The 2019 Baylor Bears football team represented Baylor University in the 2019 NCAA Division I FBS football season. The Bears played their home games at the McLane Stadium in Waco, Texas, and competed in the Big 12 Conference. They were led by Matt Rhule in his third and final season as the program's head coach.
Baylor, only two years removed from a 1–11 season in 2017, began the year unranked and projected to finish in sixth in the Big 12 Conference. The Bears won their first nine games of the season and climbed to 13th in the College Football Playoff rankings, but did not play a ranked team in that span. The team then hosted then-No. 10 Oklahoma, but Baylor squandered a 25-point lead and lost 34–31. Baylor finished out the regular season with an 11–1 record, 8–1 in Big 12 play to finish tied atop the conference standings, earning them a spot in the Big 12 Championship Game, the school's first appearance in the game, to play a rematch against Oklahoma. There, the Bears lost to the Sooners again, this time in overtime, 30–23. Baylor received an invitation to the Sugar Bowl to play SEC runner-up Georgia, where they lost 26–14, to end the season at 11–3 and ranked 13th in the final AP Poll.
Baylor's defense was led by defensive tackle James Lynch, who was a consensus All-American and the Big 12 Defensive Player of the Year. He led the conference with 13.5 sacks on the season. He was joined on the first-team all-conference by defensive tackle Bravvion Roy. Offensively, the Bears were led by 3,000-yard passer Charlie Brewer, and 1,000-yard receiver Denzel Mims. Head coach Matt Rhule was named Big 12 Coach of the Year, and, after the completion of the season, he departed to take the head coaching job with the Carolina Panthers.
The Baylor Bears football team drew an average home attendance of 45,517, up significantly from 41,336 in 2018 and more than capacity.
Preseason
Recruiting class References:
Award watch lists Listed in the order that they were released Maxwell Award Charlie Brewer QB JR Bednarik Award James Lynch DL JR Davey O'Brien Award Charlie Brewer QB JR Biletnikoff Award Denzel Mims WR SR Butkus Award Clay Johnston LB SR Bronko Nagurski Trophy Clay Johnston LB SR Outland Trophy James Lynch DL JR Paul Hornung Award John Lovett RB/S JR Manning Award Charlie Brewer QB JR References:
Big 12 media poll The 2019 Big 12 media days were held July 15–16, 2019 in Frisco, Texas. In the Big 12 preseason media poll, Baylor was predicted to finish in sixth in the standings.
Preseason All-Big 12 teams
Defensive
James Lynch – JR, Defensive Lineman Clay Johnston – SR, Linebacker
References:
Roster
Schedule Baylor announced its 2019 football schedule on October 18, 2018. The 2019 schedule consisted of 7 home and 5 away games in the regular season.
Schedule source:
Game summaries
Stephen F. Austin
Statistics Stephen F. AustinBaylor First downs 13 30 Total yards 277 518 Rushing yards 119 268 Passing yards 158 250 Turnovers 1 1 Time of possession 30:07 29:53
Baylor opened up the 2019 season by beating FCS Stephen F. Austin 56-17 in Waco. Trestan Ebner had three first half touchdowns for the Bears
UTSA
Statistics UTSABaylor First downs 14 25 Total yards 266 546 Rushing yards 164 368 Passing yards 102 178 Turnovers 1 0 Time of possession 31:31 28:29
At Rice
Statistics BaylorRice First downs 20 17 Total yards 427 242 Rushing yards 124 64 Passing yards 303 178 Turnovers 2 1 Time of possession 27:45 32:15
Iowa State
Statistics Iowa StateBaylor First downs 23 24 Total yards 405 411 Rushing yards 63 104 Passing yards 342 307 Turnovers 2 0 Time of possession 29:43 30:17
At Kansas State
Statistics BaylorKansas State First downs 18 21 Total yards 426 341 Rushing yards 158 123 Passing yards 268 218 Turnovers 0 2 Time of possession 23:15 36:45
Baylor's defense proved formidable and produced two turnovers, while their offense completed a balanced run game. Baylor remained undefeated with the 31-12 win over Kansas State.
Texas Tech
Statistics Texas TechBaylor First downs 26 27 Total yards 510 525 Rushing yards 148 173 Passing yards 362 352 Turnovers 3 3 Time of possession 31:00 29:00
For the team's homecoming game, Baylor replaced their traditional interlocking 'BU' on their green helmet with the 'Sailor Bear' logo originally created by Arthur Evans for the second straight year.
Texas Tech traveled to Waco to play Baylor, the two teams had played one another at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, TX nearly every year from 2009-2018. The 2010 game was played at the Cotton Bowl in Dallas, TX, the only game in this stretch that was not played at AT&T Stadium.
The first half of the game was a defensive battle between the two teams. Texas Tech scored only 6 points in the half with two field goals from Trey Wolff while Baylor only scored 3 with a 37-yard field goal from John Mayers. The Red Raiders had 182 yards of offense in the first half while the Bears had 117. Baylor scored the first touchdown of the game for either team on its first drive of the half with a 4-yard run from Charlie Brewer. After trailing for most of the half, the Red Raiders scored a touchdown with 1:37 left in regulation to take a 20–17 lead. The Bears marched down field with Mayers making a 19-yard field goal as time expired to tie the game. Baylor started overtime on offense with Texas Tech on defense. During the drive, center Jake Fruhmorgen appeared to have fumbled the ball on a snap with the ball being recovered by Jaylon Hutchings for the Red Raiders and the play was blown dead quickly. The fumble was overturned as Baylor was penalized for an illegal snap penalty. The call was heavily criticized and the following day Texas Tech athletic director Kirby Hocutt announced that the Big 12 had told him that the penalty was the wrong call and that Texas Tech should have gained possession. Hocutt was later fined by the conference for making the announcement in violation of league policy.
After winning in 2 overtime periods by a score of 33-30, Baylor moved up 4 spots in the AP poll from #22 to #18.
At Oklahoma State
Statistics BaylorOklahoma State First downs 18 27 Total yards 536 469 Rushing yards 224 281 Passing yards 312 188 Turnovers 1 3 Time of possession 28:12 31:48
West Virginia
Statistics West VirginiaBaylor First downs 12 26 Total yards 219 453 Rushing yards 14 176 Passing yards 205 277 Turnovers 2 3 Time of possession 23:34 36:26
At TCU
Statistics BaylorTCU First downs 22 18 Total yards 195 140 Rushing yards 99 168 Passing yards 195 140 Turnovers 2 3 Time of possession 29:36 30:24
Heading into Week 11 of the college football season, Baylor is on top of the Big 12 conference standings with an undefeated 8-0 record. Recent victories over West Virginia and Texas Tech were close and TCU is looking to win a few more games to become eligible for a bowl game. Both teams have been able to score and the game is listed as one of the most "compelling matchups" for the week by MSN Sports.
Oklahoma
Statistics OklahomaBaylor First downs 34 18 Total yards 525 307 Rushing yards 228 113 Passing yards 297 194 Turnovers 3 2 Time of possession 41:11 18:49
Texas
Statistics TexasBaylor First downs 21 20 Total yards 391 391 Rushing yards 191 163 Passing yards 200 228 Turnovers 1 1 Time of possession 29:52 30:08
At Kansas
Statistics BaylorKansas First downs 29 15 Total yards 507 258 Rushing yards 264 142 Passing yards 243 116 Turnovers 1 6 Time of possession 33:46 26:14
Vs. Oklahoma (Big 12 Championship game)
Statistics BaylorOklahoma First downs 8 21 Total yards 265 433 Rushing yards 35 146 Passing yards 230 287 Turnovers 0 2 Time of possession 23:24 36:36
Vs. Georgia (2020 Sugar Bowl)
Statistics GeorgiaBaylor First downs 19 21 Total yards 380 295 Rushing yards 130 61 Passing yards 250 234 Turnovers 0 3 Time of possession 32:23 27:37
Rankings
Postseason
All-Big 12 Conference Football Team
Offense
1st team Denzel Mims - SR, Wide Receiver
2nd team Koby Bullard – JR, Fullback Sam Tecklenburg – SR, Offensive Lineman
Defensive
1st team James Lynch – JR, Defensive Lineman Bravvion Roy – SR, Defensive Lineman
2nd team Terrel Bernard – SO, Linebacker Clay Johnston – SR, Linebacker Grayland Arnold – JR, Defensive Back Chris Miller – SR, Defensive Back
Honorable Mention Charlie Brewer – JR, Quarterback JaMycal Hasty – SR, Running Back Jameson Houston – SR, Defensive Back James Lockhart – SR, Defensive Lineman Blake Lynch – SR, Linebacker Xavier Newman-Johnson – JR, Offensive Lineman Tyquan Thornton – SO, Wide Receiver
References:
Postseason Conference Accolades Defensive Player of the Year James Lynch JR Defensive Lineman Defensive Lineman of the Year James Lynch JR Defensive Lineman Chuck Neinas Coach of the Year Matt Rhule 3rd Year Head coach
Players drafted into the NFL
2 59 Denzel Mims WR New York Jets 4 130 James Lynch DE Minnesota Vikings 6 184 Bravvion Roy DT Carolina Panthers 7 234 Clay Johnston DE Los Angeles Rams
References