Box Score WACO – Baylor University forged a 17-0 first-quarter lead, traded scores in the second with Abilene Christian University, then wore down the FCS-member Wildcats 55-27 in both teams' opening game Saturday night in McLane Stadium.
Head coach Matt Rhule's Bears lost 48-45 to Liberty in its first game last year, and ensured it would not repeat that at home against another FCS opponent in the Wildcats. Baylor led just 17-7 after one quarter, traded scores with ACU the rest of the half and eventually prevailed in a game that saw the teams combine for 1,072 yards of offense and multiple big plays.
The Wildcats made the score 38-20 when sophomore placekicker
Oscar Hernandez kicked a field goal as time expired in the second quarter. ACU leaned on long-distance scoring plays in the first half: a 54-yard pass from quarterback
Luke Anthony to wide receiver
D.J. Fuller, a 75-yard dash by running back
Billy McCrary and Hernandez's 46-yard kick.
Baylor outscored ACU 10-7 in the third quarter and 7-0 in the fourth to salt away the win. Despite this being Baylor's 117th season playing football and ACU's 97th, the two church-affiliated Texas universities had never played each other. The Bears are now 17-1 all-time against teams from the Southland Conference.
Baylor was led by running back John Lovett, who rushed for 115 yards and three touchdowns. JaMycal Hasty added two touchdowns and 102 yards on the ground. Quarterbacks Charlie Brewer, the starter, and Jalan McClendon, combined for 311 yards passing and two scores. Denzel Mims caught three passes for 80 yards and Jalen Hurd had four for 58 and a 25-yard TD. Connor Martin kicked field goals of 35 and 50 yards.
The Bears outgained the Wildcats 606-466 in total offense and led 26-19 in first downs.
ACU's Anthony completed 25 of 37 passes for 224 yards and two touchdowns, and was intercepted once. McCrary, a junior transfer from Cal-Berkley, led a rejuvenated rushing attack for the Wildcats, totaling 141 yards on just six carries. Fuller caught nine passes for 102 yards and one score and Hernandez kicked two field goals. ACU's lone TD of the second half was a 7-yarder from Anthony to wide receiver
Chase Cokley.
The Wildcat defense limited Baylor to only two of nine third-down conversions and were led in tackles by junior safety
Bolu Onifade with nine and senior safety
Erik Huhn with seven. Sophomore cornerback
Koy Richardson intercepted a pass.
The Wildcats play their home opener at Anthony Field at Wildcat Stadium next Saturday when they host a 6 p.m. game with former longtime Lone Star Conference foe Angelo State.
PLAYS THAT MATTERED
- 1Q – Baylor's Connor Martin kicked a 35-yard field goal with 9:39 left in the first quarter put the Bears up, 3-0.
- 1Q – Jalen Hurd caught a 25-yard TD pass from Jalan McClendon with 5:27 left in the first quarter, and Martin's PAT extended Baylor's lead to 10-0.
- 1Q – After an interception by Baylor's Terrel Bernard was returned 28 yards to the ACU 16-yard line, McClendon tossed a 20-yard TD pass to Marques Jones with 2:39 remaining on the clock. The PAT made the score 17-0.
- 1Q – D.J. Fuller caught a pass from Luke Anthony and raced 54 yards for a TD with 1:41 left in the quarter. Oscar Hernandez' PAT kick cut the lead to 17-7.
- 2Q – JaMycal Hasty's 3-yard run and Martin's PAT kick gave Baylor a 24-7 advantage with 11:24 remaining.
- 2Q – A personal foul by Bravvion Roy – hitting Fuller after he was far out of bounds at the end of a pass play – gave ACU the ball at the Baylor 8-yard line. Wildcat running back Tracy James, however, fumbled on the next play, apparently ending a promising scoring drive by the Wildcats. The call was reversed afer replay review, however. ACU was called for a false start on a 29-yard field goal attempt by Hernandez, but he eventually made a 34-yarder to draw the Wildcats closer, 24-10, at the 5:30 mark.
- 2Q – Baylor responded immediately, moving 71 yards in three plays, capped by a 54-yard TD run by Hasty with 4:08 on the clock. New score: Baylor 31, ACU 10.
- 2Q – Not to be outdone, Billy McCrary raced 75 yards around left end for a TD. The two-play drive consumed 18 seconds and pulled ACU closer, 31-16, with 3:50 remaining in the half.
- 2Q – Baylor rebounded again, with John Lovett's 31-yard run pushing the Bear lead to 38-17 on a four-play, 75-yard drive lasting just under two minutes.
- 2Q – Anthony escaped the Baylor rush and scampered 12 yards for a first-down at the BU 29-yard-line with one second remaining. Hernandez, a sophmore, booted a 46-yard field goal as time expired to make the halftime score 38-20.
- 3Q – Baylor pushed its lead to 45-20 when Lovett ran for his second TD of the game, a 3-yarder with 10:55 on the clock. The six-play, 85-yard drive opened the second half for the Bears.
- 3Q – A tipped Charlie Brewer pass was intercepted by ACU safety Koy Richardson at the Wildcat 30-yard line on the Bears' ensuing drive. McCrary raced 47 yards on the next play, setting up his team's next score, a 7-yard pass from Anthony to Chase Cokley at the 6:53 mark. New score: Baylor 45, ACU 27.
- 3Q – Martin kicked a 50-yard field goal with 6:53 on the clock to make the new score 48-27 in favor of the Bears.
- 4Q – Lovett ran 7 yards for a Baylor TD with 9:18 left, extending the Bears' lead and eventual winning margin to 55-27.
THREE THINGS YOU NEED TO KNOW
- It took nearly one hour to play the first quarter, thanks in part to multiple replay reviews by the officials, and the hurry-up-and-wait cadence continued all night. The first half run-time exceeded two hours and it was 10:16 p.m. when the third quarter ended. The game was one minute short of four hours in length.
- McCray's 75-yard TD jaunt late in the second quarter was ACU's longest of the Wildcats' Division I era and the second-longest scoring run since a 78-yarder by Daryl Richardson against Texas A&M-Commerce in 2011.
- The ACU-Baylor game was played before the second-largest crowd in Wildcat football history: 45,330. The largest was in 1980 when ACU traveled to Honolulu to play the University of Hawai'i of the Western Athletic Conference.
STAT CORNER
- Until ACU's scoring drive late in the first quarter, Baylor had outgained ACU 169-33 while building a 17-0 lead. ACU outgained Baylor on the ground, 26-8, but the Bears held a 176-108 edge through the air. The Wildcats trailed just 17-7.
- The two teams combined for 679 yards of offense in the first half. Baylor outgained ACU 389-290, with advantages of 239-154 in passing and 150-136 on the ground. The Wildcats held a 17:04 to 12:56 lead in time of possession. Fuller had nine catches for 102 yards and one score. McCrary led ACU rushers with 88 yards on three carries, and scored one TD.
- ACU was 2 for 3 in red-zone plays; Baylor was successful on all of its five opportunities. The Wildcats converted 6 of 15 third-down chances.
- For a four-hour game, the penalties were rare: just five for each team.
QUOTABLE
- "I was very proud of our team (Saturday night). I thought we played extremely hard against a Big 12 team. We did a lot of good things that we can build on going forward. What we're trying to do is build our team for the start of conference play (Sept. 15 at Houston Baptist), and I believe we got off to a good start (Saturday night)."
--- ACU head coach Adam Dorrel
- "We put a big emphasis on running the ball and stopping the run throughout the offseason and into fall camp, and the way we ran the ball (Saturday night) was impressive. We've got a good group of running backs and it showed against Baylor. Our offensive line is much-improved, and that showed up as well."
--- ACU head coach Adam Dorrel on his team's 220-yard rushing night
NOTABLE
- Nearly 2,000 ACU fans attended a pregame party at the Texas Sports Hall of Fame. The Wildcats sold their allotment of tickets to the game; purple and white shirts could be seen throughout the crowd of 45,330. When D.J. Fuller scored the Wildcats' first TD, the crowd noise was impressive on behalf of the visitors.
