Baylor was down some of its top players and had to scramble and change to prepare for the Russell Athletic Bowl. What followed was a record-setting game.
Art Briles said his Baylor Bears went back to basics in the time between the team’s season-ending loss to Texas and the Russell Athletic Bowl on Tuesday.
They almost had to. Both first-string quarterback Seth Russell and second-string quarterback Jarrett Stidham would miss the game with an injury. Starting running back Shock Linwood too had to miss the game with an injury as was all-american wide receiver Corey Coleman.
So many weapons were off the field for Baylor how could the team sustain itself against the No. 10 team in the country? Against a team that had regained some respectability on defense and had an offense that could keep pace with Baylor, even with all those weapons there.
There was only that wry smile after the game knowing full well the secret had been revealed from Baylor. They could be playing with their third-string running back, without any functioning quarterback and still keep things humming.
“We don’t have a fifth-string quarterback,” Baylor offensive coordinator Kendal Briles said jokingly. “We just have a quarterback.”
And even if that quarterback also happened to be a running back, or another running back or a wide receiver or not a running back at all, the offense was going to keep moving.
Running like the machine it was. the pass game was gone, but Briles was going to keep the gaps and lanes for his running backs and run right through North Carolina’s defense.
The bowl records fell. And kept falling.
Johnny Jefferson ran for a Russell Athletic Bowl record 299 rushing yards on 23 carries with three touchdowns. Baylor as a team rushed for 653 yards, the most in bowl history breaking the record set by Nebraska against Florida in the 1996 Fiesta Bowl.
There were obviously no stops to be had for North Carolina and the pressure to get off the field was far too much. Baylor romped, stampeded and rolled to a 49-31 win over North Carolina at the Orlando Citrus Bowl in the Russell Athletic Bowl.
“Baylor’s whole identity is: Physicality travels,” Jefferson said. “That’s all we preach, that’s all we teach. If you want to win a game, the offensive line has to win up front and the d-line has to win. By them doing that, they inspire everyone else and everybody else wants to make plays and everybody else wants to win the game. Being physical today won the game.”
The transformation for Baylor’s offense was quite astonishing. This offense sometimes seen as a cute one that throws the ball and runs a ton of plays was far from that.
The aggression never left Art Briles and the Bears despite almost completely eliminating the passing attack. Instead, they got dirty and pushed the Tar Heels off the line, creating easy running lanes and easy carries for positive yards.
North Carolina did nothing to slow down the Baylor rushing attack. Kendal Briles said the team had some of its best practices as it adjusted and prepared for the bowl game. And he added the team was somewhat surprised North Carolina did not load up the box more.
There was so much adversity for Baylor throughout the season, it seemed things fell perfectly for Baylor.
“What we have been has been pretty good,” Kendal Briles said. “We definitely feel like with the capabilities that we have with these guys being able to do that and get the quarterback out at receiver it creates problems for the defense having to prepare for that.”
Both teams came into the game with offenses that could put up tons of points and both offenses did that. And Baylor did want to throw the ball some — that might have led to the team’s failed drive on the first possession of the game. The Tar Heels just could not get any stops.
This game seemingly would come down to who get more stops than the other.
The coffin stop came with North Carolina driving late in the third quarter. With the Tar Heels down 35-24 and keeping pace in search of that one stop they needed, Elijah Hood finally brook free for a 67-yard run to the Baylor 8-yard line.
T.J. Logan was running into the end zone two plays later when Aiavion Edward forced a fumble into the end zone where Orion Stewart recovered.
One play later, Jefferson carried the ball 80 yards for a 42-24 lead that all but sealed the game. It was a 14-point swing that ended the game.
“It was nothing we did differently,” Fedora said. “We knew we were down at that point and we were going into score and they turn around and took it on the next play, took it back 80 yards. It was a 14-point swing on one play basically. We didn’t take care of the football going into the end zone. We drove the ball right down the field, did what we thought we could do and as we go put it in the end zone, we turned it over. Turned the ball over and it turned into a 14-point swing.”
North Carolina still had some things going. Marquise Williams threw for 243 yards on 22-for-36 passing and three touchdowns. Hood ended with 118 yards on 13 carries. The Tar Heels offense played their end of the deal.
The defense just could not get any stops.
Coach Larry Fedora said they did not expect Baylor to go that run heavy. Like Baylor, North Carolina likely expected some more passing mixed in. But the run was just so effective throughout.
There was never a time when North Carolina was back in the game after Baylor began the steamroll of the running attack. North Carolina was trying to stay positive and in the game.
“It’s not really pressure, it’s just keeping the guys positive on the sideline,” Marquise Williams said. “If they go down and score, we have to answer. That was the thing we wanted to do. We wanted to answer every time the defense made a stop, we said congratulations and we need to go to score.”
The Tar Heels did build some momentum right before halftime with a 10-play, 75-yard drive, extended on a Shawn Oakman unsportsmanlike conduct penalty for continuing to play after his helmet was ripped off. The Tar Heels scored a play later thanks to the third-down penalty.
North Carolina pulled within four on the first drive of the second half as it looked like the Tar Heels might make a game of things. They even got a stop with an interception from Chris Johnson in the end zone on the ensuing drive.
Eventually Baylor retook control though and put the game away. Even with penalties, the Bears kept on running the ball and beating the Tar Heels’ physically down the field.
Fedora said there were several breakdowns throughout the game from missed tackles to guys not being in the right gap to guys not getting off the blocks. It was a mix of poor performance and poor scheme, Fedora said.
“They knew they were down quarterbacks and they knew that [Chris Johnson] was very limited as far as the way you could throw the football,” Fedora said, crediting Baylor’s staff for their gameplan. “And so they put a plan together of wildcat and every form of quarterback style of running game that you could possibly run. And they did a great job with it. But they’ve done that all year.”
It was not just Jefferson who ran the ball. He may have had about half of those 600-plus yards on the ground, but there was plenty of help. Everyone who seemed to rush the ball was able to get positive yards.
Devin Chafin rushed for 161 yards on 27 carries. And Terence Williams added 97 yards on 16 carries. It did not really matter who got the football, they were getting positive yards.
The domination on the ground was full and complete. And startling.
“It is staggering,” Kendal Briles said. “I mean, to be honest with you, about the rushing yards, we don’t care. Johnny will tell you, he doesn’t care. I know in the third quarter, I’m listening to Johnny on the sideline and he’s saying win. Let’s win. Let’s win. He didn’t care about rushing yards and our offensive line don’t care about it. We could have had 100 rushing yards and 100 passing yards and we would have won 13-6, we would have been real happy. All we care about is winning the football game. And for these senior and this program, it’s a very big statement win.”
Baylor may never quite be that kind of grind-it-out team. The team just has so many athletes and as long as Art Briles is in Waco, he will be an incredibly innovative offensive mind.
The Bears have been a team for the last several years that has won a lot. Maybe not the big game, but there has still been a lot of success.
Winning the Russell Athletic Bowl was meaningful. It was certainly record-setting.
