GAME 5

BAYLOR at KANSAS STATE

Sept. 30 | 2:35 p.m. CT | Bill Snyder Family Stadium | Manhattan, Kan.
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Game Notes: Baylor | Kansas State | Big 12

STORY LINES
- Baylor heads to Manhattan, Kansas to face K-State in the Big 12 road opener. The Bears had a four-game winning streak in the series snapped last season with a 42-21 defeat by Kansas State in Waco.
- The Baylor defense has allowed only five touchdowns (38.5%/18th FBS) in 13 redzone trips.
- Thirteen of Baylor's 14 touchdown scoring drives and 16 of 20 scoring drives on the season have lasted 2:30 or less. The Bears are averaging 1:43 per scoring drive in 2017.
- Baylor leads the Big 12 in both tackles for loss (32.0, 14th NCAA) and sacks (11.0, 23rd NCAA).
- Underclassmen account for 62% (186 of 298) of Baylor's tackles through four games.
- Manning Star of the Week honoree Zach Smith has thrown for 200+ yards & at least 2 TDs in all 6 career starts. He was also named to the Davey O'Brien Great 8 after setting a career high with 463 yards & 4 TDs.
- The Bears' 21 first-time starters, including eight freshmen, thus far in 2017 are the most in FBS.
- BU recorded four touchdown passes against OU, the first four allowed by the Sooners in 2017.
- Big 12 Special Teams POTW Connor Martin tied the Baylor record with 4 FGs (32, 41, 46, 36) against OU.
- Clay Johnston ranks second in the Big 12 and sixth nationally with 7.5 tackles for loss.
- Baylor has had 15 true freshmen appear in a game in 2017, the eighth-largest total nationally.
- Freshmen & sophomores are responsible for 67.1% (1204 of 1794) of Baylor's all-purpose yards.
- Chris Platt leads the Baylor receiving corps with a reception in 10 straight games and 16 of the last 17 contests. He is the only player in the country with four receptions of 50+ yards.
- Baylor is playing its 116th season of football and first under Matt Rhule, who completed a successful four-year term at Temple from 2013-16. Baylor holds a 588-561-44 (.511) record all-time.
- Blake Lynch leads the Big 12 with four passes broken up through four games.
- The Bears have scored in a school-record 129 straight games since Sept. 1, 2007 at TCU.
- Denzel Mims (406 yards) & Platt (401 yards) rank fourth and fifth in the Big 12 in receiving yards.
- Thirty-eight of Baylor's possible 88 starters through four games were freshmen or sophomores including 13-of-22 (seven offense, six defense) against Oklahoma.
- Punter Drew Galitz leads the Big 12 with an average of 45.2 yards per punt with six of 50+ yards. BU ranks first in Big 12 and second nationally in net punting (45.76).
- Baylor's four opponents from the first four weeks of 2017 currently hold a 14-1 record.
- The Baylor offense leads all of FBS with five passes of 60- and 70-plus yards.
- With Kyle Fuller's selection by Houston in 2017, Baylor has had at least one NFL draft pick for nine straight years. The Bears have had 25 players selected since 2011, including eight offensive linemen in the last nine years.
- The Bears capped the 2016 season with a Cactus Bowl win in their program-record seventh straight bowl appearance. BU had a program record 7+ wins in a season for the 7th straight year in 2016.
- Baylor has had seven consecutive seasons with a 1,000 yard rusher including junior Terence Williams (1,048 yds) who is back for 2017 as one of four returning 1K rushers in the Big 12.
- Just two months on the job, Rhule and his staff signed 27 players in February, a class that ranked 3rd in the Big 12. The Bears signed 20 players from the state of Texas, tops in the Big 12.

UP NEXT
Following a bye on October 7, Baylor hits the road to face another highly-ranked opponent when it squares off with No. 15 Oklahoma State October 14 at Boone Pickens Stadium in Stillwater, Okla. The Bears own victories in consecutive seasons over OSU and have won three of the last four. BU's consecutive wins over the Cowboys is a first in the series history since winning nine in a row from 1915 42. Television coverage of the contest will be announced October 2.

KANSAS STATE SERIES HISTORY
The Bears trail the all-time series with K-State 6-8, including a 2-4 mark in Manhattan. Baylor fell to the Wildcats 42-21 at McLane Stadium in 2016. Prior to that game, the Bears had won four-straight games and 6-of-8 against KSU. Last season against KSU, Baylor's Zach Smith made his first career start and staked the Bears to a 14-7 halftime lead before being out-scored 35-7 in the second half. The Wildcats have not won consecutive games in the series since taking the first five meetings between 1959 and 2003. Legendary Kansas State coach Bill Snyder is 6-5 against Baylor.

BAYLOR FRESHMAN FACTS
- Baylor has played 15 true freshman over the first four weeks, a total that ranks seventh nationally.
- BU has started eight true freshmen at least once over the first three weeks of 2017, second most in FBS. Those first-year players include C Ryan Miller, RB John Lovett, TE Rob Saulin, DE BJ Thompson, LB Jalen Pitre, CB Harrison Hand, OL Xavier Newman and WR RJ Sneed.
- The Bears have also started a pair of redshirt freshmen thus far in FS Jairon McVea and DE Deonte Williams.
- So far in 2017, BU has had 21 players make their first-ever collegiate starts and 21 players make first BU appearance.
- True freshman CB Harrison Hand has started all four games in 2017. LB Jalen Pitre has started three times and C Ryan Miller has started twice.
- Baylor opened the 2017 season with four true or redshirt freshmen in the starting lineup (OL Ryan Miller, CB Harrison Hand, LB Jalen Pitre and S Jairon McVea).
- The Bears had 16 players make their first appearance in a BU uniform, including 13 true or redshirt freshmen, in the opener.
- Ten players made their first-ever start for Baylor in the opening week game. Additionally, two transfers Anu Solomon and Jayson Clements had their first Baylor action after playing time at their previous schools.
- Baylor's 11 true freshman that played in the opener ranked sixth nationally and its three true freshman starters in the first game was behind only LSU's four.
- Twenty-two different freshmen or sophomores have started a game for Baylor through three games in 2017.

THIRD DOWN TURNAROUND
- After struggling on first down against Liberty and alllowing the Flames to convert on 15-of-24 third downs, the Baylor defense has turned the stat around over the last three games and particularly since halftime against UTSA. Baylor's mark of 23.5 percent over the last 10 quarters would rank sixth nationally.
- In addition to the defensive improvement on third down, the Baylor offense took a step forward against Oklahoma completing 9-of-21 (42.8%) third down attempts after being successful on only 7-of-35 (20%) tries entering the game.
- Against FBS opponents, Baylor's third down defense mark of 34.09% ranks third in the Big 12.
- The improvement on third down has allowed the Baylor defense to hold its last three opponents to an average of 207.3 passing yards per game (3rd, Big 12) after giving up 447 yards through the air to Liberty in the opener.

Zach Smith SETTLING IN AT QB
- Making his second start of the season and sixth of his career, Zach Smith threw for a career-best 463 yards and four touchdowns (no INT) against OU. He has now thrown for at least 200 yards and two touchdowns in all six of his career starts.
- Smith had two passes of 70+ yards against the Sooners to move into the FBS lead with four on the season.
- The sophomore's four touchdowns against OU were the first passing touchdowns the Sooners had allowed in 2017
- The performance against Oklahoma was Smith's third career 300-yard passing game. It was the fourth best single-game passing output by a Baylor quarterback and the 19th 400-yard game all-time at Baylor.
- His 463 yards were the most for a BU QB since Bryce Petty threw for 550 yards vs. Michigan St. in the 2015 Cotton Bowl.
- He finished with a career-best 33 completions, tying Shawn Bell and Robert Griffin III for 4th-most completions in a game.
- The Grandview, Texas native ranks fifth in the nation in yards per completion (16.13).

UNDERCLASS EXPLOSION
- Baylor has turned to its young players to provide key production through the season's first four games.
- Thirty-seven of Baylor's possible 88 starters through four games were freshmen or sophomores including 12-of-22 (six offense, six defense) against Oklahoma.
- Twenty-two different underclassmen have started a game for the Bears through four weeks.

LIST: Offense
Sam Tecklenburg, Ryan Miller, Rob Saulin, Denzel Mims, Zach Smith, JaMycal Hasty, John Lovett, Tony Nicholson, Kyle Boyd, Xavier Newman, RJ Sneed

Defense
BJ Thompson, Bravvion Roy, Micheal Johnson, Deonte Williams , Jalen Pitre, Clay Johnston, Harrison Hand, Chris Miller, Henry Black, Jairon McVea, Blake Lynch

- Underclassmen account for 62% (186 of 298) of Baylor's tackles through four games.
- Freshmen & sophomores are responsible for 67.1% (1204 of 1794) of Baylor's all-purpose yards.

BEARS PILING UP SACKS, TFL
- The Baylor defense led by sophomore linebacker Clay Johnston and junior defensive tackle Ira Lewis have piled up sacks and tackles for loss through three games.
- The Bears lead the Big 12 and rank 14th nationally in TFL with 32.0 for 122 yards (8.00 per game). Baylor also leads the Big 12 and ranks 23rd in FBS with 11.0 sacks (69 yards) on the season.
- Johnston is a big part as he ranks sixth nationally and second in the Big 12 with 7.5 TFL (24 yards). The sophomore is second in the Big 12 with 35 total tackles (25 solo). Lewis has added 4.5 TFL (8th, Big 12) and 2.5 sacks (3rd, Big 12).
- Five BU defenders have multiple sacks with four in the Big 12's top six: Lewis (2.5), Eric Ogor (2.0), Brian Nance (2.0) and Taylor Young (2.0). Xavier Jones has 1.5 sacks to rank 14th.
- BU totaled 12 TFL and 5 sacks at Duke, a first for the program vs. a P5 opponent since 12/27/12 vs. UCLA

EFFICIENCY ON OFFENSE FOR BEARS
- The Bears have had 16 scoring drives of 2:30 or less through the season's first four weeks, including 13-of-14 drives that resulted in a touchdown. The Bears are averaging 1:43 per scoring drive this season.
- Baylor has scored in less than a minute eight times and on the first or second play of a drive seven times.
- Five of Baylor's seven scoring drives against Liberty lasted two minutes or less including a 3-play, 75-yard drive that took only 22 seconds and a 1-play, 75-yard scoring drive that took only 11 seconds off the clock. Both of those drives included deep pass completions, a 49-yarder to Pooh Stricklin and a 75-yard scoring strike to Chris Platt.
- Baylor's only touchdown drive against UTSA was a first-play touchdown pass from Solomon to Denzel Mims and lasted only six seconds.
- Against Duke, Baylor scored three touchdowns on passes of 44 yards, 73 yards and 79 yards to cap drives that lasted 14, 42 and 48 seconds each.

DEPTH IN THE RECEIVING CORPS
- A Baylor wide receiver has tallied at least three receptions in a game 12 times so far in 2017. Chris Platt (5th, 401 yards) and Denzel Mims (4th, 406 yards) both rank among Big 12's top 10 receivers.
- Platt has a pair of two-touchdown games and Mims has scored in all four games this season. Mims' streak is the longest for a BU wide out to open a season since Corey Coleman had a TD in first six games of 2015.
- Platt leads the Baylor receiving corps with a reception in 10 straight games and 16 of the last 17 contests. He currently ranks 25th on Baylor's all-time receiving list with 1,123 career yards.
- Tony Nicholson (7 rec., 74 yards) and Pooh Stricklin (6 rec., 85 yards) both had career days against Oklahoma.
- Baylor's 10 pass completions of 40+ yards are the most in the country.

KEY CONTRIBUTORS RETURN
- Baylor junior running back and 2016 1,000-yard rusher Terence Williams saw his first action of the 2017 season against Oklahoma following offseason shoulder surgery. Williams entered 2017 averaging 72.3 ypg over his career in Big 12 games where he received carries. He tallied 26 yards on 11 carries against OU.
- Senior safety Taion Sells also made his 2017 debut against the Sooners. He returned following a three-game suspension.Sells recorded six tackles (five solo) and forced a fumble while also tallying a pass breakup in his first game of 2017.

KICKER MARTIN TIES BU RECORD
- Sophomore place kicker Connor Martin had a career game against Oklahoma. The Frisco, Texas native tied the Baylor record with four field goals, a first for a BU place kicker since 2014.
- Converted a career long 41-yarder in the 3rd quarter and beat that mark with a 46-yard field goal later in the quarter.
- He is the first BU kicker with two field goals of 40 or more yards since Aaron Jones against Texas on Oct. 20, 2012.

COMPLETE NOTES