Baylor Bears

* For Immediate Release

2007-10-26T19:45:00.001-07:00

*********** For Immediate Release **********

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Air Bears: Baylor offense ready for Texas A&M

2006-11-21T20:54:00.000-08:00

Air Bears: Baylor offense ready for Texas A&M

Only two teams have scored more than 30 points against the Texas Longhorns in the last year and a half. Can you name those squads?

One answer is easy. The USC Trojans scored 38 points on Texas’ defense in a 41-38 loss to the Longhorns in the 2006 Rose Bowl.

The other answer is also easy, but probably only because you read the title. The Baylor Bears scored 31 points on Texas in their 63-31 loss as a 27 ½-point road underdog in Week 7. These weren’t garbage time points either (OK, the last seven were); the Bears actually led 10-7 midway through the second quarter and scored 14 points in the third.

A 36-point outburst in a 36-35 win over Kansas as a 3 ½-point home favorite last week made it three straight games of at least 30 points for Baylor, with all three coming against conference opponents. The Bears will try to make it four in a row today against the Texas A&M Aggies as 4 ½-point home underdogs.

They entered the year with questions about how quickly their offense would adapt to the potentially explosive “Air Raid” offense, a system made famous by Texas Tech head coach Mike Leach, who then taught it to the man Baylor would later hire as its offensive coordinator, Lee Hays.

Led by senior quarterback Shawn Bell, Baylor has rocketed to sixth in the nation in passing offense after ranking 77th last season. Bell has thrown for at least 240 yards in every game this year, including his first two 300-yard games of the season against Texas (303) and Kansas (394).

“Even though Baylor hasn’t covered the last two games, I’ve been really impressed with its offense,” says Covers Expert Steve Merrill. “I was careful with them early in the year because of the fact that they were working with a new system. But as is often the case, that can provide value down the road.”

Now the Bears are up against an A&M team that has allowed an average of 250 yards passing, nine touchdown passes and one interception in conference play. That includes allowing 392 yards and four touchdowns in a 31-27 loss to Texas Tech in Week 5, the Aggies’ only loss this season.

“The Texas Tech game is the best comparison,” says Merrill. “The Aggies have always struggled to find a way to stop that offense.”

Sepulveda To Have Knee Surgery

2006-11-19T10:30:00.000-08:00

Baylor senior All-America punter Daniel Sepulveda will undergo surgery to repair a torn anterior cruciate ligament in his right knee Thursday at a Dallas-area hospital. Sepulveda, who hopes to return for the Bears' 2006 season, injured his knee during a pick-up basketball game over the Easter holiday weekend.
"It is an unfortunate injury because Daniel has played a tremendous role in the success of our special teams the past three seasons," said Baylor coach Guy Morriss. "Hopefully, the surgery and rehab will go well and we'll have him back as quickly as possible."
The 2004 Ray Guy Award winner as the nation's top collegiate punter, Sepulveda's 44.85-yard career punting average ranks as the best in school history, second-best among all active Division I-A punters and ninth-best in NCAA history for players with 150 to 249 career punts. He owns Baylor career marks for 50-(69) and 60-(14) yard punts, stands No. 2 on its career punt yards list (9,463 yards) and No. 3 in career punts (211). Sepulveda has recorded at least one 50-yard punt in 31 of 34 career games with two or more such punts 21 times.
"Obviously, this is not the way that I planned my senior year to start off, but this is all part of God's plan for my life," said Sepulveda, who earned first-team Academic All-America and second-team Associated Press All-America honors as a junior in 2005 after ranking No. 3 nationally in punting with his 46.2-yard average. "I intend on rehabbing my knee and being on the field when the season kicks off Sept. 2 against TCU."

Big 12 overlooks Boggan

2006-03-07T12:41:00.001-08:00

The Big 12 basketball awards were announced Monday, with a few surprises for Oklahoma State fans.It was not surprising that Texas forward P.J. Tucker was the Player of the Year, Texas center LaMarcus Aldridge was Defensive Player of the Year, Kansas guard Brandon Rush was Freshman of the Year and Kansas’ Bill Self was selected Coach of the Year.But Newcomer of the Year went to Oklahoma guard Michael Neal and not OSU forward Mario Boggan.Boggan is a 6-foot-7, 235-pound junior who transfered from Chipola College. He has started all 30 games for the Cowboys and leads OSU in points (14.6 ppg), rebounds (5.6 rpg) and blocks (24 total) while shooting 58.5 percent (166-of-284) and hitting 80.5 percent of his free throws (99-of-123).He led all Big 12 newcomers in points, rebounds and shooting percentage. He also led all newcomers who made at least 2.5 free throws per game in percentage at the stripe to qualify for the Big 12 leaders list.Meanwhile, Neal has made eight starts, averaging 13 points and 2.6 rebounds while shooting 40.6 percent (101-of-249) and hitting 39-of-46 free throws (84.8 percent).He led the newcomers in 3-point percentage (84-of-195, .431) and 3-pointers made (3.36 per game). In conference play, he set a record with 3.9 treys per game.The OSU coaching staff expected Boggan to join Maurice Baker (2001), Tony Allen (2003) and Joey Graham (2004) as Cowboys to win the award.Instead, Neal becomes the second-straight Sooner (Taj Gray in 2005) and fourth OU player overall to grab it.Also, no Cowboy was named on the three All-Big 12 teams, with only Boggan and sophomore guard JamesOn Curry making honorable mention.Boggan wasn’t even on the all-rookie team, where Kansas’ freshman trio of Mario Chalmers, Rush and Julian Wright, Neal and Baylor freshman Curtis Jerrells were selected.But perhaps the biggest slap in the face of a squad coached by a Sutton is that no Cowboy made the All-Defensive Team.OSU swingman Marcus Dove, who uses his 6-foot-9 frame to slow down star guard after star guard, was behind Aldridge, Chalmers, Gray, Kansas’ Russell Robinson and Tucker in that vote.Who is NCAA-bound?Oklahoma State still hopes to win four games in four days to claim its third-consecutive Big 12 Tournament championship and qualify for next week’s NCAA Tournament.Several conference teams are not in that predicament and stand a good chance to get into the NCAAs without winning Sunday’s title game.Co-Big 12 regular season champions Texas (25-5, 13-3) and Kansas (22-7, 13-3) are in, as is Oklahoma (20-7, 11-5). Texas A&M (20-7, 10-6) should probably win its quarterfinal game Friday just to be safe, but it should get a bid.Colorado (19-8, 9-7) is a bubble team, finishing fifth in the conference race. CU is out if it loses its first-round game to No. 12 seed Baylor (4-12). If the Buffs win that game and then top Texas A&M in the quarterfinals on Friday, they deserve to make it.It appears the only other conference team who has any shot to get in without winning Sunday is sixth-seeded Nebraska (17-12, 7-9), which might get in if it can make the championship game.

Bears, Bruce bury Red Raiders

2006-03-07T12:41:00.000-08:00

The Baylor Bears are on a roll and the rest of the Big 12 is perhaps quietly thanking the NCAA. Baylor won their 2nd straight and 4th out of their last 5 home games when it defeated Texas Tech in Waco 78-66. Who knows how dangerous these Bears could have been early in the Big 12 season had they had a non-conference season.
The return of Aaron Bruce is complete. After being named a freshman All-American last season, Bruce has struggled most of his sophomore season while suffering through numerous injuries.
But in the last few games, Bruce appears to either be feeling better or at least learning to play through the injuries. His resurgence culminated in a masterful display of shooting against the Red Raiders hitting 6 of 7 from 3-point land and 10 of 14 overall for 28 points to go along with 7 rebounds and 2 assists.
Bruce was joined in double figure scoring by 3 other Bears including senior Tommy Swanson, who gave Baylor a lift with 12 points. Swanson, the lone holdover from the Dave Bliss era, then addressed the crowd after the game thanking them for their support.
Curtis Jerrells added 11 points that didn’t come easily as he shot just 2 of 9 from the floor. But it was Jerrells 6 straight free throws in the last couple of minutes of the game that proved crucial to Baylor’s victory. Patrick Fields had another strong performance off the bench putting up 14 points.
With freshman guard Henry Dugat missing his second straight game, the lone other senior for the Bears, Kevis Shipman, was able to see extended minutes in the ball game. Although he didn’t fill up the box score only accumulating 2 points, Shipman provided an emotional lift to the team as they wanted to send the seniors out with a win. Shipman also addressed the audience after the game along with Coach Scott Drew, who thanked the fans for making the Ferrell center a tough place to play the second half of the season.
Tech was led once again by Jarius Jackson, who scored 25 points. The problem for Tech was that he took 23 shots and 12 free throws to get there. Tech’s second leading scorer, Martin Zeno, struggled for the second straight game only getting to 5 points on 1 of 6 shooting.
The Bears finish their regular season on Saturday in a game at Oklahoma State. Baylor will try to avenge an earlier loss they suffered to the Cowboys in Waco.