[BAYLOR FOOTBALL] Baylor Football Hosts Iowa State on Homecoming

Mon Oct 23 15:31:57 CDT 2023

BAYLOR ATHLETIC COMMUNICATIONS – Oct. 23, 2023

Baylor Football Hosts Iowa State on Homecoming
Bears to Welcome Cyclones on Saturday at 2:30 p.m.

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 return home for a two-game homestand, starting with a homecoming matchup with Iowa State on Saturday at 2:30 p.m. at McLane Stadium.

The game will be broadcast live on ESPN+ and the Baylor Sports Media Network. Mark Neely (play-by-play), Barrett Brooks (analyst) and Tori Petry (sideline) will call the action for ESPN+, while the Voice of the Bears, John Morris (play-by-play), J.J. Joe (analyst) and Ricky Thompson (sideline) will voice the game on radio.

Baylor (3-4, 2-2 Big 12 Conference) sits in a tie for fifth place in the league standings, and will face Iowa State (4-3, 3-1 Big 12), who is currently in a four-way tie for second. The Bears are coming off a 32-29 win at Cincinnati, their second road win in as many tries, while Iowa State was idle last week after earning a win over UC in the Queen City the previous week.

The game will mark Homecoming for Baylor, who boasts the longest running collegiate homecoming celebration in the nation, which dates back to 1909. Baylor is 50-43-4 on Homecoming and have won four straight and 11 of its last 12 Homecoming matchups.

SCOUTING THE CYCLONES

• Iowa State comes into the matchup with Baylor winners of two straight and three of its last four games. The Cyclones have wins over Cincinnati and TCU in the last two, with a 50-20 loss at Oklahoma and a 34-27 win over Oklahoma State. ISU lost 20-13 vs. Iowa, won 30-9 vs. Northern Iowa and fell 10-7 at Ohio before league play.

• The Cyclones boast one of the nation’s best defense units and have revamped their attack in 2023 to open up the offense, following the loss at Ohio. The Cyclones are averaging 23 points per game, including 328.9 yards of total offense that features 211.6 in the air and 117.3 on the ground. Defensively, ISU is allowing only 20 points per game, with 329.3 yards allowed, including 198.1 passing and 131.1 rushing.

• Rocco Becht has thrown for 1,464 yards through seven games, completing 60 percent of his passes and owning five interceptions. Eli Sanders has rushed for 263 yards and two scores, with Cartevious Norton rushing for 218 yards on 61 carries, tops on the team. Jaylin Noel has a team-leading 34 catches for 308 yards, while Jayden Higgins paces the team with three TDs on 23 grabs and a team-high 437 yards. Defensively, Beau Freyler has 55 tackles with two for a loss and three picks. Jeremiah Cooper has five interceptions and four pass break-ups, while Zach Lovett leads the team with 2.5 sacks and six QB hurries.

• Iowa State is coached by Matt Campbell, who is in his eighth year in Ames after a strong run at Toledo. He has led the Clones to winning seasons in five of seven campaigns and is coming off a 4-8 2022 season that saw ISU go 1-8 in league. Iowa State went 9-3 in 2020 including an 8-1 mark in league play and won the Fiesta Bowl.

• Campbell’s coordinators include defensive coordinator Jon Heacock, a former head coach at Youngstown State, who also coached at YSU, Indiana, Kent State and Toledo. Offensive coordinator Nate Scheelhaase also coaches QBs and is in his first season as the OC after previously serving as the running game coordinator. Scheelhaase also coached at Illinois from 2015-17. Tyson Veidt is the associate head coach and works with linebackers and has previous experience at Toledo, West Virginia and Indiana at the D1 level.

HANKINS MAKING HISTORY

• Baylor sophomore kicker Isaiah Hankins is in the midst of a history season for the Bears. The natinve of Little Rock, Ark., regained his starting job in 2023 after losing it to veteran John Mayers in 2022, following a strong 2021 season in the gig.

• Hankins has the best field-goal percentage in Baylor career history, while ranking ninth in field goals made and 10th in points scored in Baylor history. He was 14 of 20 in field-goal attempts during the Big 12 Championship season in 2021, ranking among the tops in program history.

• He had a historic win at Cincinnati, connecting on field goals from 43, 45, 46 and a career-long 54 yards out. His 54 yard field goal was tied for the sixth-longest in program history and his four field goals tied the school record, done nine times and most recently in 2017 by Connor Martin vs. OU. Hankins is 15 of 18 in field-goal attempts in 2023, including 10 of 10 from inside 40 yards and 5 of 8 from 40+. He was named Big 12 Special Teams Player of the Week on Monday following the win.

• Hankins has made eight straight field-goal attempts, dating back to the UCF win.

HOMECOMING HISTORY

• Baylor’s homecoming began in 1909, marking the first recognizable collegiate homecoming celebration in the nation.

• The Bears are 50-43-4 all-time on homecoming and have won four consecutive and 11 of their last 12 homecoming matchups.

• Baylor has faced Iowa State four times on homecoming, going 3-1 vs. the Cyclones, posting a 45-27 win in 2015, a 71-7 win in 2013 - the largest margin of victory in BU homecoming history, falling in 2004 and earning wins in 1996.

• The first homecoming came in 1909 after six months of planning by faculty and students. Large delegations of former students converged on the Baylor campus to participate in a concert, receptions, speeches, class reunions, singing, a parade, a pep rally and a football victory. It was Baylor’s first “homecoming” which, except during the later years of World War II, has been an annual tradition and has grown to be the largest collegiate Homecoming celebration in the United States.

SERIES HISTORY

• Baylor leads the all-time series with Iowa State, 12-9, with the Bears owning a 7-3 lead in the series in Waco.

• The Bears have won two straight and three of the last four meetings, including a 31-24 win in Ames last year, with Iowa State claiming its last win in 2020, 38-31, and Baylor owning a 31-29 win in the meeting in Waco in 2021. The Bears have won seven of the last 10 meetings in the series.

LAST MEETING

• Baylor rolled to a 31-24 win over Iowa State in Ames to open league play in 2022, owning a 31-14 lead in the fourth quarter and using an efficient offensive attack to secure the win.

• The Bears got 238 yards and three TDs passing from Blake Shapen, and 78 yards and a rushing TD from freshman Richard Reese to pull away from the Cyclones and earn the first Baylor win in Ames since 2016.

• The Baylor defense forced two interceptions and held ISU to just 66 yards rushing, totaling four sacks, including two from linebacker Bryson Jackson.

• Shapen found Ben Sims, Dillon Doyle and Gavin Holmes for TD strikes, with Holmes going for three catches and 92 yards. His 38-yard scoring grab pushed Baylor’s lead to 31-14 with 9:37 left in the fourth quarter. The Cyclones cut the lead to 10 with a 75-play drive and added a field goal to set up an impactful on-side kick attempt in the closing seconds, which was grabbed by BU linebacker Matt Jones to clinch the win.

LAST TIME IN WACO

• In the meeting in 2021 in Waco, the Bears posted a 31-29 win over No. 14 Iowa State.

• The win came despite Iowa State owning a 479-282 edge in total offense, a 216-123 margin in rushing yards and committing 85 fewer yards in penalties.

• It was Baylor’s fourth-consecutive win to open the season and foreshadowed a historic run to the Big 12 Championship and the 2022 Sugar Bowl.

• Baylor took a 21-13 lead at the half after scoring TDs on its first three series of the game. After the Cyclones narrowed the margin to 21-16 with a field goal midway through the third quarter, Trestan Ebner returned the ensuing kickoff 98 yards for a touchdown.

• Gerry Bohanon threw for 159 yards and two TDs and rushed for a score, with Abram Smith owning 47 yards on 10 carries. Tyquan Thornton and Ben Sims each had TD grabs and Dillon Doyle led a defense with nine tackles and two for a loss.

• Iowa State’s Brock Purdy threw for 263 yards and a TD, with Breece Hall going for 190 yards and two TDs on 27 carries.

BEARS CLAIM ROAD WIN IN QUEEN CITY

• Baylor improved to 2-0 on the road in 2023 with a 32-29 win over Cincinnati in the first meeting between the two schools. The Bears used a strong passing attack and a strong defensive effort in the secondary to earn the win over UC.

• Baylor got 316 yards passing from Blake Shapen, who threw and rushed for a TD. Jake Roberts hauled in the TD pass, while Ketron Jackson Jr. had a career-high 130 yards receiving on five catches and Monaray Baldwin had seven catches for 49 yards. Defensively Matt Jones chipped in nine tackles and a TFL, breaking up two passes. TJ Franklin had 1.5 tackles for a loss, with Gabe Hall adding a sack.

• Isaiah Hankins made history with four field goals, connecting from 43, 45, 46 and a career-long 54 yards out. His 54 yard field goal was tied for the sixth-longest in program history and his four field goals tied the school record, done nine times and most recently in 2017 by Connor Martin vs. OU. Hankins is 15 of 18 in field-goal attempts in 2023, including 10 of 10 from inside 40 yards and 5 of 8 from 40+.

- 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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