Forde-Yard Dash: How SMU, Baylor took back football in Texas
Posted: Tue Oct 22, 2019 4:24 pmForde-Yard Dash: How SMU, Baylor took back football in Texas
Pat Forde
Yahoo Sports Oct 21, 2019, 5:10 PM
THE RISE OF THE DOWNTRODDEN IN TEXAS
If you say you predicted SMU (21) and Baylor (22) to be the last two unbeatens from the Lone Star State, congratulations. You’re lying.
SMU is 7-0 for the first time since 1982, and just the fifth time ever. Baylor is 7-0 for the first time since 2015, and the fourth time ever. Methodists and Baptists, rejoice.
Fact is, the Mustangs and Bears have never both been 7-0 at the same time. But then again, they’ve only been playing varsity football since 1915 and 1899, respectively.
The only time they’ve both finished the season ranked in the AP poll was 1980, when Baylor was 14th and SMU was 20th. They were 1-2 in the Southwest Conference that year, with the Bears winning the head-to-head matchup. Mutual glory has forever been fleeting.
For decades, both programs toiled a tier or two below Texas and others in the late, great (and often corrupt) Southwest Conference. When SMU and Baylor experienced their Golden Eras, in the early 1980s for the Mustangs and the early 2010s for the Bears, the tarnish wasn’t far behind.
SMU wound up receiving the NCAA’s first-ever football “Death Penalty” for rampant cheating, and the program was a shell of its former self for decades. Baylor was worse, with the Art Briles tenure ending in disgrace after a succession of assaults by football players.
Today, they have been rebuilt under vastly different coaches.
SMU brought a Texan back home: Sonny Dykes (23), who fits the state like a worn pair of Tony Lamas, was miscast as a head coach at California. The son of former Texas Tech coach Spike Dykes tried to get a few different gigs in Texas before landing this one, replacing Chad Morris (who probably wishes he’d never left for Arkansas). Dykes went down I-35 to Austin to get his quarterback, Texas graduate transfer Shane Buechele (24), who had lost the job there to Sam Ehlinger. A quick Buechele stat: He’s won the last nine games in which he’s played, and the last 12 in which he’s thrown more than two passes.
Baylor thought entirely outside the Lone Star box by hiring Matt Rhule (25), a native of the Northeast who had been the head coach at Temple. Rhule has adapted smartly, recruiting effectively in the state. That prominently includes landing three-star quarterback Charlie Brewer (26) from powerhouse Austin Lake Travis shortly after Rhule was hired. Brewer had, coincidentally, been committed to SMU before Rhule arrived and went to work on him in December 2016, selling him on the prospect of immediate playing time. Brewer took over the starting job in the latter third of his freshman year in 2017 and has been there since, leading the Baylor resurgence.
Both teams showed something to a still-doubting Gridworld on Saturday: SMU thrashed Temple, 45-21, leading by double digits for the final 3½ quarters; Baylor beat favored Oklahoma State on the road, 45-27, outscoring the Cowboys 35-7 over the last 24 minutes of play.
The Mustangs have consecutive road games ahead, at Houston on Thursday and at Memphis on Nov. 2 in a matchup that could decide who wins the AAC West. It’s a heady position for SMU, which was picked to finish fourth in the West preseason (although one intrepid media member picked the Ponies to win the division).
The Bears now have an open date, followed by a home game Halloween night against a bad West Virginia team. Then comes a big November: at TCU, Oklahoma, Texas, at Kansas. If the game in Waco against the Sooners matches a pair of unbeatens — one of them iced to win the Big 12, the other picked to finish sixth — that would be fairly amazing.
https://sports.yahoo.com/forde-yard-das ... 07682.html
Pat Forde
Yahoo Sports Oct 21, 2019, 5:10 PM
THE RISE OF THE DOWNTRODDEN IN TEXAS
If you say you predicted SMU (21) and Baylor (22) to be the last two unbeatens from the Lone Star State, congratulations. You’re lying.
SMU is 7-0 for the first time since 1982, and just the fifth time ever. Baylor is 7-0 for the first time since 2015, and the fourth time ever. Methodists and Baptists, rejoice.
Fact is, the Mustangs and Bears have never both been 7-0 at the same time. But then again, they’ve only been playing varsity football since 1915 and 1899, respectively.
The only time they’ve both finished the season ranked in the AP poll was 1980, when Baylor was 14th and SMU was 20th. They were 1-2 in the Southwest Conference that year, with the Bears winning the head-to-head matchup. Mutual glory has forever been fleeting.
For decades, both programs toiled a tier or two below Texas and others in the late, great (and often corrupt) Southwest Conference. When SMU and Baylor experienced their Golden Eras, in the early 1980s for the Mustangs and the early 2010s for the Bears, the tarnish wasn’t far behind.
SMU wound up receiving the NCAA’s first-ever football “Death Penalty” for rampant cheating, and the program was a shell of its former self for decades. Baylor was worse, with the Art Briles tenure ending in disgrace after a succession of assaults by football players.
Today, they have been rebuilt under vastly different coaches.
SMU brought a Texan back home: Sonny Dykes (23), who fits the state like a worn pair of Tony Lamas, was miscast as a head coach at California. The son of former Texas Tech coach Spike Dykes tried to get a few different gigs in Texas before landing this one, replacing Chad Morris (who probably wishes he’d never left for Arkansas). Dykes went down I-35 to Austin to get his quarterback, Texas graduate transfer Shane Buechele (24), who had lost the job there to Sam Ehlinger. A quick Buechele stat: He’s won the last nine games in which he’s played, and the last 12 in which he’s thrown more than two passes.
Baylor thought entirely outside the Lone Star box by hiring Matt Rhule (25), a native of the Northeast who had been the head coach at Temple. Rhule has adapted smartly, recruiting effectively in the state. That prominently includes landing three-star quarterback Charlie Brewer (26) from powerhouse Austin Lake Travis shortly after Rhule was hired. Brewer had, coincidentally, been committed to SMU before Rhule arrived and went to work on him in December 2016, selling him on the prospect of immediate playing time. Brewer took over the starting job in the latter third of his freshman year in 2017 and has been there since, leading the Baylor resurgence.
Both teams showed something to a still-doubting Gridworld on Saturday: SMU thrashed Temple, 45-21, leading by double digits for the final 3½ quarters; Baylor beat favored Oklahoma State on the road, 45-27, outscoring the Cowboys 35-7 over the last 24 minutes of play.
The Mustangs have consecutive road games ahead, at Houston on Thursday and at Memphis on Nov. 2 in a matchup that could decide who wins the AAC West. It’s a heady position for SMU, which was picked to finish fourth in the West preseason (although one intrepid media member picked the Ponies to win the division).
The Bears now have an open date, followed by a home game Halloween night against a bad West Virginia team. Then comes a big November: at TCU, Oklahoma, Texas, at Kansas. If the game in Waco against the Sooners matches a pair of unbeatens — one of them iced to win the Big 12, the other picked to finish sixth — that would be fairly amazing.
https://sports.yahoo.com/forde-yard-das ... 07682.html