Head coach Art Briles announces Baylor’s acceptance to the 2011 Valero Alamo Bowl on Sunday at the Simpson Athletics Center. Baylor will play Washington at 8 p.m. Dec. 29 in San Antonio.Matt Hellman | Lariat Photo Editor
BU stays in Texas for bowl
It’s not a BCS Bowl or the Cotton Bowl, but the Bears will take it. And they’ll take it gladly.
Baylor accepted an invitation to play in the 2011 Valero Alamo Bowl at 8 p.m. on Dec. 29 at the Alamodome in San Antonio.
“I am very excited to accept our invitation to the Valero Alamo Bowl in San Antonio,” head coach Art Briles said. “I am really familiar with San Antonio. It’s a great city, great venue with the Alamodome. The thing that catches my eye, as I watched early in the year, is the attendance at some of UTSA’s games — they had 56,000 people there. So that is really impressive. It shows me that they are football-crazy, football-hungry in San Antonio.”
No. 10 quarterback Robert Griffin III carries the ball down the field for a first down during the game against Texas at Floyd Casey Stadium on Saturday. The Bears trounced the Longhorns, 48-24. Matt Hellman | Lariat Photo Editor
Washington travels 2,161 miles to the Alamo Bowl with facets Baylor has faced all year: a decent defense, a fiery quarterback whose rush game is nonexistent and a strong running back.
Sophomore quarterback Keith Price’s numbers pale in comparison to Baylor’s Robert Griffin III; his ball placement and quick release, however, are similar to that of the Heisman candidate’s. Price set a school record this season with 29 scoring passes.
Baylor can try to blitz him like it did against the Sooners’ Landry Jones; Price is squirmy, however, and can find a solid read while he scrambles.
This is where the Baylor secondary must step in and play lights out.
In the Bears’ final conference game against Texas, coverages were blown and gaps were not filled. Baylor defensive coordinator Phil Bennett saw the problems and drew up a solution that paved the way for his defense to force six turnovers . . .
The Bears will face off against Washington State in the 2011 Valero Alamo Bowl at 8 p.m. on Dec. 29 at the Alamodome. The last Alamo Bowl for Baylor was in 1994 when the team lost to Washington State 10-3. City of San Antonio
The Bears will have the luxury of staying in Texas to play in their second bowl in 2 years. The Valero Alamo Bowl will be played at San Antonio’s Alamodome, in San Antonio which has a capacity of 66, 000.
This is only the second Big 12 vs. Pac-12 match-up in Alamo Bowl history, with the first coming last year when Oklahoma State upended Arizona 36-10.
The Big Ten and the Big 12 were the conferences competing in the bowl from 1995-2010. In 1993 and 1994, the match-ups featured the Southwestern Conference and the Pac-10.
This year’s selection into the Alamo Bowl for the Bears is the second time in school history.
In 1994, Baylor was a member of the Southwestern Conference and earned a bid into the Alamo Bowl . . .
No. 10 quarterback Robert Griffin III deflects Texas players as he runs for a touchdown on Saturday at Floyd Casey Stadium. Baylor defeated Texas, 48-24, to finish the season at 9-3. Meagan Downing | Lariat Photographer
He is one of three players in the history of the FBS with more than 10,000 yards passing and 2,000 yards rushing, graduated both high school and college early, competed in the Olympic Trials at the age of 17, is a finalist for the Manning Award, the Walter Camp Player of the Year Award, the Davey O’Brien National Quarterback Award and the Heisman trophy.
His name is Robert Griffin III and he is the quarterback at Baylor University.
Monday it was formally announced that Griffin had been invited to New York City for the Heisman ceremony, along with Wisconsin running back Montee Ball, Stanford quarterback Andrew Luck, LSU cornerback Tyrann Mathieu and Alabama running back Trent Richardson.
According to ESPN analyst Kirk Herbstreit, the . . .
No. 1 senior receiver Kendall Wright breaks a tackle in the first half against Texas at Floyd Casey Stadium on Saturday. The Bears beat the Longhorns 48-24. Matthew McCarroll | Lariat Photographer
Even Superman can’t do it alone.
While most of the credit for the Bears’ stellar offense this season is attributed to Heisman hopeful quarterback Robert Griffin III, and rightfully so, one player stands out as Griffin’s right-hand man when the Bears take the field on offense.
Of Griffin’s 267 completions, 101 of them have gone to the player who wears the No. 1, senior wide receiver Kendall Wright.
Wright came to Baylor from Pittsburg, Texas, and has been making big plays and eye-popping catches for the Bears ever since.
In 2008, his true freshman year, Wright made an immediate impact on the team; he led in receptions, receiving yards and touchdown catches. He holds several all-time school records with 3,913 receiving yards and 29 touchdowns. Wright caught passes in all his 49 career games for Baylor.
He is the only player in school history to record . . .
No. 4 linebacker Elliot Coffey tries to tackle a Rice player on Sept. 24 at Floyd Casey Stadium. Baylor beat Rice 56-31. Meagan Downing | Lariat Photographer
The darkest of days: Baylor football 2007.
This is how senior inside linebacker Elliot Coffey described his true freshman year playing for the Bears; it comes in marked contrast to the team’s recent successes.
Coffey said that during this time, players faced internal questions about their participation in Baylor football due to the team’s bad record and had to work hard to keep from getting down.
“When you’re working as hard as you are and you’re losing, it makes you think, ‘What I am doing? What am I doing wrong?’ You have to reassess yourself,” he said.
Baylor went 3-9 overall, 0-8 in the Big 12 that year. Now things are looking sunny. Baylor, which finished the season 9-3, is on its way to the Valero Alamo Bowl and the defense has forced a turnover in every game this season . . .
The punchline, “Texans are very fond of showing off the places where we killed people,” may have some thinking the obvious place to visit in San Antonio is the Alamo, but the historic city has much more to offer visitors than an old battle ground.
One favorite year-round activity is visiting Six Flags Fiesta Texas. Most large cities have theme parks, but Fiesta Texas is especially captivating during the holiday season. San Antonio’s mild winter weather allows Fiesta Texas patrons to enjoy outdoor events.
Most people take advantage of traditional park attractions, such as rides and roller coasters, during this time of year instead of enduring waiting lines in the summer heat.
But there is also a lot of added fun during the holiday season, like a large indoor ice skating rink, holiday shows and concerts, not to mention the whole park is transformed into a winter wonderland. It is a great place for groups of all ages . . .
Parking permits for Alamodome lots have been sold out, purchased by Alamodome season ticket holders and sponsors. Still, the Alamo Bowl and the city of San Antonio make it easy to reach the stadium from downtown. Illustration by Matt Hellman | Lariat Photo Editor
Parking
Parking permits for Alamodome lots have been sold out, purchased by Alamodome season ticket holders and sponsors. Still, the Alamo Bowl and the city of San Antonio make it easy to reach the stadium from downtown.
San Antonio’s transit system, the VIA, provides trolley service outlined on the map above the dotted line indicates an alternative route in event of a detour. The trolley runs every 12-15 minutes and 5-7 minutes after 5 p.m. Full fare is $1.10 each way; exact change is required. An all-day pass costs $4.
I am absolutely thrilled with your decisions this year. Although the vast majority of America wants to see a playoff system and there are probably ways to have that make more money anyways, you guys have really stuck to your corrupt principles and kept the BCS Championship series.
The BCS bowl series this year, in particular, was extremely well-organized. The bowls were perfectly selected. Many people might have thought that LSU should have played Oklahoma State, you know, since they’re clearly the top two teams. 80 percent of the voters on ESPN wanted to see Oklahoma State in the championship instead of a game they’d already seen, but you all were smart enough to know better. Seeing Alabama in the championship will be super boring and that’s what America really wants, even if Americans say they wanted something completely different . . .
