[BAYLOR FOOTBALL] Baylor Football Faces off with TCU on Saturday in Fort Worth

Tue Nov 14 10:01:49 CST 2023

BAYLOR ATHLETIC COMMUNICATIONS – Nov. 14, 2023

Baylor Faces off with TCU on Saturday in Fort Worth
Bears Look to Conclude Road Slate with a 3-1 Mark

For more information contact: Brent Ingram; 210-845-8651, brent_ingram at baylor.edu<mailto:brent_ingram at baylor.edu> or Max Calderone; 254-265-1639, max_calderone at baylor.edu<mailto:max_calderone at baylor.edu> or Colin Pirtle; 940-564-0351, colin_pirtle1 at baylor.edu<mailto:colin_pirtle1 at baylor.edu>

WACO, Texas -- Baylor football will look to conclude its 2023 road record with three wins in four chances on Saturday, venturing up to face TCU in Fort Worth, with kickoff slated for 2:30 p.m.

The game will be broadcast live on ESPN+ and on the Baylor Sports Media Network. The game will be called on ESPN+ by Shawn Kenney (play-by-play) and Barrett Brooks (analyst), and will be voiced on radio by John Morris (play-by-play), JJ Joe (analyst) and Ricky Thompson (sideline).

The game will mark the 119th al-time meeting between the two schools, the most-played game in the state of Texas. The Bears will be looking to snap a three-game losing streak in the series which included a thriller in Waco last year that saw TCU keep its playoff hopes alive with a walk-off field goal as time expired.

The Horned Frogs (4-6, 2-5 Big 12) will be looking to remain in contention for a bowl game vs. the Bears (3-7, 2-5 Big 12). Baylor comes into the game having lost at No. 25 Kansas State on Saturday, 59-25, snapping a 2-0 road record in 2023 that included wins at Cincinnati and UCF. The Frogs have lost three straight, including a loss vs. No. 7 Texas on Saturday.

SCOUTING THE FROGS

• TCU enters the matchup with Baylor having lost three consecutive games, including setbacks at Kansas State and Texas Tech and a loss vs. Texas last weekend. TCU has wins over Nicholls, Houston, SMU and BYU, also falling vs. Colorado, West Virginia and Iowa State. The Frogs are fresh off a 29-26 loss to Texas, where TCU fell behind early and rallied to narrow the margin later in the game.

• Chandler Morris and Josh Hoover have split the QB duties in 2023, with Morris averaging 252.2 yards passing per game, with 12 TDs and five interceptions, with Hoover averaging 181.3 yards per game, with nine TDs and eight interceptions. Emani Bailey has rushed for 1,006 yards and five TDs, good for over 100 yards rushing per game, while Morris has 249 yards rushing with three TDs. Savion Williams and JP Richardson each have 36 catches and over 450 yards receiving, with Williams and Jared Wiley each owning four TDs. Namdi Obiazor has 76 tackles to lead the team, with four sacks. Jamoi Hodge has 62 stops and five for a loss.

• TCU is coached by Sonny Dykes, who is in his second year as the head coach for the Frogs after spending the four years as the head coach at SMU. Dykes went 30-18 at SMU, including a 25-10 mark over his last three seasons, helping direct the Mustangs to 465.9 yards per game offensively in 2021, 13th-best in the nation. Dykes previously served as the head coach at Cal for four years (2013-16), and three years at Louisiana Tech (2010-12). He served as an assistant at Arizona, under Mike Stoops, Texas Tech, under Mike Leach, and Kentucky, under Air Raid inventor Hal Mumme. Dykes and Baylor Coach Dave Aranda served on the same staff at Texas Tech, where Dykes was the receivers coach while Aranda was a graduate assistant from 2000-02.

• Dykes is assisted by defensive coordinator Joe Gillespie, who spent the last three years as the DC at Tulsa after a decorated 20-year career as a high school football coach in Texas. Kendal Briles, the son of former Baylor head coach Art Briles, is in his first season as the associate head coach and offensive coordinator, after spending the last three years in the same role at Arkansas. Kendal was on the Baylor staff for nine years. A.J. Ricker is the co-offensive coordinator and offensive line coach who spent the last two years at SMU, following time at Kansas (2018), and serving as offensive analyst at Oklahoma State (2017) and Houston (2018), also coaching the offensive line at Missouri (2014-15). Malcom Kelly serves as the assistant head coach, a role he has had since March of 2019, after coaching two seasons at Houston as a GA and analyst (2017-18). Mark Tommerdahl is the special-teams coordinator, his second tenure with TCU after serving as the special teams coordinator from 1998-2000. He was the associate head coach/special teams coordinator at Texas Tech for the three years before shifting to Fort Worth.

• The Frogs are averaging 454.9 yards per game with 157.8 rushing and 297.1 passing, allowing 394.6 yards per game, with 244.5 passing and 150.1 rushing. TCU scores 28.9 points and allows 24.8 points per game.

SERIES HISTORY

• TCU leads the all-time series, 58-53-7 with Baylor, with the Frogs owning a 24-19-1 all-time record in games played in Fort Worth.

• TCU has won three straight in the series and Baylor will be searching for its first win in Fort Worth since a 2019 29-23 win in three overtimes.

• The meeting will be the 119th all-time meeting in the series, the most-played rivalry game in the state of Texas.

LAST MEETING

• The two teams squared off in an instant classic in 2022 in Waco, with the No. 4 Horned Frogs, kicking a walk-off field goal in a fire-drill situation to secure the win and remain unbeaten, eventually earning a spot in the College Football Playoff.

• Baylor held a 28-26 lead in the closing seconds of the game but Max Duggan completed two passes for 28 yards and had a key 12-yard scramble to get TCU into position for a Griffin Kell 40-yard field goal as time expired to post the 29-26 win.

• The Bears took leads at 7-0, 14-7 and 28-20. The eight-point lead with 9:47 left then saw Baylor stop a game-tying two-point conversion attempt, holding a 28-26 lead with 2:07 left. Baylor could not secure a first down, allowing TCU to regain the ball with 94 seconds left, driving 46 yards on nine plays to post the win.

• Baylor rushed for 232 yards and threw for 269, totaling 501 yards of total offense. QB Blake Shapen was 21 of 30 for 269 yards and a score, while Craig Williams rushed 19 times for 112 yards. Monaray Baldwin had six grabs for 123 yards and Kelsey Johnson caught a TD. Devin Lemear chipped in a career-high nine tackles.

LAST MEETING IN FORT WORTH

• TCU posted a 30-28 win over Baylor in Fort Worth a year ago, with the Horned Frogs storming the field following the win over No. 12.

• It was the first game for TCU without coach Gary Patterson leading the team in 24 years. The Bears trailed by nine points and rallied for a 75-yard scoring drive to cut the lead to 23-21 heading into the fourth quarter and again at 30-28 following an 86-yard drive that ended on a Tyquan Thornton TD strike from Gerry Bohanon.

• The Bears threw an interception on the TCU 34-yard line with under two minutes, with the Horned Frogs kneeling the clock out to clinch the win and allowing the fan base to storm the field.

• Abram Smith rushed 18 times for 127 yards, with Thornton grabbing two TDs over five catches and 121 yards. Terrel Bernard had 11 tackles, while Jalen Pitre added six tackles, three for a loss with a forced fumble and three pass break-ups.

• TCU’s Chandler Morris threw for 461 yards on 29 of 41 passing with two TDs. He added 70 yards rushing with a TD on 11 carries. Quentin Johnson had five catches for 142 yards with a TD.

BLUEBONNET BATTLE

• The student governments of Baylor and TCU have banded together to create a new name for the Baylor-TCU football game, dubbing it the Bluebonnet Battle.

• The athletics department leadership from both schools were active in discussions with the Big 12 Conference regarding the new scheduling matrix with the growth of the league, working in an effort to maintain the game as an annual protected rivalry. The league announced that the game would be one of just four protected games in the league scheduling model.

• The game will be played for the 119th time on Saturday, marking the most-played game in the state of Texas.

• From the SGAs press release announcing the game: The Bluebonnet Battle trophy will be a circular battle shield, hand forged in steel by Baylor alumnus Bryant Stanton of Stanton Studios in Waco, Texas. The face of the shield will feature the logos of both universities, the outline of the State of Texas, adorned with Bluebonnets on either side and boldly displaying the rivalry’s official name. It will be two-and-a-half feet wide and rest in a mesquite wooden base adorned with the lone star of Texas.

HIGH MARKS FOR FRESHMEN DBs

• Baylor’s freshmen defensive backs Caden Jenkins and Carl Williams IV are among the best freshmen in the nation. The pair have earned high marks from Pro Football Focus in overall defensive grade and coverage grades.

• Among freshmen power-5 defensive backs, Jenkins ranks first in defensive grade, with Williams third, and in coverage grade, Williams ranks first and Jenkins third.

BROTHER VS. BROTHER

• An interesting story line in the Baylor-TCU matchup on Saturday is the battle of the Lanz family.

• Baylor redshirt sophomore defensive tackle Cooper Lanz will be squaring off on the line against his brother, senior center John Lanz. Often times in brother vs. brother matchups, the two siblings don’t get to face each other on the field but that will not be the case on Saturday, as Cooper will line up directly across from his older brother John and the two will square off throughout the game.

• John has started all 10 games at center for the Frogs and Cooper has started all nine games he has played in 2023 at defensive tackle. The Lanz brothers are from Argyle, Texas, and both attended powerhouse Denton Guyer High School.

• Cooper ranks fourth on the team with 28 tackles in 2023, owning two for a loss and one QB sack, also forcing a fumble and blocking a kick.

No. 25 K-STATE ROLLS TO WIN IN LITTLE APPLE

• Baylor suffered a 59-25 loss at No. 25 Kansas State in the opener of a two-game road swing on Nov. 11.

• The Bears turned the ball over four times, including a fumble returned for a TD and an interception returned to the end zone as the Wildcats raced out fo a 35-7 lead with just under 17 minutes gone off the clock. Baylor fought back to throw four TDs behind QB Blake Shapen but Kansas State totaled 451 yards of total offense, including 183 on the ground in the win.

• Shapen threw two TDs to freshman Dawson Pendergrass and one each to Drake Dabney and Monaray Baldwin. Dabney had a career-high 105 yards receiving. Dominic Richardson rushed 17 times for 89 yards.

UP NEXT

• Baylor will conclude the 2023 season with a home tilt vs. West Virginia on Nov. 25 at McLane Stadium.

- BaylorBears.com -

--
Brent Ingram | Assistant AD for Communications
Men’s Tennis Sport Program Administrator
Department of Athletics | Baylor University
C: 210-845-8651

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