Reese has career day, Baylor beats Kansas on Homecoming, 35-23
WACO, Texas – The Baylor Bears (4-3, 2-2) rushed for 277 yards and four touchdowns in their 35-23 Homecoming win over the Kansas Jayhawks (5-3, 2-3) on Saturday afternoon at McLane Stadium.
Freshman running back Richard Reese scored the game-sealing TD and led the ground game with a career-high 186 rushing yards and two touchdowns on 31 carries. While junior running back, Qualan Jones contributed 71 yards of his own on nine carries.
After being up 28-3 at halftime, the Bears saw the lead start to slip away in the second half. The momentum began to creep back in Kansas’ favor after a Blake Shapen fumble was returned to the BU nine-yard line midway through the third quarter.
The Jayhawks took advantage of the Baylor mishap and converted with a two-yard score from Devin Neal to cut the BU lead to 28-10 with 7:35 remaining in the third.
KU added another touchdown to start the fourth quarter and picked up a crucial fourth-down stop on their own six-yard line. The Jayhawks drove the length of the field and scored their third second-half touchdown to make it a 28-23 game with 6:29 remaining.
Baylor responded by leaning on their rushing attack to clinch the victory. On the final 69-yard drive, Reese contributed for 61 of those and finished off his career day with a two-yard game-sealing touchdown.
After allowing 43 points in last week's disappointing performance against West Virginia, the Baylor defense bounced back against a talented Jayhawks offense on Saturday. The Bears limited a KU offensive attack that averages over 39 points and 438 yards per game to 288 total yards on the afternoon.
On the field, the Homecoming festivities kicked off when Shapen connected with sophomore receiver Monaray Baldwin for a 17-yard touchdown in the first quarter.
Reese, Kyron Drones and Jordan Nabors all added rushing touchdowns to give the Bears a 28-3 lead heading into halftime. Two first-half interceptions from Shapen limited the offense from putting up more points, however.
Shapen finished with 164 yards through the air, a touchdown and two interceptions on 17-of-26 passing.
