Baylor runs over UNC in Russell Athletic Bowl, 49-38

Baylor ran for 645 yards, smashing the record for rushing yards in a bowl game previously held by Nebraska, who ran for 524 yards in the 1996 Fiesta Bowl. UNC’s defense, was among the nation’s most improved, but it was no match for the offenses at Clemson and Baylor, both of which were significantly better than any other offense the Tar Heels faced.

The Bears took advantage, and on their first play after the changeover scored on an 80-yard scamper by Jefferson that put them in front 42-24.

UNC quarterback Marquise Williams passed for 243 yards with three touchdowns and an interception in the game.

“They just flat-out beat us”, Jeff Schoettmer, UNC’s senior linebacker, said of Baylor. Baylor’s whole identity is ‘physicality travels.’ That’s all we preach.

The North Carolina Tar Heels are 11-2 this season and they have won their last four games since losing to Texas.

“I think he started reading his pub and thinking he was all world – he forgot the work part of it”, Williams said. Baylor was sort of in the same boat as they were always considered somewhat of an outsider as “just another one of those high scoring Big 12 teams”.

They allowed more than 250 yards rushing in five games and 249 in another, a dramatic come-from-behind victory at Georgia Tech. The Bears used three quarterbacks and went for it twice on fourth down on their first possession. Baylor would respond with their own 13-play drive as Lynx Hawthorne would keep the ball on the zone-read for a 6-yard touchdown. “There’s going to be two or three playing well most nights because there’s six or seven of them that can get 18 points”.

Even while missing two huge contributors for a combined 10 games, North Carolina’s offense is still one of the best in the country through the nonconference slate.

Jefferson led the way with a whopping 299 yards on 23 carries. Coached by former UNC guard Wes Miller, the Spartans lost by 10 at Wake Forest on December 15 and gave North Carolina State some headaches before falling 58-52 last week in Raleigh.

Even without their Biletnikoff Award victor, their first-string running back, their first and second-string quarterbacks and an offensive tackle, Baylor broke records… again.

“That was my (recruiting) area, so I started spending a lot of time in Stephenville…getting to know Art and what they were doing and watching how they practiced and all things they did”, Fedora said. Senior QB Marquise Williams took his game to a new level in 2015 by increasing his QB rating, QBR and yards per attempt.

Nick Stevens orchestrated a quick-hitting drive in the final minute with no timeouts, but receiver Jordon Vaden was unable to get out of bounds at Nevada’s 12-yard line, and time ran out on the Rams. And still the Bears (10-3) kept running, and running _ and all without Shock Linwood, their best running back. With 9:35 in the half, Baylor led 21-10.

“I never expect to actually get one”, said the 6-foot-2 Paige, “but when the opportunity presents itself as a little guy, you can’t pass it up”. On the very next play of the game, Jefferson would run for 80 yards and a touchdown. During its victory against UNC in the ACC Championship Game earlier this month, Clemson gained 608 yards and ran for 319. He averaged 13 yards per carry and threw the longest pass of the game for the Bears, a 24-yarder to Ishmael Zamora.