No. 7 Baylor cruises past Iowa State 49-28

AMES, Iowa — Baylor didn’t need receivers Antwan Goodley or Corey Coleman to blow out its first three opponents.

Now healthy, the pair should help the seventh-ranked Bears maintain their explosive attack in Big 12 play.

Bryce Petty threw for 336 yards and a touchdown and ran for two more scores to help Baylor cruise past Iowa State 49-28 in its league opener Saturday night.

Shock Linwood had three TDs rushing and Goodley and Coleman combined for 18 catches for the Bears (4-0, 1-0), who have started 4-0 in consecutive seasons for the first time in 76 years.

“I’m not disappointed. You know what I’m saying? It’s tough to win on the road,” Baylor coach Art Briles said. “We did that we had to do.”

Baylor’s first game against a Power 5 school was a bit more difficult than its first three against weaker competition.

But the final score was a bit misleading, as the Bears jumped ahead 35-7 late in the second quarter and led by at least 21 points for the entire second half.

Quarterback Sam Richardson threw for 212 yards and ran for 99 more for Iowa State (1-3, 0-2), which is 0-3 at home. But he couldn’t keep up with Petty, who was 30-of-44 passing.

Petty failed to throw multiple TD passes for the first time in 16 starts. But he didn’t need to in order to impress Iowa State coach Paul Rhoads.

“I think he’s the best football player in college football. I told him so after the game,” Rhoads said.

The Cyclones did make things briefly interesting in the third quarter, pulling to 42-21. But Petty found Coleman for a 42-yard reception that set up Petty’s 1-yard plunge.

Neither Coleman (hamstring) nor Goodley (quadriceps) had a catch in Baylor’s first three games as they worked back from injuries.

The pair racked up 268 yards and a touchdown — and Coleman had career highs with 12 receptions for 154 yards — against an Iowa State secondary that had performed relatively well.

“It’s like a little kid on Christmas. I’ve got my toys back.” Petty said. “There’s just something about them. We’re they’re in there, it’s an explosive play waiting to happen every time they touch the ball.”

The high-flying Bears have 10 touchdown drives where the yards outnumbered the seconds it took to reach the end zone.

But Baylor’s offense actually looked a bit flustered at first.

That lasted for one series.

Then the Bears got rolling.

Baylor followed a rare three-and-out with a 67-yard scoring drive that lasted just 2:04 and was capped by Linwood’s 2-yard TD run. Petty then hurtled over Iowa State’s Kamari Cotton-Moya on a 16-yard scoring run that made it 14-0 Bears with 7:51 left in the first quarter.

Richardson answered with an 11-yard TD pass to Dondre Daley.

Then he did the one thing the Cyclones couldn’t afford to do: give Baylor the ball.

The right-handed Richardson inexplicably threw a left-handed interception under duress. Four plays later, Petty found Coleman for a 25-yard touchdown and a 21-7 lead.

Linwood’s 24-yard TD run put the Bears up 28-7 with 8:45 left before halftime, and Johnny Jefferson’s 12-yard TD run gave Baylor a 28-point halftime lead.

It also put the Bears on pace to match the 71-7 whipping it gave the Cyclones in Waco a year ago.

Richardson opened the second half with a 47-yard touchdown run that ensured that such a beating wouldn’t happen again. But the Cyclones tried an onside kick that sailed out of bounds, and Linwood’s third TD run with 11:06 left in the third quarter made it 42-14.

The Bears outgained Iowa State 601-339 behind Petty’s 12th 300-yard game — one behind Robert Griffin III’s school record.

He’s smart. He gets the ball out of his hand extremely fast. They’ve got a scheme that is unique and it’s very complementary to him and he’s very complementary to it,” Rhoads said.

Tad Ecby had a 51-yard TD catch for the Cyclones. They nearly beat No. 25 Kansas State in the Big 12 opener on Sept. 13 but had few answers for Petty, Goodley, Coleman, Linwood and the rest of the Bears.

“We’re not patting each other on the back and saying we’re the best team around. We did a workmanlike job and we took care of business,” Briles said.