I believe that Tech game in 90 referenced by clip above, was actually his first start. IIRC he started that game for the injured QB or came in early for the QB in that game and the season completely started turning around. Until that Tech game, which in those days was annually one of the first conference games of the season, the 90 season looked as if it was going to be a long one.

RIP

So sad to hear about this. He was one of my all time favorite BU QB's, especially from the Teaff era. Was a true "magician" with the ball on those triple option plays back in the day when veer offenses were still in vogue. Left us too soon.

Hearts broken today. Go rest easy JJ. God speed!

Jack Bauer said:

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Rest in peace, J.J. Joe. A Baylor icon, forever in our hearts. pic.twitter.com/m5iJv3Gk6E

— Baylor Football (@BUFootball) February 26, 2025

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I hope somebody at Baylor will use all available film and splice together a good, long highlight reel of JJ Joe moments. The youngsters need to see those ball fakes.

Prayers to his family. One of the all time great Bears on and off the field.

PartyBear said:

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I believe that Tech game in 90 referenced by clip above, was actually his first start. IIRC he started that game for the injured QB or came in early for the QB in that game and the season completely started turning around. Until that Tech game, which in those days was annually one of the first conference games of the season, the 90 season looked as if it was going to be a long one.

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IIRC, Brad Goebel got hurt early in the 90 Tech game and JJ replaced him

whitetrash said:

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PartyBear said:

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I believe that Tech game in 90 referenced by clip above, was actually his first start. IIRC he started that game for the injured QB or came in early for the QB in that game and the season completely started turning around. Until that Tech game, which in those days was annually one of the first conference games of the season, the 90 season looked as if it was going to be a long one.

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IIRC, Brad Goebel got hurt early in the 90 Tech game and JJ replaced him

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https://baylorbears.com/news/2006/11/7/The_Legend_Of_J_J_Joe

Quote:

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But J.J. had to wonder about the Almighty's intentions when he finished spring training after his redshirt season as the No. 4 quarterback. By the time fall rolled around, the redshirt freshman was all the way up to No. 3, behind starter Brad Goebel and backup Steve Needham.

But in a game versus Texas Tech, Goebel broke his hand, and the legend of J.J. Joe was born. In that game, he came in to hit four of seven passes of 77 yards, engineering drives of 80 and 54 yards to give the Bears a win. He started the next three games, Baylor victories over Houston, SMU and TCU, but then broke his hand in practice the week before the Arkansas game. For that abbreviated season, he completed 43-of-73 passes for 714 yards and five touchdowns with just two interceptions.

The next year started out as if it were going to be the year. With Joe at the helm, the Bears started out 5-0 and looked as if they were going to run the table. In fact, Dallas-area sports personality Randy Galloway was predicting on his afternoon talk show that "J.J. Joe and the Baylor Bears will beat Florida State for the national championship." But all that talk ended abruptly with an upset by an old nemesis.

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Jack Bauer said:

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whitetrash said:

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PartyBear said:

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I believe that Tech game in 90 referenced by clip above, was actually his first start. IIRC he started that game for the injured QB or came in early for the QB in that game and the season completely started turning around. Until that Tech game, which in those days was annually one of the first conference games of the season, the 90 season looked as if it was going to be a long one.

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IIRC, Brad Goebel got hurt early in the 90 Tech game and JJ replaced him

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https://baylorbears.com/news/2006/11/7/The_Legend_Of_J_J_Joe

Quote:

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But J.J. had to wonder about the Almighty's intentions when he finished spring training after his redshirt season as the No. 4 quarterback. By the time fall rolled around, the redshirt freshman was all the way up to No. 3, behind starter Brad Goebel and backup Steve Needham.

But in a game versus Texas Tech, Goebel broke his hand, and the legend of J.J. Joe was born. In that game, he came in to hit four of seven passes of 77 yards, engineering drives of 80 and 54 yards to give the Bears a win. He started the next three games, Baylor victories over Houston, SMU and TCU, but then broke his hand in practice the week before the Arkansas game. For that abbreviated season, he completed 43-of-73 passes for 714 yards and five touchdowns with just two interceptions.

The next year started out as if it were going to be the year. With Joe at the helm, the Bears started out 5-0 and looked as if they were going to run the table. In fact, Dallas-area sports personality Randy Galloway was predicting on his afternoon talk show that "J.J. Joe and the Baylor Bears will beat Florida State for the national championship." But all that talk ended abruptly with an upset by an old nemesis.

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Hmmm....in 90 we lost to UH the week following Tech (that was the height of John Jenkins run & shoot, where David Klingler broke all of Andre Ware's records from the year before). Then beat SMU, tied Aggy in CS (when Grant elected to not try a GW FG into a stiff wind), then beat TCU in FtWorth. I don't have any recollection of JJ getting hurt and not playing in the last 3 games of the season, and I was at all 3 games.

There's not any game-specific stats from the 1990 season online, but if anyone has a 1991 Roundup, it may contain a game-by-game summary that could confirm.

Jack Bauer said:

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Here are some JJ Joe highlights I pulled from a video by YouTube user DrRBW.

If you Google search "1991 Baylor football" you can actually find several complete games.

Hoping @BUFootball can dig into the official archives and put together a great highlight reel this week. https://t.co/vKxqd3r5ec pic.twitter.com/Wge7iWVeJM

— Scotty Swingler (@PleaseBearW_Me) February 26, 2025

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That film clip includes several of the plays I referenced in an earlier post against Mizzou and SMU in 1991 (especially the play fake against SMU where Frankie Smith(?) snuck out of the backfield and was 20 yards beyond the nearest defender when JJ hit him over the middle).

There was also a TD he scored in the 1991 win in Austin (2nd time in a row after 38 years of not winning there) in the weird game that was still 0-0 at the end of the 3rd quarter before we pulled away to a 21-3 lead before UT scored a meaningless TD with less than 30 seconds left. JJ ran the veer option right from about the UT 5, faked the pitch wide, and with no UT defenders anywhere near in front of him, he literally walked in from the 5 yard line holding the ball out front. That would probably draw a taunting call today.

whitetrash said:

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Jack Bauer said:

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whitetrash said:

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PartyBear said:

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I believe that Tech game in 90 referenced by clip above, was actually his first start. IIRC he started that game for the injured QB or came in early for the QB in that game and the season completely started turning around. Until that Tech game, which in those days was annually one of the first conference games of the season, the 90 season looked as if it was going to be a long one.

---

IIRC, Brad Goebel got hurt early in the 90 Tech game and JJ replaced him

---

https://baylorbears.com/news/2006/11/7/The_Legend_Of_J_J_Joe

Quote:

---

But J.J. had to wonder about the Almighty's intentions when he finished spring training after his redshirt season as the No. 4 quarterback. By the time fall rolled around, the redshirt freshman was all the way up to No. 3, behind starter Brad Goebel and backup Steve Needham.

But in a game versus Texas Tech, Goebel broke his hand, and the legend of J.J. Joe was born. In that game, he came in to hit four of seven passes of 77 yards, engineering drives of 80 and 54 yards to give the Bears a win. He started the next three games, Baylor victories over Houston, SMU and TCU, but then broke his hand in practice the week before the Arkansas game. For that abbreviated season, he completed 43-of-73 passes for 714 yards and five touchdowns with just two interceptions.

The next year started out as if it were going to be the year. With Joe at the helm, the Bears started out 5-0 and looked as if they were going to run the table. In fact, Dallas-area sports personality Randy Galloway was predicting on his afternoon talk show that "J.J. Joe and the Baylor Bears will beat Florida State for the national championship." But all that talk ended abruptly with an upset by an old nemesis.

---

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Hmmm....in 90 we lost to UH the week following Tech (that was the height of John Jenkins run & shoot, where David Klingler broke all of Andre Ware's records from the year before). Then beat SMU, tied Aggy in CS (when Grant elected to not try a GW FG into a stiff wind), then beat TCU in FtWorth. I don't have any recollection of JJ getting hurt and not playing in the last 3 games of the season, and I was at all 3 games.

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Last 3 games in 1990 were
Arkansas W 34-3
@ Rice W 17-16
@ Texas L 13-23

Sad Sad Sad.

Loved it when we beat A&M on a 2- point play after a TD. Joe and Morris were screaming for about half a minute before they announced that the pass was good.

Sad news. I never got to see him play as he finished several years before I got to Baylor. I think he was already doing radio for Baylor by the time I arrived on campus so that was how I knew him first and then several Baylor staff, longtime baylor fans that were students with me or locals let me know about him.

Way too young. And he seemed like in good health. Take care of your heart people.

Never could imagine JJ would preceed Grant in death. A Baylor legend, the JJ homecoming special. Thank you for what you did for BU

This hits in the feels hard, RIP

RD2WINAGNBEAR86 said:

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Am still not convinced JJ is gone. If I look at the source of this news, then in may very well be just another hoax.

Little or no credibility with the original poster.

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This was unnecessary..be better..

Stefano DiMera said:

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RD2WINAGNBEAR86 said:

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Am still not convinced JJ is gone. If I look at the source of this news, then in may very well be just another hoax.

Little or no credibility with the original poster.

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This was unnecessary..be better..

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Actually, I owe Milli an apology. I was wrong. There is an old saying, "Don't kill the messenger."

Yes, I need to be better. No doubt about that.

Here are some JJ Joe highlights I pulled from a video by YouTube user DrRBW.

If you Google search "1991 Baylor football" you can actually find several complete games.

Hoping @BUFootball can dig into the official archives and put together a great highlight reel this week. https://t.co/vKxqd3r5ec pic.twitter.com/Wge7iWVeJM

— Scotty Swingler (@PleaseBearW_Me) February 26, 2025

nm

Rest in peace, J.J.

How I like to remember J.J. and Coach Teaff.

My cousin was on that team! (Freshman - Donnie Laurence Jr.)

Yogi said:

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How I like to remember J.J. and Coach Teaff.

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That was a blast. I was there.