WACO, Texas — The normally talkative Bryce Petty turned into a man of few words after No. 12 Baylor bounced back from its only loss with a 60-14 victory against Kansas on Saturday.
“Just ready for OU,” Petty said to five of the six questions after throwing three touchdown passes, including two to Corey Coleman, as Baylor scored on 11 straight possessions despite looking sluggish at times.
His other answer?
“Yep.”
The question was whether he was ready for next weekend’s game at No. 19 Oklahoma, which routed Iowa State 59-14.
Baylor coach Art Briles isn’t sure if his quarterback was trying to send a message to fans, reporters or teammates, or if he was miffed by some early game issues when the Bears couldn’t get touchdowns even with the Jayhawks giving them good field position because of fumbles.
But Briles was pleased by reports of his suddenly monosyllabic leader.
“I should do the same,” Briles said, drawing laughter at his postgame news conference. “I’m proud that his focus and his energy and his vision in directed right there, right now. Because he understands that’s going to be a great college game and a great college football atmosphere with two great college teams playing. So that’s exactly where he needs to be.”
The Bears (7-1, 3-1 Big 12) had to settle for field goals after two of three first-half fumbles — all of them deep in Kansas territory — but still rolled up 669 yards in their 14th straight home victory in the 91st homecoming game. That streak ties Auburn for the longest in the nation.
Coleman had a career-high 167 yards receiving and TDs of 72 and 49 yards, the latter putting the Bears up 46-7 early in the third quarter.
Kansas (2-6, 0-5) had 0 yards rushing at halftime in its 31st straight loss away from home and 28th in a row in a true road game since winning at UTEP in 2009.
“What gets you down is we knew we were playing a very good football team and we had to come out and match that,” interim Kansas coach Clint Bowen said. “We didn’t come out and do the things that you do.”
The Bears had to wait two weeks for their bounce-back win after their undefeated season ended at West Virginia.
During the lull, Baylor also found out it will have an uphill climb in the playoff rankings after debuting at No. 13 in the race for the first four-team postseason tournament.
Petty, who threw for 277 yards before getting replaced late in the third quarter, said he didn’t like sitting on that loss for two weeks, but his offense didn’t show much urgency early in what turned into Baylor’s fourth game with at least 60 points this season.
After a three-and-out to start the game, the Bears got the ball inside the Kansas 25 after fumbles on consecutive possession in the second quarter but didn’t get a first down either time.
After the second fumble, by Kansas quarterback Michael Cummings when he was sacked by K.J. Smith, Baylor had to call a timeout before the first snap. It didn’t help.
The beneficiary was Chris Callahan, who kicked four field goals to match his season high from a wild 61-58 win over TCU.
“Honestly, my mindset, was, hey, three points is OK,” Briles said. “Because we felt like we played good defense, felt like if it was a low-scoring game if you get around 21, 24 points you’d have a chance to win the football game.”
Petty secured his 20th straight game with at least one touchdown pass on the game’s first score, throwing short to Coleman, who ran free down the sideline on the 72-yarder after Cassius Sendish slipped when closing in for the tackle.
Devin Chafin had a career-high 112 yards rushing and two touchdowns, and Big 12 rushing leader Shock Linwood finished with 81 yards and a leaping score from the 1.
The Jayhawks had two players — cornerback Derrick Neal and defensive lineman Keon Stowers — taken to a hospital after getting injured in the first half.
Stowers had his head immobilized on a stretcher after a play in the second quarter. He flashed a thumbs-up sign as the cart took him off the field, and a Kansas athletic spokesman said he was able to move his extremities.
Kansas fell to 0-4 under Bowen, who announced before the game that receivers coach Eric Kiesau was taking the play-calling role from offensive coordinator John Reagan.
Charlie Weis, who was fired as coach Sept. 28 after a loss to Texas, hired Reagan in the offseason after handling those duties himself his first two seasons.
Cummings threw for 288 yards and two touchdowns, both to Nick Harwell, who had 79 yards receiving.
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