WACO, Texas — Bryce Petty and the Baylor offense make scoring look so easy.
And even the defense got in on the big plays for the 23rd-ranked Bears in a 70-13 victory over Buffalo on Saturday.
“We’re not trying to jockey and win on a field goal late in the game. We try to win now and see what happens,” coach Art Briles said. “I learned a long time ago, if you’re not trying to score, you’re not going to score.”
For the second week in a row, Baylor scored four first-quarter touchdowns, and then added four more before halftime against Buffalo. Only a week after scoring 69 points for their most since 1929, the Bears bested that mark while also piling up a school-record 781 total yards.
Petty completed 13 of 16 passes for 388 yards and two touchdowns while playing only one drive into the second half.
By the time Petty and the rest of the starters had come out of the game, the Bears (2-0) had 576 total yards on 46 plays in only 11 minutes with the ball. They scored touchdowns on eight of nine drives, with the only non-scoring drive coming when they had the ball at the end of the first half.
“It’s what we expect,” said Petty, the fourth-year junior who had to wait his turn to start behind Heisman Trophy winner Robert Griffin III and record-setting Nick Florence last season.
“It just goes back to the work we put in, hour after hour. For us to make it look easy, it’s a compliment to us,” Petty said. “We like to make it look easy, but there’s a lot of hard work put in.”
Lache Seastrunk ran for 150 yards and three touchdowns, getting his school-record sixth consecutive 100-yard rushing game on 17 carries — all before halftime. Tevin Reese (130 yards) and Antwan Goodley (124 yards) each had four catches, both turning a short pass into a long scoring play right after touchdowns by Buffalo (0-2).
Bears linebacker Bryce Hager, a former high school running back, had a rumbling, stumbling 91-yard touchdown when Buffalo quarterback Joe Licata was sacked and fumbled in the second quarter. That made it 49-13, and Seastrunk added a 33-yard scoring run before halftime.
“That put the dagger where it needed to go,” Briles said of Hager’s return.
The Bulls opened the game with a 54-yard flea-flicker play that Alex Neutz caught even while being knocked down and drawing a pass-interference penalty. Branden Oliver’s 1-yard scoring run gave the Bulls a 7-0 lead — that lasted less than a minute.
Petty threw a short pass to Reese on Baylor’s fourth play. Reese caught the ball short of midfield, then raced past Naaja Johnson untouched for a 61-yard touchdown.
A week after compiling 692 total yards in a 69-3 opening victory over Wofford of the FCS, the Bears had 501 yards by halftime against a Buffalo team playing consecutive games against Top 25 teams for the first time. Baylor is the first FBS team since Oklahoma in 2008 with 28 first-quarter points in consecutive games.
“It was frustrating and embarrassing,” said Neutz who had six catches for a career-high 197 yards for Buffalo.
The Bulls, who were down 23-0 at third-ranked Ohio State a week earlier before losing 40-20, had a quick lead against the speedy Bears.
“I was pleased with how we came out of the gates. We opened up and were able to jump on them,” Bulls coach Jeff Quinn said. “We talked about that, setting the tone. Last week, we weren’t able to do that. This week, we were able to score, but after that, it was impressive. They’ve got a great team and they’re really good.”
After Buffalo punted on its second drive, Baylor needed less than a minute to get another score and go ahead to stay. Reese started the drive with a 44-yard catch down the right sideline and Seastrunk had consecutive 14-yard runs before a 3-yard score by Shock Linwood, whose 6-yard TD only 64 seconds into the second half made it 63-13.
When Neutz caught a 4-yard TD pass with 2:11 left in the first quarter, the Bulls were within 21-13.
But just more than a minute later, Goodley caught a short pass between two defenders and then raced by two more for an 83-yard score.
Six of the touchdown drives by the first team lasted 1:16 or less, and the longest was 1:54.
Baylor didn’t punt until the second drive of the second half, after the starters were done. But the backups notched a touchdown of their own when Seth Russell threw a 53-yard score to Jay Lee in the fourth quarter.
“I thought we were really sharp early,” Briles said. “You don’t want to pat yourself on the back or anything, but I think our guys are confident.
“They know what they’re doing and we’re playing at a high speed with a lot of highly effective plays.”
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