WACO, Texas — Baylor freshman quarterback Robert Griffin ran for a school-record 217 yards and two touchdowns on only 11 carries to lead the Bears to a 45-17 victory over Washington State on Friday night, a day earlier than scheduled because of Hurricane Ike.
Griffin threw for 129 yards, including a 27-yard TD pass to Ernest Smith, a play on which Griffin scrambled from one side of the field to the other before throwing off his back foot. He had TD runs of 1 and 58 yards, along with a 57-yard run that set up another score for Baylor (2-1) and a 58-yard sprint on his last play.
Washington State, forced to fly to Texas and play on the same day, dropped to 0-3 for the first time since 1999. The Cougars and first-year coach Paul Wulff were coming off the worst loss in school history, 66-3 to California.
The game was moved up from an 11:40 a.m. Saturday kickoff to beat the expected deteriorating weather from Hurricane Ike. The massive storm was approaching the Texas coast about 230 miles away Friday night, and was then expected to move through the state.
There was a steady breeze of 10-15 mph with some higher gusts later in the game, but no rain.
Griffin was pulled after he scampered for 58 yards midway through the fourth quarter with the Bears up 42-17. New coach Art Briles then put in Blake Szymanski, the starter last year when Griffin was playing regularly under the Friday night lights.
After leading Copperas Cove High to the Texas Class 4A Division I championship game last season, Griffin enrolled early at Baylor and took part in spring drills.
Griffin replaced ineffective senior Kirby Freeman, a transfer from Miami, in the season-opening 41-13 loss to No. 20 Wake Forest. Griffin then had 337 total yards and four TDs in his first start, a 51-6 victory last week over Northwestern State.
The Bears had consecutive 40-point games for the first time since 1994.
After Griffin’s 1-yard keeper on Baylor’s opening drive tied the game at 7, Washington State had the first of its five turnovers, when a shotgun snap to a surprised Kevin Lopina ricocheted off the quarterback’s face mask and was recovered by linebacker Joe Pawelek.
Griffin’s scrambling TD pass came two plays later, when right tackle Dan Gay retreated to provide a crushing block that took out one of the pursing defenders just before Griffin threw.
Lopina, a Kansas State transfer making his first start, had an 8-yard keeper to tie the game at 14 midway through the second quarter. But Griffin immediately had a 57-yard run to set up Jeremy Sanders’ 13-yard TD on the next play that put the Bears ahead to stay.
Jay Finley, who ran for 119 yards on 10 carries, added a 46-yard TD run before halftime. Griffin and Kendall Wright (10 yards) ran for scores in the second half.
Lopina was 17-of-26 for 174 yards and two interceptions before being replaced by Kamiak High School graduate Gary Rogers, the previous starter, in the fourth quarter.
BAYLOR 45, WASHINGTON ST. 17
Washington St.7703—17
Baylor1414710—45
First Quarter
WSU—Staden 1 run (Grasu kick), 11:27.
Bay—Griffin 1 run (Parks kick), 7:53.
Bay—E.Smith 27 pass from Griffin (Parks kick), 6:50.
Second Quarter
WSU—Lopina 8 run (Grasu kick), 8:00.
Bay—Sanders 13 run (Parks kick), 7:32.
Bay—Finley 46 run (Parks kick), 5:12.
Third Quarter
Bay—Griffin 58 run (Parks kick), 8:47.
Fourth Quarter
Bay—Wright 10 run (Parks kick), 14:54.
WSU—FG Grasu 31, 10:42.
Bay—FG Parks 23, 6:21.
A—25,595.
RUSHING—Washington St., Tardy 11-44, Staden 7-24, Ivory 3-6, Rogers 3-5, Mitz 1-2, Gibson 1-(minus 1), Team 1-(minus 1), Lopina 12-(minus 2). Baylor, Griffin 11-217, Finley 10-119, Sims 8-35, Ja.Jones 7-24, Sanders 3-20, Wright 3-11.
PASSING—Washington St., Lopina 17-26-2-174, Rogers 6-12-0-89. Baylor, Griffin 7-15-0-129, Szymanski 0-1-0-0.
RECEIVING—Washington St., Gibson 8-128, Anderson 5-57, Blackledge 4-30, Norrell 2-17, Tardy 1-11, Willis 1-10, Woodard 1-8, Staden 1-2. Baylor, Gettis 3-75, Wright 2-8, E.Smith 1-27, White 1-19.
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