Jayhawks suffer 36th straight road defeat in 49-7 loss to Baylor

By foxsports
Published

WACO, Texas -- Cornerback Ryan Reid and No. 11 Baylor will enjoy their upcoming open date a little more than the last one. 

Reid returned the first of his two interceptions 64 yards for a touchdown, quarterback Seth Russell accounted for four touchdowns playing only a half, and Shock Linwood earned the school record for career rushing touchdowns in the Bears' 49-7 win over Kansas on Saturday. 

"We were just trying to make a statement. A lot of people, they thought that Iowa State game, that's who we are, which it's not," Reid said, referring to a 45-42 win two weeks ago in the last game when Baylor's only lead came on a game-ending field goal. "We had to make a statement with our next game, and Kansas was in the way."

Baylor (6-0, 3-0 Big 12), which now has another open date, led 42-0 after Russell's last pass, a 4-yard TD to Ishmael Zamora with 1:45 left in the first half. KD Cannon, who missed the last game with a groin injury, turned a short pass into a 59-yard score.

A week after almost beating TCU at home, Kansas (1-5, 0-3) had five turnovers that led to 21 points for the Bears. The Jayhawks have lost 15 Big 12 games in a row, and they've dropped 36 consecutive road games since winning at UTEP seven years ago.

"We made some strides last week, and then today we took several steps back. That's my responsibility," second-year Kansas coach David Beaty said of the Jayhawks' offense, which had only 217 total yards. 

Russell had two touchdown runs in the first quarter, with Reid's TD return coming between those.

Now 14-0 when starting for Baylor, Russell was 9-of-22 passing for 144 yards. He led the Bears with 68 yards rushing, and got flipped after he leaped in the end zone for a 26-yard TD when converting a fourth-and-3 to make it 21-0 in the first quarter

Linwood's four-yard score on the first play after a Kansas fumble was his 36th career rushing touchdown and broke a tie with Alfred Anderson for the most in school history. Linwood was already the career rushing leader for the Bears.

View from the sidelines: college football cheerleaders 2016.

Reid returned his second pick 52 yards to the Jayhawks 19, but Baylor then had the first of its three missed field goals.

THE TAKEAWAY

Kansas: It's not a good day when the highlight is the 82-yard punt by Cole Moos, who had the wind to his back and had the ball roll to the Baylor 3 after a great bounce off the turf. Sure, the Jayhawks were five-touchdown underdogs, but this was a bit of a backward step. They were also big underdogs a week ago in the one-point loss to TCU, when they missed three field goals in the fourth quarter.

Baylor: While already bowl eligible for the seventh consecutive season, and the only FBS team to be 6-0 for the fourth year in a row, the Bears haven't really been tested. Their only opponent with a winning record they've played is Oklahoma State, which had two fourth-quarter drives end inside the 5. The other opponents went into Saturday with a combined 5-22 record, and that doesn't include Kansas' latest loss. The Bears will get tested, still with No. 19 Oklahoma and No. 20 West Virginia on the road. 

"We know that the lion's share of our schedule lies in front of us, and the toughest part is the second half," acting head coach Jim Grobe said. "Our guys realize that we're happy to be 6-0 right now, but we know positively that we're going to have to play great down the stretch."

BLANK FINISHES

Baylor still hasn't allowed a point in the fourth quarter this season. The Bears didn't score either in the final 15 minutes Saturday, but they have a 45-0 edge in that quarter this season. 

POLL IMPLICATIONS

Depending on how voters judge the losers of two games matching Top 10 teams, far-from-proven Baylor could move up into the Top 10 for the first time this season. The Big 12 hasn't had a Top 10 team since Oklahoma was third in the preseason poll, then dropped 10 spots after a season-opening loss at Houston. 

UP NEXT

Kansas: Plays four of its next five games at home, starting next Saturday against Oklahoma St.

Baylor: Another open date before playing at Texas on Oct. 29.