A look back at the Bears’ 7-5 campaign
Sept. 4: Football wins its season opener against Sam Houston, 34-3. Back for his first game since his injury, Robert Griffin rushes for 59 yards and passes for 242. Defensively, the Bears hold their opponent scoreless in the first half. “If we play defense like that every week we are going to win a lot of football games,” Head Coach Art Briles says.
Sept. 11: The Bears dominate Buffalo, 34-3, for back-to-back home game wins. Griffin runs for two touchdowns, his second putting the Bears in the lead at 34-3 toward the beginning of the third quarter. Jay Finley finishes with 76 yards on a 5.8-yard average. After two wins, Baylor’s next challenge is TCU.
Sept. 18: Baylor loses 45-10 after TCU scores touchdowns on its first five possessions. The Horned Frogs take a quick 35-3 advantage over the Bears gaining 335 of their 558 total yards by halftime. The Bears are stifled by TCU’s defense. Griffin finishes 16-of-28 passing for 164 yards while running 14 times for 21 yards.
Sept. 25: The Rice Owls fall short as Baylor redeems itself in a 30-13 win. “We hit a couple of big plays in the first half and one in the second. I know Kendall caught one and Josh (Gordon) caught one. We were trying to be methodical throughout the night,” Briles says.
Oct. 2: The Bears win their fourth game of the season against Kansas at home, 55-7. Griffin sets a single-game school record with his 444 total yards while 10 field goals on the season from Aaron Jones already outnumbers last year’s kicking output.
Oct. 9: Baylor loses at the Cotton Bowl, 45-38, against Texas Tech. Griffin has a career high 384 passing yards. Wright grabs 11 receptions for 145 yards, bringing in a 62-yard touchdown pass from Griffin in the frist half that helps the Bears close the margin to 35-28.
Oct. 16: While playing on the road the Bears defeat the Buffaloes, 31-25. Finley rushes for a career-high 143 yards. After a fight for a pass in the end zone, Chance Casey’s last-second pass breakup helps the Bears win in their final meeting with Colorado before the Buffaloes leave the Big 12.
Oct. 23: The Bears earn bowl eligibility for the first time since 1995 after their 47-42 win over against Kansas State. “It means a lot. To be here for my fifth year now, I’ve been through a couple of changes. The program has turned around. It’s a blessing,” Finley says. Griffin is 26 of 38 passing with two touchdowns each to Gordon and Wright, and Finley averages 9.6 yards per carry.
Oct. 30: The Bears continue to delight fans by beating Texas, 30-22, in Austin for the first time since 1991. Griffin has a 59-yard touchdown to Terrance Williams and passes for 219 yards. Finley rushes for 116 yards on 15 carries. “I don’t think there was any player in the locker room that had any doubt that we were going to win this game,” senior Byron Landor says.
Nov. 6: Following its two victories, No. 22 ranked Baylor loses to No.19 Oklahoma state, 55-28. After being held scoreless in the first half, Baylor scores all of its 28 points in the second half. However, the Bears efforts don’t compare as Oklahoma State’s lead proves to be too large to overcome.
Nov. 13: The Bears come back to play in the comfort of Floyd Casey Stadium for the Battle of the Brazos. Despite taking an early 30-14 advantage, a stagnant offense and special teams miscues eventually hinder the Bears in a 42-30 loss. Finley’s 172 rush yards push him past the 1,000 yard mark on the season.
Nov. 20: Baylor finishes the 2010 regular season going 7-5 overall, 4-4 in the Big 12 with a 53-24 loss against Oklahoma. “It’s like I told the players, we’re not going to let this deal beat us up because it would be easy to do that, and I don’t like doing easy things.” Briles says.
