By Krista Pirtle
Baylor leads the Kansas Jayhawks 20-14 at the half at Floyd Casey Stadium.
Senior quarterback Nick Florence was 20-of-31 for 232 yards and a pair of touchdowns. He also rushed for 32 yards.
Sophomore running back Lache Seastrunk lit up the field in the first half with 44 yards on the ground and 89 yards through the air and a touchdown.
Senior wide receiver Terrance Williams had 86 yards and a touchdown.
Baylor had a total of 325 offensive yards while allowing Kansas to gain 240.
The Bears’ defense only allowed the Jayhawks to convert two out of nine third downs.
The game began with Florence running the ball up the middle 20 yards to set up an eventual 11-yard touchdown reception by Williams.
The 121st ranked Jayhawk offense would then take the field against the 124th ranked Baylor defense.
After a bad snap and a fumble almost recovered by the Bears, Kansas ended up punting on fourth and long its first possession.
The Baylor offense would double its score, sending sophomore running back Lache Seastrunk up the seam for a 68-yard touchdown reception.
Back on defense, the Bears forced an incomplete pass on third-and-seven, once again forcing another Kansas punt.
Baylor, however, would be held and forced to punt its next offensive drive, a stop the Jayhawk offense would capitalize on with a 59-yard touchdown run by junior halfback James Sims.
The Bears would settle for a field goal on their next drive, a 35-yarder by junior kicker Aaron Jones, making the score 17-7 in favor of Baylor.
Kansas began the second quarter on the Baylor 13. After an eight-yard touchdown pass was called back for offensive pass interference, two more downs forced a field goal situation for the Jayhawks.
Kansas tried a fake kick but senior cornerback Chance Casey made the tackle to keep the score 17-7.
Incomplete passes would stop Baylor’s next drive, and Kansas would end up punting due to a third-down pass break-up by junior cornerback Joe Williams.
Facing fourth-and-one and converting on both previous fourth downs, the Bears decided to punt away.
The Jayhawks scored on the next drive off a 22-yard run up the middle by freshman quarterback Michael Cummings, making the score 17-14.
After a drive lasting 4:44 and a defensive pass interference bringing a fresh set of downs from the Kansas two-yard line, Baylor can’t find the end zone for a touchdown, so it settles for a 22-yard field goal by Jones, increasing the Baylor lead to 20-14.
Kansas junior halfback Taylor Cox returned the kickoff 42 yards, but the Jayhawks couldn’t convert on third down, punting the ball to Baylor with 30 seconds to play in the half.
Florence would take a knee to end the first half with Baylor up by six.
