Oklahoma 33, Baylor 7: Bears Drop Big 12 Opener, Fall to No. 19 Sooners

The Baylor Bears are definitely getting better.

But it’s going to take a whole lot to defeat the highly touted and 19th-ranked Oklahoma Sooners in Norman.

Unfortunately for the Bears, Baylor (3-2, 0-1) came up short on the road in their Big 12 opener, falling 33-7 to the Sooners (3-2, 1-0).

“As far as the fourth quarter goes, it was extremely disappointing,” Baylor Head Coach Art Briles said. “You know, because I really thought that our guys played tonight with a tremendous amount of effort, confidence and belief. And quite honestly we didn’t do a very good job offensively the second half maintaining any type of rhythm. That’s what we have to do a better job as an offense is stop the ball and run it down.”

Freshman quarterback Nick Florence garnered 220 passing yards in the loss, going 22-of-41 with one interception.

“First half we played great, could have got some more points on the board and second half we didn’t do our job and put our defense in a bind,” Florence said. “But with what they [the Baylor defense] had, they did a great job in what we gave them and we have to execute better.”

Defensively, the Bears played great—despite numerous penalties in the red zone.

“I think as a defense we came out and stopped the run early and then we just hurt ourselves with penalties and you know there is some unfortunate field position there with those penalties and special teams,” Baylor senior linebacker Joe Pawelek said.

“As a defense, I think you just have to overcome that. I think we did a good job at the goal line and I don’t know how many plays they had there inside the five yard line that we kept on fighting.”

Baylor senior safety Jordan Lake also feels the Bears’ secondary played superb.

“I feel like the defense played our tails off,” Lake said. “We had a lot of situations that weren’t favorable to us but we were able to hold them to a bunch of field goals and I’m really proud of the way our defense responded today. We fought and fought and fought to the very end and I’m proud of us.”

Leading the way in the receiving department for the Bears were Ernest Smith (six catches for 71 yards), Lanear Sampson (four catches for 13 yards), and David Gettis (three catches for 53 yards).

Another positive aspect of the game for the Bears was their fourth-down efficiency, as Baylor went two-of-three on fourth-down conversions against Oklahoma.

Baylor senior quarterback Blake Szymanski, who sat out last week in the Bears victory over Kent State, played the final offensive series after replacing Florence—going one-of-two for 42 yards with one interception.

Regardless of dropping their conference opener to Oklahoma, Briles feels Baylor is on the right track this season.

“Of course there’s room for improvement,” Briles said. “We knew today would be a measuring stick. We knew today would be a chance to show how good our guys can be. When we talk before the game, you have straight shooters that are going to show up today. You can look at that two ways. Are your straights going to show up or are your deficiencies going to show up?

“The more I got thinking about it the more I thought you know it’s a great chance to see what our strengths are as individuals, as a team, and as teammates. From that standpoint I think that the guys stepped up, played hard for each other and gave us a chance to win the football game.”

The Bears return to the gridiron next Saturday, Oct. 17, at Iowa State—with kickoff slated for 6 p.m. as Baylor aims to bounce back after a tough loss.


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

[PHOTO CREDIT: David Fuller/LSCSN.com]