If the decision had been solely up to Terence Williams, the fourth-year junior running back would have been on the field for the season opener against Liberty. No doubt.

After playing through a knee injury last year to rush for 1,048 yards and 11 touchdowns, Williams underwent shoulder surgery in the spring and had to sit out the first three games, waiting to be cleared.

"It was frustrating, but it would be like that for anybody who has to sit and watch their team," he said. "It doesn't matter who it is, just having to sit there and watch, it's frustrating. . . . If it was up to me, I was out there Week 1. But, I had to wait and get cleared."

The first two games back, the 6-foot-2, 222-pound running back didn't have much of an impact, rushing for just 53 yards on 22 carries and adding two catches for 15 yards. But, in last week's 59-16 loss at 14th-ranked Oklahoma State, Williams broke off a run of 39 yards and finished with 95 yards on 10 totes.

"I felt a little more like myself," he said. "I felt like I should have done better, but I'm still getting in the groove of everything after being out for so long. That's no excuse, but I'm still working on myself."

With Williams leading the way, the Bears rediscovered the running game and grinded out 219 yards on 46 attempts against the Cowboys.

"There weren't really a lot of changes," he said. "We just worked on running the ball a lot harder. (The offensive line) told all the running backs, they're going to block their butts off for us, and we're going to run hard for them. And it showed during the game. If we can keep working on that, it's going to open up the pass more, and I think things will start clicking."

Head coach Matt Rhule said Williams was "really fantastic" in the game at OSU.

"You could see that he's coming along," Rhule said. "He wanted to continue to play, and I pulled him out with that shoulder. I didn't want to get him banged up for no reason."

When Williams pleaded to get back in the game, he picked up 10 yards and a first down on his last carry before heading to the sidelines.

"It was hurting, but it wasn't something . . . I've got a high pain tolerance, so I feel like I could have stayed out there," he said. "I went in there for one more drive, and then (Rhule) said, 'All right, I'm going to take you out. I don't want to risk it.' I just wanted to get that win, man. I didn't want to quit on my teammates, because I know they won't quit on me."

Williams said he just wants to put the frustration of the first half of the season behind him "and not even think about it."

With last week's performance, the former all-state running back from Ennis, Texas, passed Glasco Martin, Larry Hickman, Paul Mosley and Rashad Armstrong and moved up to 14th all-time on Baylor's career rushing list with 1,752 yards. He could top 2,000 yards and crack into the top 10 by the end of the season.

He's also excited about what he's seen from freshman running backs John Lovett and Trestan Ebner and sophomore JaMycal Hasty, who just returned from an injury himself.

"We're already a nice group," he said. "But man, when those guys get a little older, it's going to be something special. I can see that now."

Williams, who played on two bowl game-winning teams with a 17-9 record the previous two years, also sees the steady improvement in this year's Bears.

"I know we're 0-6, but after every game I can see changes in the team as a whole and us being better than we were last week," he said. "I know it doesn't show on the scoreboard. But just being on the inside, you can see that everything is starting to come in place. Everybody's getting better every week."