, scoring on touchdown drives that traveled 79 yards and used 10 plays; 38 yards that needed 5 plays; 69 yards that used 8 plays in the fourth quarter (scored by KD Cannon on a 32-yard pass); and 45 yards that used 3 plays (scored by redshirt freshman running back JaMycal Hasty on a 4-yard run late in the fourth quarter). Hasty is a swift 5-9, 200-pound find from Longview. He has been clocked at 4.56 in the 40-yard dash and Grobe thinks he could have quite a future.

SMU led early, winding up a 9-play, 67-yard drive by turning to soph Josh Williams to kick a 24-yard field goal early in the first quarter, and then adding a second 3-pointer late in the quarter after driving 84 yards in 13 plays to the Baylor 8-yard line before being stopped and once again calling on Williams' accurate toe for a 26-yarder.

The visiting Mustangs were getting good yardage on those two drives. Freshman 202-pound running back Ke'Mon Freeman unreeled runs of 19 and 5 yards on the first payoff drive, and Hicks had completions of 8, 21 and 3 yards in setting up the first field goal. Sophomore Braedon West did most of the ground work and Hicks had completions of 10 and 20 yards to Courtland Sutton, a 13-yarder to West, and a 27-yarder to redshirt freshman James Proche while getting the Mustangs in position for the second field goal.

Baylor's two first half field goals, 35- and 38-yarders both kicked by Chris Callahan, came as a result of second-quarter drives that featured 55-yard, 15-play and 4-yard, 4-play drives. Nickel back Patrick Levels, a senior from Dallas, set up the short scoring thrust, forcing a fumble and then recovering the loose pigskin with 2:14 left to play in the first half.

At the finish, Baylor had more first downs, 29 to SMU's 21; more rushing yardage, 275 to 176; and more total yardage, 536 to SMU's 405. The Bears also had the upper hand in ball control, 103 plays to the Ponies' 82. And it's importantly to note that the three passes the Bears intercepted were the most they have had in a single game since Nov. 30, 2013, when they picked off three thrown by TCU passers. That's covering a span of 30 games.

The game's final figures listed sophomore Terence Williams as Baylor's leading footman (85 yards on 19 carries). Hasty had 64 on 7 carries and Shock Linwood, closing in on all-time Baylor rushing leader Walter Abercrombie's career record, found the Mustangs primed to deny him that kind of afternoon. They held him to 59 yards on 18 carries.

Seth Russell was accurate on 26 of his 47 throws for 261 yard and two scores but had two passes wind up in Mustang hands. Cannon led all receivers with 10 catches for 93 yards and one score, and Lynch had 6 grabs for 95 yards and a TD.

There were times when Baylor would get a receiver wide open but Russell's passes would fail to hit the mark. Coach Grobe said in the postgame interview that Russell was not at his best and the receivers did not always run their routes correctly. So there's still something to work on this week, among other things.

Braeden West led SMU's infantry onslaught with 93 yards on 15 carries. Ke'Mon Freeman had 83 steps on 19 carries. Courtland Sutton led Pony receivers with 6 catches for 112 yards.

On the defensive side of things, the day belonged to Levels (12 stops in all, 7 of the solo variety) and Stewart with his 2 interceptions. But Stewart, Davion Hall and junior linebacker Raaquan Davis were all in on 8 tackles, and both linebacker Aiacon Edwards and nose tackle Ira Davis were in on 6.

SMU's defense was led by safety Darrion Mallines who was in on 10 tackles.