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Baylor-Texas Preview

Oct 26, 2010 - 3:05 PM By ALAN FERGUSON STATS Writer

No. 25 Baylor (6-2) at Texas (4-3), 7:00 p.m. EDT

A perennial doormat for much of the Big 12's existence, Baylor enters this week with a surprising lead in its division and a ranking for the first time since 1993.

Equally shocking are the struggles of the 25th-ranked Bears' next opponent.

Baylor hopes to extend Texas' rare home losing streak to three while ending a 12-game skid to the Longhorns as the teams meet Saturday in Austin.

In 14 previous seasons of Big 12 play, Baylor has finished last or tied for last in its division 13 times, including last season's 1-7 showing.

Last week's 47-42 victory over Kansas State, though, pushed the Bears (6-2, 3-1) atop the Big 12 South - a half-game in front of Oklahoma and Oklahoma State - and one more win would give Baylor a program high for conference victories.

Jay Finley set a school record with 250 rushing yards on 26 carries, and Robert Griffin passed for a career-high 404 yards and four touchdowns to make Baylor bowl eligible for the first time since 1994, when the program played in the now-defunct Southwest Conference.

"It is great that we've hit the six-win mark and we still have four games left, but we have to stay focused on our goals," offensive tackle Danny Watkins said. "It's not over after six games. We've got to keep going."

The game against Texas (4-3, 2-2) is the first of four straight versus divisional opponents to close the regular season. That includes a trip to Oklahoma State on Nov. 6 and the season finale against Oklahoma on Nov. 20.

First, the Bears will attempt to beat the Longhorns for the first time since Nov. 1, 1997. Texas should also have plenty of motivation following last week's 28-21 home loss to Iowa State.

"Texas is coming off an embarrassing loss," Griffin said. "They'll be mad."

Garrett Gilbert passed for a career-high 344 yards and two touchdowns, but also committed four turnovers as the Longhorns dropped a second straight home game for the first time since 1997, the year before current coach Mack Brown arrived.

Like its previous home defeat to equally unheralded UCLA on Sept. 25, Texas struggled to stop the run. The Longhorns gave up 264 rushing yards to the Bruins and 199 in last week's loss.

Baylor is gaining 196.5 yards per game on the ground, and the Bears have averaged 42.8 points and 602.8 total yards in their four conference games.

Brown said he noticed a disturbing arrogance before last week's game, which followed an upset win at then-No. 5 Nebraska, but doesn't feel that will be a problem heading into this matchup.

"I do think there's some entitlement with this team," Brown said. "They sit around thinking it's just going to happen.

"They won't have trouble respecting Baylor," the coach added. "The way we played this week, it will not be a week that we have to worry about respecting them. They're ranked, and we're not."

The Longhorns entered this campaign with nine consecutive seasons of at least 10 wins, but have been humbled after dropping three of four. To keep the streak going, they'll need to win their remaining five contests and a bowl game.

"We've learned we can't just roll our helmet out there and win," safety Blake Gideon said. "If we don't have our eyes open by now, we have a lot of growing up to do."

If their struggles haven't opened the Longhorns' eyes, facing Griffin and Finley might.

The Baylor quarterback ranks third in FBS with 344.6 yards of total offense per game. Finley, meanwhile, has rushed for 393 yards and four TDs in the Bears' back-to-back victories.

Baylor hasn't won three straight since Sept. 9-22, 2007 - and has never won three straight in Big 12 play in a single season - but boasts an offense that ranks fifth nationally both overall (510.8 yards per game) and passing (314.3).

The Bears, though, have also struggled at times to keep opponents off the scoreboard and have given up at least 25 points four times.

Under Brown, Texas has outscored Baylor 578-134 and surpassed 40 points 10 times while going 12-0 in the series. The Longhorns, however, haven't topped 21 in their past four contests after averaging 30.7 points in their three victories to open the season.

"It is a bit frustrating ... not being able to finish drives," Gilbert said. "It is something we need to correct and have to fix."

Heading into the 100th meeting between the schools, Texas leads the series 73-22-4 and is 43-8-2 at home against the Bears.