It was not a pretty win for the Longhorns. But thanks to the well-rounded offense, Texas defeated Baylor for the first time in three years.

With 10 different players catching passes and the 251 rushing yards the Longhorns accumulated, the offense made it very difficult for the Baylor defense to keep track of players and keep up.

“This is the offense we want,” head coach Mack Brown said. It’s who we want to be — very balanced. It’s who we were the first
two games.”

David Ash picked apart the struggling Baylor defense and went 19-for-31 for 274 yards while Joe Bergeron had five rushing touchdowns.

First quarter — It was clear it was going to be a shootout very early on. Daje Johnson ran for an 84-yard touchdown on the first play of the game.  A botched snap by Kyle Ashby on fourth down gave Baylor the ball on the Texas 8-yard line and Nick Florence ran the ball in for an easy touchdown. Bergeron had his first touchdown of the game to give Texas back the lead.  Baylor scored on 2-yard rush from Glasco Martin and then went up 21-14 when Terrance Williams scored on an 80-yard pass from Florence. 

Second quarter — Bergeron scored three touchdowns in the quarter. Baylor’s Lanear Sampson had a seven-yard touchdown reception and freshman Johnathan Gray finally scored his first touchdown as a Longhorn. The Bears hit a field goal at the end of the half to make the score 42-31, in favor of Texas.

Third quarter — The second half was much quieter than the first.  The Texas defense forced a fumble, but Baylor tight end Jordan Najvar fell on the ball in the end zone for a touchdown. Bergeron finished his high-scoring night with his fifth touchdown and the score was 49-43 heading into the fourth quarter.

Fourth quarter — Mike Davis scored on a 15-yard pass from Ash. Florence kept things interesting by scoring a touchdown with 1:57 left in the game.
255 — Number of rushing yards given up to the Bears, a team known for its passing game.

BY THE NUMBERS
100 — Baylor’s scoring percentage in the red zone as they went

7-for-7.
 
7 ­— the number of rushing touchdowns Texas scored, five of them came from Bergeron.

607 — Number of total offensive yards the Bears accumulated. This is the second consecutive week the Longhorns have given up more than 600-yards.

STOCK UP, STOCK DOWN
Stock up — David Ash.  He is continuing to improve and managed to spread the ball around. He went 19-for-31 for 274 yards and threw the ball downfield 67-yards to Davis. His left wrist injury did not seem to affect him at all and he took advantage of Baylor’s struggling defense. 

Stock down — Rush defense. It seems repetitive to declare the rush defense as the weakest aspect of the Longhorns. But giving up 255 rushing yards to pass happy Baylor shows how much the defense is struggling. Tackling is still a problem, but is improving.

WHAT’S NEXT
The Longhorns will have easier competition Saturday. They will be facing Kansas, the only team with a worse Big 12 record than Baylor. Though the game is in Lawrence, Kan., the Longhorns should not have a problem handling Charlie Weis’ struggling squad. Kansas is 1-6 on the season and 0-4 in Big 12 play. Kansas’ last game ended in a loss to Oklahoma State, 52-7.

Printed on Monday, October 22, 2012 as: Texas does what it takes to win