No. 3 Baylor breezed through its 66-7 road win over winless Kansas in a game that got out of hand as quickly as expected. What we learned:
What the win means for Baylor: The Bears were as dominant as expected, rolling to nearly 300 yards of offense in the first quarter alone, and had no trouble taking a 52-7 lead into the half. But what they were able to do in the second half should be meaningful: Baylor got to play its backups. A lot. Freshman quarterback Jarrett Stidham and the second-teamers got two full quarters of action, which will help build up depth and experience for another Big 12 title run. Stidham looked sharp as usual, throwing for two scores on 9-of-10 passing, and the Bears’ reserve defenders didn’t give up any points.
What the loss means for Kansas: The Jayhawks drove 74 yards for a touchdown on their opening drive of the day but didn’t have too much success with anything else. Ryan Willis put in a valiant effort in his first career start, completing 20-of-36 for 158 passing yards, but KU’s defense just had no luck getting stops. Baylor scored on its first seven offensive drives and never gave the Jayhawks a chance. They’ll try again against another high-speed offense next week when Texas Tech comes to town.
Top play: LaQuan McGowan is back and better than ever. The 410-pound tight end finally got a chance to catch his first pass of the season and he delivered with an 18-yard touchdown that quickly went as viral as his last one against Michigan State. The big man is still averaging a healthy 18 yards per reception in his career. Wonder if we’ll see more of him in Baylor’s bigger games later this season.
Stat of the game: Baylor is outscoring teams 206-80 in the first half this season and are still averaging an FBS-best 64 points per game. We could see the Bears get their first true test next week when West Virginia's veteran defense visits Waco. Nobody did a better job of slowing down the Bears' offense than the Mountaineers last season. But Baylor's offense sure does look better than ever, and who knows how many points they could've scored Saturday had Art Briles not kindly taken his foot off the gas pedal.