18 BIG 12
STATE
OKLAHOMA STATE COWBOYS
OSU gets big victory against Bulldogs
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Oklahoma State's Shane Jarka, right, forces a fumble by Georgia quarterback Joe Cox during the fourth quarter in Stillwater, Okla., last Saturday. The resulting drive ended in a 12-yard touchdown pass in OSU's 24-10 win.
By Jeff Latzke Associated Press
STILLWATER, Okla. — Zac Robinson threw two touchdown passes to star receiver Dez Bryant and also scored on a quarterback sneak as No. 9 Oklahoma State proved itself deserving of its highest preseason ranking ever by beating 13th-ranked Georgia 24-10 on Saturday.
The Cowboys capitalized on a fourth quarter fumble by new Georgia starting quarterback Joe Cox to seal the season opening win on a 12-yard touchdown pass from Robinson to Bryant.
The two also hooked up on an impressive 46-yard score in the first half that got Oklahoma State's offense going after a sloppy start.
Robinson finished with 135 yards on 11 for 22 passing, and Bryant made the most of his three catches for 77 yards.
Cox was 15 for 30 for 162 yards with one interception, but the Georgia offense — a group looking for new stars after the early departures of Matthew Stafford and Knowshon Moreno — slowed to a halt after his 4-yard TD pass to Michael Moore on the game's opening drive.
The Bulldogs' first season opener outside the southeast in 51 years was set up as a
grand reopening of Oklahoma State's stadium after a $286 million renovation. It ended up as the most anticipated home opener in OSU history as the Cowboys returned most of their stars from last year's breakout 9-4 season.
A record crowd of 53,012 turned out as billionaire donor T. Boone Pickens rededicated the stadium. Career rushing-leader Thurman Thomas made a cameo, too.
Eventually, the Cowboys' current stars also showed up.
Bryant got Oklahoma State's scuffling offense going when he got behind the defense and made a diving catch of Robinson's 46-yard pass in the second quarter, tying the game at 7.
Safety Lucien Antoine then knocked the ball free from tailback Carlton Thomas on the second snap of Georgia's next drive, and Terrance Anderson scooped it up at the 6. Oklahoma State settled for Dan Bailey's 28-yard field goal and a 10-7 halftime lead after a holding call negated Robinson's scramble for a 1-yard TD on fourth-and-goal.
Perrish Cox returned the second-half kick off 75 yards to get the Cowboys going again.
BAYLOR BEARS
After another fourth-down gamble inside the 5 by Oklahoma State coach Mike Gundy, Robinson put OSU up 17-7 with his 1-yard sneak.
Bears surprise Wake Forest on the road
By Justin Baer
Baylor Lariat
WACO, Texas — Baylor escaped Winston-Salem, N.C., Saturday evening with a narrow 24-21 victory against Wake Forest University. Given a reprieve to overcome last season's nauseating 41-13 defeat in Waco, Baylor marched into BB&T Field and bolstered the preseason hype encompassing Art Briles and the Bears.
While the Bears first road victory since Sept, 22, 2007, is noteworthy in itself, many lingering questions were answered in the season-opening triumph over the Demon Deacons.
Don't Gettis another receiver yet
Senior wide receiver David Gettis has been harped on by the media and fans for his inability to secure the ball in pressing situations. The former Army High School All-American was said to be in jeopardy of
his starting job if "his talk didn't back up his play." Gettis responded to the message.
On the first series of his senior season, Gettis adjusted to an underthrown pass from Robert Griffin and snatched it out of the air for a 37-yard completion. Four plays later, Gettis caught his first touchdown since 2006, when Griffin laced an eight-yard pass to the back corner of the end zone. Even though the passing game was tempered in the second half, Gettis still had an influential presence.
The 6-foot-4 Los Angeles native provided an essential block on Kendall Wright's 37-yard touchdown run on Baylor's initial series of the second half.
The anticipated premiere of Penn State transfer and defensive tackle Phil Taylor surpassed expectations. The 355-pound mammoth clogged running lanes and smothered Wake Forest's rushing attack to
Phil-ing a need
3. 7 yards-per-carry.Taylor also captured an interception in the midst of the Demon Deacons' first series.
If that wasn't enough for the Big 12 preseason Newcomer of the Year's debut, the preponderant junior contributed offensively in the backfield of the "heavy set," just another one of Briles's ingenious offensive innovations.
Briless's creativity spurred once again in the third quarter when Griffin tossed a lateral to senior wide receiver Ernest Smith. With three Demon Deacons voraciously approaching, Smith lobbed a pass to a wide-open Lanear Sampson who trotted in the end zone to give Baylor a 24-7 lead.
Not another "Baylor" moment
Despite the Bears nearly faltering in the final 16 minutes of the game, Baylor distinguished itself Saturday as a team capable of generating a first-half lead and preserving it, something that hampered the
Bears in 2008, (see games against Missouri, Nebraska and Texas Tech).
Led by fourth-year starter and the ACC's all-time leader in completion percentage, Riley Skinner, Wake Forest stormed back into the game. The once 17-point lead evaporated after Skinner completed a five-yard pass in the back of the end zone to tight end Andrew Parker.
But the Bears stood undaunted in the waning minutes of the contest and secured a much-needed victory on their journey to a bowl berth.
While the season is still in the infancy stage, Baylor's victory against its toughest non-conference opponent is testimonial to the change of atmosphere Briles has cemented into the football program.
As a resident in the Big 12 South, many bumps remain on the road to fruition for this team. But with team victories such as Saturday's, it's finally evident these aren't your average Bears.
THE WAVE SEPTEMBER 11,2009
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN