“He opened up Mike and Joshua for yardage”.
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Iowa State (2-5, 1-3), which has lost its last 14 games against ranked teams, was within 35-20 on Joel Lanning’s 4-yard TD pass to Jauan Wesley with 7:47 left.
Lanning, however, completed a pass to a tight end. He did so without star WR Allen Lazard, who missed the game with a shoulder injury. That’s admirable, considering neither are usually the first receiving option. Coleman enters the week leading the FBS in receiving TDs (16) and ranking third in yards (877). “They were kind of anxious”. Those stops and takeaways played a significant factor as the game slowed to a more grind-it-out affair for the Bears. Including Saturday, he’s thrown for 2,104 yards and 29 touchdowns in seven games this year. If Iowa State can control the clock with the ground game then that’s less time for Baylor’s offense to run up the score. He acknowledged how crucial it was for the Bears’ defense to create turnovers.
Russell was a potential Heisman candidate for the Bears, putting up insane numbers in Baylor’s signature smashmouth spread offensive scheme.
“We really haven’t run that many plays this year, not like we’d like to”, Briles said. “It was an ugly win, but we got it”. “We had a lot of two- and three-man tackles, as opposed to one-man tackles”.
Baylor has yet to score fewer than 56 points in a game this season and has yet to allow an opponent within three touchdowns in the final margin.
Iowa State didn’t have much of an answer for tailback Shock Linwood, either.
Mahomes sneaked in from one-yard out on the following possession to bring the score to 42-27, but the Red Raiders did not score again. However, they will be without the most important component of that unit for the foreseeable future. Baylor ended its second-half scoring drought with Chris Callahan’s 34-yard field goal with 5:31 to play.
That disruption forced the Bears out of their comfort zone and into situation they’re not used to.
The Bears led 35-0 halfway through the second quarter before the offense went limp. But the Cyclones’ ensuing onside-kick attempt didn’t travel 10 yards.
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“We have to act like they’re talking bad about us so that when we go out there, we’re not feeling all happy about ourselves”, said Russell, who directs an offense that has tied an NCAA record by scoring 60 or more points in five consecutive games.
