Bears Aim to Bounce Back After Key Injuries, Host Kent State on FSN

WACO, Texas -- The Baylor Bears (2-1) return to action on Saturday, Oct. 3, at Floyd Casey Stadium to host the Kent State Golden Flashes (2-2) in a game slated to kickoff at 6 p.m.; the match-up is also scheduled to be televised regionally on FSN-Southwest.

With a wave of injuries occurring last weekend against Northwestern State (quarterback Robert Griffin, defensive back Mikail Baker, and former-backup QB Blake Szymanski—who has been named the starter in Griffin’s absence), coach Art Briles and the Bears must now battle back.

“First and foremost, our concerns go to them and their families,” Briles said. “Then you break it down from a football standpoint and the good thing about Robert and Mikail is that they’ll get an extra year back because their injuries were early enough in the season.”

For Griffin and Baker, that means one more year of eligibility.

“In Mikail’s case, he’ll have a sixth year and Robert, this will be his redshirt and he’ll have three more after this,” Briles said.

“You look at the picture and figure out if you want to look at it good or bad and that’s the good side of it. Syzmanski hurt his shoulder trying to score in the third quarter and he’s day-to-day. He’s better today than he was yesterday and he was better yesterday than he was Sunday. If he gets in a little bit of work this week, he’ll be ready to go Saturday.”

One thing remains certain—these Bears are not about to give up and will fight until the very end.

“The way we look at it is that we’ve had a couple of family members that have been side-tracked for a little bit but what we’ll do is we’ll rally up, we’ll fight and we’ll compete—because that’s what you do as a player, it’s what you do as a coach and it’s what you do as a program,“ Briles said. “And we’ve got a job to do and we’re going to do our job."

“Our guys, they’ll adjust. And they’ll fight. We’re going to dial it up, we’re going to fight hard, for Robert, for Mikail, for A.B. [Antareis Bryan, who is out with broken foot] and then for the rest of these guys on this football team and for this University—that’s what we’re going to do.”

For the Baylor Nation, the quest to be bowl-bound still remains—and the Bears will get a chance to showcase their talent to the nation this Saturday against Kent State on FSN.

“We’re not going to come walking out of the dressing room Saturday, we’re going to come charging out,” Briles said. “We’ll be coming out with an intent to make a statement.”

With Griffin looking on from the press box [a precaution to prevent the injured QB from getting hit] and Briles taking care of business on the sidelines, look for the Bears to do just that—as Baylor aims to bounce back with a big win before Big 12 play begins next weekend in Norman, Oklahoma.


Denton Ramsey may be reached via email at [e-mail]