Baylor Bears football

Baylor Bears football
	Current season
First season	1896
Athletic director	Ian McCaw
Head coach	Art Briles
Home stadium	Floyd Casey Stadium
Stadium capacity	50,000
Stadium surface	Synthetic Turf
Location	Waco, Texas
Conference	Big 12
All-time record	532–537–44
Postseason bowl record	8–9
Claimed national titles	0
Conference titles	5
Heisman winners	0
Consensus All-Americans	10
	Current uniform
Colors	Green and Gold
Fight song	Old Fite
Mascot	Judge
Marching band	The Golden Wave Band
Rivals	Texas Christian University; Texas A&M University ; Texas Longhorns ; Texas Tech Red Raiders
Website	BaylorBears.com

The Baylor Bears football team represents Baylor University in Division I FBS college football. They are a member of the Big 12 Conference. The team plays its home games at Floyd Casey Stadium in Waco, Texas.

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History[]

Baylor University's football team has seen a wide variation in its success through the years, from a 3–0 record in 1900 to a 0–10 record in 1969. Since the formation of the Big 12 Conference in 1996, Baylor has had by far the worst conference record of any Big 12 member, having won only 18 games in 15 years of play.

Baylor has many traditions such as the Battle of the Brazos rivalry, the world's first homecoming in 1909, neutral site games at The State Fair of Texas, membership in the historic Southwest Conference, a live bear mascot since 1915 and the Baylor Line. Baylor won the SWC Championship in 1922 and then again in 1924. In 1956 Baylor came close to the SWC title again but came in second and was sent to face the #2 Tennessee Volunteers in the 1957 Sugar Bowl. Baylor defeated Johnny Majors and the #2 Volunteers 13-7. This remains the highest ranked opponent Baylor has ever defeated. The 1924 SWC Championship would be the last for 50 years until Baylor won it all again in 1974 under the leadership of third year head coach Grant Teaff--who was named national coach of the year that year. Teaff would go on to serve until 1992 leading Baylor to 8 bowl games and two conference championships (1974, 1980) in his 21 years as coach.

Miracle on the Brazos[]

The 1974 SWC Championship season was the most memorable in school history. Baylor had finished in last place in 1973 and had not won the conference in 50 years. Furthermore, coming into the '74 season Baylor had lost 16 consecutive seasons to the University of Texas Longhorns. BU not only won the conference title but defeated the Longhorns, which marked the first time in seven seasons that Texas did not win the SWC. The '74 BU season is dubbed the "Miracle on the Brazos".

Recent history[]

2008 season[]

Although finishing with only a 2-6 Big 12 Conference record, the season was still an improvement over 2007's winless 0-8 conference record. The season was highlighted by a non-conference win over Washington St in convincing fashion 45-17, a 38-10 win over Iowa St in Big12 conference play, a 41-21 win over rival Texas A&M, and the emergence of freshman QB Robert Griffin III.

2009 season[]

The 2009 season was highlighted by a non-conference road win against Wake Forest, a road win against two-time defending Big 12 North champions Missouri 40-32, two games that were televised on ABC television. The season fell short of Bears' fans expectations however when starting QB Robert Griffin III was injured in the 3rd game of the year and Baylor finished the season with a 1-7 Big 12 Conference record and a 4-8 overall record.

2010 season[]

The 2010 season was a breakthrough for the Baylor Bears as they earned an invitiation to the Texas Bowl in Houston after finishing the regular season with a 7-5 record. Baylor subsequently lost the Texas Bowl 38-14 to Illinois. In the regular season, The Bears were pounded by TCU 45-10 in a blowout loss, but victories included Big12 conference wins over Kansas 55-7 and Kansas St 47-42, as well as road wins over Colorado and Texas. The team was also ranked in the national top 25 for the first time in 30 years.

Stadium[]

Floyd Casey Stadium in 2005

The Baylor Bears have played their home games at Floyd Casey Stadium, then known as Baylor Stadium, since the facility opened in 1950. Floyd Casey Stadium has a seating capacity of 50,000 and has undergone mulitple renovations, most recently in 2005. The Bears, along with the UTSA Roadrunners, are only Division I football teams in Texas to play their games at an off-campus stadium.^[3] Prior to the Bears' time at Floyd Casey Stadium, the Bears played at Municipal Stadium (1936–1949), Cotton Palace (1926–1929), and Carroll Field (1906–1925, and 1930–1935). As of the 2011 season, Carroll Field has been the only on-campus home field for the Bears. Baylor University has announced plans for a new on-campus stadium on the north bank of the Brazos River.^[4]

Championships[]

Baylor has five Southwest Conference championships.^[5] Baylor also won the 1915 Southwest Conference championship, but the title was forfeited voluntarily after Baylor discovered that a transfer player was ineligible to have played.

Year	Overall Record	Conference Record	Coach	Conference
1922	8-3	5-0	Frank Bridges	Southwest Conference
1924	7-2-1	4-0-1	Frank Bridges	Southwest Conference
1974	8-4	6-1	Grant Teaff	Southwest Conference
1980	10-2	8-0	Grant Teaff	Southwest Conference
1994†	7-5	4-3	Chuck Reedy	Southwest Conference

† Denotes shared title

Bowl games[]

Baylor has appeared in 5 New Year's Day bowl games and 5 major bowl games.

Season	Date	Bowl	Opponent	Result
1948	January 1, 1949	Dixie Bowl	Wake Forest	W 20-7
1951	January 1, 1952	Orange Bowl	Georgia Tech	L 14-17
1954	December 31, 1954	Gator Bowl	Auburn	L 13-33
1956	January 1, 1957	Sugar Bowl	Tennessee	W 13-7
1960	December 31, 1960	Gator Bowl	Florida	W 13-12
1961	December 9, 1961	Gotham Bowl	Utah State	W 24-9
1963	December 31, 1963	Bluebonnet Bowl	LSU	W 14-7
1974	January 1, 1975	Cotton Bowl Classic	Penn State	L 41-20
1979	December 31, 1979	Peach Bowl	Clemson	W 24-18
1980	January 1, 1981	Cotton Bowl Classic	Alabama	L 30-2
1983	December 31, 1983	Bluebonnet Bowl	Oklahoma State	L 14-24
1985	December 27, 1985	Liberty Bowl	LSU	W 21-7
1986	December 31, 1986	Bluebonnet Bowl	Colorado	W 21-9
1991	December 31, 1991	Copper Bowl	Indiana	L 0-24
1992	December 31, 1992	John Hancock Bowl	Arizona	W 20-15
1994	December 31, 1994	Alamo Bowl	Washington State	L 3-10
2010	December 29, 2010	Texas Bowl	Illinois	L 14-38

College Football Hall of Famers[]

Two Baylor coaches and six Baylor players have been inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame.

Morley Jennings - Head Coach (1926–1940)
Barton Koch - G (1927–1930)
Hayden Fry - QB (1947–1950)
Jim Ray Smith - T (1950–1953)
Bill Glass - DE (1954–1956)
Larry Elkins - WR (1963–1964)
Grant Teaff - Head Coach (1972–1992)
Mike Singletary - LB (1977–1980)
Thomas Everett - FS (1985–1987)

Rivalries[]

Texas A&M[]

Texas A&M is one of Baylor's rival as the series dates from 1899 and the two schools are located 90 miles apart on the Brazos River. Texas A&M holds a 68-31-9 lead in football victories in the Battle of the Brazos. The competitive peak of the series was from 1960-1990 when Baylor won 13 games, A&M won 16 games and 2 games ended in ties. During that time 18 of the games were decided by 7 points or less. Last Meeting: 55-28 ATM

Texas Tech[]

KDawson2004 — Baylor Bears and Texas Tech Red Raiders in action in 2004

The Baylor Bears are Texas Tech's most played opponent with 68 meetings between the teams. Dating back to 1929, the series is 35-32-1 in favor of Texas Tech. Since 2009, the Bears have played Texas Tech on a neutral field the Saturday after Thanksgiving (with the exception of the 2010 game which was played at the Cotton Bowl during the State Fair of Texas). The series between the Bears and Red Raiders will continue to be played on Thanksgiving Weekend.^[6]Baylor beat Texas Tech 66-42 at Cowboy stadium in the 2011 matchup. This was Baylor's first victory over Tech since the Big 12 rivalry began in 1995

TCU[]

Baylor's rivalry with TCU is one of the most played in all of college football. Dating back to 1899, the series record is 50-50-7. The series began while TCU was located in Waco, Texas as a cross-town rivalry with Baylor. Due to their close proximity 23 games were played between 1899 and 1910. A fire in 1910 destroyed the Main Building on the TCU campus and financial incentives from the city of Fort Worth convinced the Board of Trustees to relocate the university to that city. There was a ten year break in the series when the dissolution of the Southwest Conference in 1995 resulted in the two universities joining separate athletic conferences. The series resumed in Waco for Baylor's 2006 home opener. The two schools concluded a home-and-home series in 2007, and have continued their rivalry in Fort Worth in 2010 and Waco in 2011. TCU fans have long held a deep resentment for Baylor getting into the Big 12 Conference ahead of TCU in 1996. This resentment is due to the wide spread, and false[citation needed], rumor that influence from then-Texas governor Ann Richards was the reason. Both schools will return to being conference mates and yearly football games when TCU joins the Big XII in July 2012.

Last meeting: 2011, Baylor 50 – TCU 48