Wake Forest game vital to Baylor football's bowl hopes
Thursday, August 06, 2009
Thirty days from now, Baylor will kick off its football season at Wake Forest.
The game won?t draw the attention of some other marquee season-opening matchups like Oklahoma State hosting Georgia or even BYU against Oklahoma at the new Cowboys Stadium.
But for the Bears, it will be huge.
Coach Art Briles hopes to lead Baylor to its first bowl game since the 1994 Alamo Bowl. The Bears open preseason drills this afternoon. (Rod Aydelotte photo, file)
Heading into the opening of preseason drills today, the Bears? biggest goal is to reach a bowl game. That?s been the Bears? priority every year since their last bowl appearance ? the 1994 Alamo Bowl ? but it seems much more realistic this fall with talents like quarterback Robert Griffin and all-Big 12 linebacker Joe Pawelek and safety Jordan Lake on board.
If the Bears beat the Demon Deacons on Sept. 5, they?ve got a great chance to go 4-0 in nonconference play. That would mean they?d need just two more wins in Big 12 play to become bowl eligible.
Bowl eligible are the two magic words around Baylor.
?It?s vital, it?s critical,? Baylor coach Art Briles said of the Wake Forest game. ?But I would have said the same thing last season ? playing well, setting the tone.?
The Bears recovered quite well from their 41-13 season-opening shellacking against Wake Forest at Floyd Casey Stadium. They bounced back with consecutive blowouts of Northwestern State and Washington State, and could have become bowl eligible if they had made a big play or two in tight losses to Connecticut, Missouri and Texas Tech.
But while Baylor went into last year hoping ? praying ? for a bowl berth, you get the idea they really sense they can pull it off this year. Playing so competitively in most games last year boosted their confidence. But they?re also confident because they bring back nine starters on each side of the ball and feature leaders like Griffin, Pawelek and Lake.
Wake a big early test
They want to set the tone against Wake Forest, a program that?s risen from the gutter to make three straight bowl games under ninth-year coach Jim Grobe. Last year, the Demon Deacons pounded the Bears from the start and didn?t let up to ruin Briles? debut.
Wake Forest will put another good team on the field, but has to replace four defensive players who were picked in the first four rounds of April?s NFL draft.
Among those players were linebacker Aaron Curry, the fourth overall pick by the Seattle Seahawks who was taken two slots behind Baylor offensive tackle Jason Smith.
Regardless of their defensive losses, it will still be tough for Baylor to go on the road and beat a team that has a veteran quarterback like Riley Skinner, who has started 37 games for the Demon Deacons and has a career completion percentage of 67.3. Last year, he carved up the Bears, hitting 27 of 36 passes for 220 yards and three touchdowns.
But Grobe can?t be relishing the thought of trying to contain Griffin, who replaced starter Kirby Freeman in the second quarter against Wake Forest and sparkled the rest of the season.
