Football Powers Past Kansas, 47-14

by 24USATVSept. 27, 2020, 11 a.m. 61
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has seen flashes ofexplosiveness in practice and game film from the past.In Saturday's season opener at McLane Stadium, he got to see it up close and personal as the senior running back piled up 272 all-purpose yards and scored a combined four touchdowns to help Baylor (1-0, 1-0) open the Aranda era with an impressive 47-14 victory over Kansas.Putting together one of the best all-around individual performances in program history, Ebner scored on kickoff returns of 100 and 83 yards, added a one-yard TD run and also caught an 18-yard scoring pass from. It was the first time in the league's 25-year history that a Big 12 player has scored touchdowns on a run, a reception and a return in the same game."When you watch him in practice, he's explosive and a team player," Aranda said. "You think of somebody that provides energy and juice to our team, toughness to our team. Those are all things that showed up in those returns. Hitting those holes and those seams the way he did is really what set those up, and to have the finishing speed to close it off, those are things I've seen on tape. To see it out on the grass was pretty cool."Ebner said he remembers having a game like this back at Henderson (Texas) High School, when he scored five touchdowns . . . in the first half. But, this was easily his best game on the collegiate level."They try to give me the ball in multiple different ways," said Ebner, who rushed for 36 yards on nine carries, caught two passes for 53 yards and had 183 yards on the two kick returns. I'm just glad we could come out there and execute it."Aranda said the game illustrated how the Bears have to win, getting contributions from all three phases. The special teams, obviously, returned two kicks for touchdowns and was solid in every area; the offense rolled up 352 yards total, including 203 on the ground; and the defense stiffened after giving up a touchdown on the Jayhawks' opening drive."That's how I see us," Aranda said. "We emphasize special teams. Matt Powledge does a great job with it. I think he's a great young, up-and-coming coach. The guys love him and want to play hard for him, got a lot of respect for him. Offensively, we really had to work. Larry (Fedora) and his crew had to find seams, had to find grass in there to run, had to find angles."Defensively, starting the way we started and being able to get in a rhythm and I think there were a fair amount of three-and-outs. So, I'm really impressed by all sides of it."After Kansas (0-2, 0-1) opened the game with a 79-yard scoring drive and the first of Pooka Williams' two touchdowns, the Baylor defense stiffened the rest of the first half and didn't give up another score until the fourth quarter long after the Bears sent in their backups."Really, it was just communication from the sideline to the field and from the backers to the d-line and the backers to the safeties," said linebacker, who had a game-high eight tackles to go with 2.5 sacks and 3.5 tackles for loss. "I think everybody was a little rusty getting out there. They went with some different (personnel groupings) that we weren't ready for, and they went a little tempo on us. But after that, we kind of settled in and got to playing."Leading by just 10 at the break, Baylor quickly created separation when Ebner returned the opening kickoff of the third quarter 100 yards for a touchdown."On the first one, (the Kansas defender) played it too tight, and I made a cut.hustled his tail off and helped me with my lead block, and I was able to get around the edge and score," Ebner said. "I'm just thankful for all my blockers and the effort."Lovett, the game's leading rusher with 78 yards on 17 carries, got in the end zone five minutes when he finished off a nine-play, 61-yard run with a seven-yard TD run, his 17career touchdown."Every day . . . me and Trestan compete, along with the other running backs, too," Lovett said. "He makes a big play, I make a big play, (Craig "Sqwirl" Williams) makes a big play. It's like a domino effect. Every day, we come into work, we give it our all. That's what we expect every week."After punterpinned the Jayhawks back at the 1-yard line with a perfect pooch kick, Bernard came on a linebacker blitz and sacked Kansas freshman quarterback Jalon Daniels for the first safety in the seven-year history of McLane Stadium and the first for the Bears sinceversus TCU in 2017."They went max (protection), and I think the running back tried to cut me," said Bernard, who sidestepped running back Velton Gardner to get to the quarterback and give the Bears a 33-7 lead early in the fourth quarter.It took Ebner all of 15 seconds to pad that lead when he returned the Kansas free kick 83 yards down the right sideline, becoming Baylor's first player in program history to return two kicks for touchdowns."I would have thought Levi Norwood would have done it first," Ebner said of the former receiver and kick returner who was honored as a Baylor Legend during the game. "He's just a great player I watched here. I'm just thankful that I was able to put my name in the Baylor record books, and I'm thankful for the chance to play with these great guys."Pooka Williams, who had 76 yards on 14 carries, scored from 16 yards out to get Kansas back on the board. But, "Sqwirl" Williams capped the scoring with a 26-yard TD run on a drive engineered by sophomore quarterbackBrewer, making his 31career start, was 15-of-23 for 142 yards and one touchdown and added 23 yards rushing on eight carries as Baylor finished with 352 yards total offense.Baylor, off to a 1-0 start, will travel to Morgantown, W. Va., to face West Virginia (1-1, 0-1) at 11 a.m. next Saturday in a game that will be televised by ABC. The Mountaineers are coming off a 27-13 loss on the road at No. 15 Oklahoma State.

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