Fan Reflections on 2013, 2014 Baylor Football: ‘We Knew We Were Going To Win'

On Saturday, Nov. 2, when Baylor plays TCU at McLane Stadium, the 2013 and 2014 Big 12 Championship teams will be formally honored for the first time during the rivalry matchup between the Bears and Horned Frogs.

Those Baylor teams hold a special place in the hearts of many alumni, fans and media alike. Was it the swagger and confidence that the Bears played with? Was it the cutting-edge, flashy uniforms that Baylor donned each game? Or was it the weekly offensive barrage and sheer domination on the field that people came to expect?

Those who closely supported the team said it was a little mix of everything. SicEm365 spoke with over 15 people via phone call, email and forum post and asked them to name some of their fondest memories of the 2013 and 2014 Bears, who compiled a 22-4 record and broke countless NCAA offensive records during that span under head coach Art Briles.

“What sticks out was the aesthetic of those teams,” one fan said. “Our offense played fast and innovative football, and the uniforms fit that identity. Every week, we got national attention for our play and our look.”

“We knew we were going to win,” another fan said. “We knew how we were going to win, and there was little the other team could do to stop it.”

After finishing 2012 on a four-game winning streak and defeating No. 17 UCLA in the Holiday Bowl, the Bears carried their momentum into the 2013 season. They destroyed their non-conference opponents — Wofford, Buffalo and Louisiana Monroe — by a combined score of 209 to 23 and outgained them in total yardage, 1,925 to 808.

In his first season as the starting signal-caller, junior quarterback Bryce Petty threw for 1,001 yards and eight touchdowns through three games. Junior running back Lache Seastrunk led the ground attack, rushing for 417 yards and six scores on just 38 carries.

“We might legitimately be better than everyone on our schedule,” one lifelong Baylor fan remembered thinking to himself after the 3-0 start to the season. “Having suffered through the ‘Dark Ages,’ that was such a foreign concept to me. Those guys expected to annihilate everyone and were legitimately dominant.”

“The 2013-2014 teams were in a different stratosphere of dominance,” another fan said. “Winning the conference was something my parents told stories about, but it seemed as likely to return as $1 gas.”

National pundits didn’t start to give the Bears their respect until conference play rolled around. Baylor continued to manhandle teams, dismantling Big 12 foes — West Virginia, Kansas State, Iowa State and Kansas — and out-scoring them, 238 to 88, while putting up over 2,700 yards of offense in that four-game stretch.

“No joke; we could have had 100-plus points easily if we wanted to that night,” one fan said of the 73-42 beat-down of the Mountaineers. “The offense was full speed ahead that game. Everything clicked.”

To perfectly encapsulate Baylor’s season up to that point, with just under a minute left in the matchup versus Iowa State, the Cyclones scored a garbage-time touchdown to break up the potential shut-out.

Instead of quietly closing the contest, four-star freshman wide receiver Corey Coleman fielded a kickoff and admittedly had other plans.

Coleman cut up the left seam, split two defenders with blazing speed, and returned it 97 yards to the house, putting an exclamation mark on No. 12 Baylor’s 71-7 win, the largest margin of victory in a conference game in program history up to that point.

“We’re just so fast,” one fan thought to himself. “There’s a couple of plays from that era that bring to mind just how athletic we were. It popped off the screen — that was our identity. There’s been a million super-tough football teams. We were something different; people would say that we were the fastest, badest team out there.”

“It was laughable how much better we were,” another fan said. “It was so exciting to watch.”

Now ranked No. 5 in the country, Baylor’s first marquee contest of the season came at home against No. 12 Oklahoma on Thursday, Nov. 7. It was the only matchup at Floyd Casey Stadium between two opponents ranked inside the AP top 15 in the modern era.

Leading up to the game, it was announced that the decade-old tarp that infamously stretched along the south end zone would be removed and that the contest against the Sooners would be a “black-out.” There were rumors that every black shirt in Central Texas was sold out.

“The tarp was a representation of Baylor’s bad times,” one fan said. “It was so bad that they’d rather have a tarp than no fans or the opposing team’s fans. The tarp’s removal was an unmasking.”

For a third-generation Bear, going to games at a half-empty Floyd Casey or ‘The Case’ was all she ever knew. Some say that the week leading up to the top-10 matchup against the Sooners was the most “connected” the fan base has ever been.

“I never even considered an exception to that rule until the blackout game,” she said. “I vividly remember walking through the tunnels into the stadium and the energy buzz was tangible. All those Baylor fans took my breath away; I couldn’t believe it. I had never seen ‘The Case’ that full, loud, energetic and hopeful. I honestly held back tears.”

Baylor-Oklahoma tickets were so hard to come by that one former student, who worked for the football team at the time, helped usher in somewhere between 20-30 friends. 

His work responsibilities didn’t technically start until the second quarter, giving him plenty of time before kickoff to get as many people into the stadium as possible.

“I borrowed some of my coworker’s staff badges that gave us full access to the stadium,” he said. “I’d walk two unticketed people in through one gate. They’d go stand in the student section, and I’d take the borrowed passes back. Then, I’d exit out the next gate and walk two more people in at the next gate. I made probably two-and-half or three laps around the stadium before I made my back in for work.” 

With a raucous crowd ablaze, the Bears delivered another commanding win, beating the No. 12 Sooners 41-12. Petty threw for 204 yards and totaled five touchdowns, while redshirt freshman running back Shock Linwood went for 182 yards on the ground.

“The atmosphere for the black-out on a Thursday night was electric with the anticipation, the build-up and the importance of that game not just within the Big 12 but nationally,” one person who covered the team said. “The press box was overloaded, and every seat inside Floyd Casey was packed. After Baylor erupted for 28 consecutive points, you could literally feel an explosion of euphoria as fans had a party that went deep into the night.”

The victory over Oklahoma marked the first 8-0 start in program history. If they hadn’t already, the world officially learned that Baylor football had arrived.

The Bears won two of their next three games, with the lone loss coming in Stillwater to No. 11 Oklahoma State. Heading into the final matchup of the season, the stage was set for a rivalry game against the No. 23 Longhorns with a conference championship on the line.

Entering Dec. 7, three teams were in the running for the Big 12 crown: No. 9 Baylor (10-1, 7-1), No. 23 Texas (8-3, 7-1) and No. 6 Oklahoma State (10-1, 7-1). While the Bears and Longhorns were awaiting a 2:30 p.m. kickoff, Bedlam was wrapping up in Stillwater between the Cowboys and No. 17 Sooners.

“I remember sitting outside the stadium with the rest of the Baylor line with terrible phone reception,” one fan, who was a freshman at the time, said. “People in the crowd were shouting score updates from Oklahoma-Oklahoma State to see if we’d be playing for a full conference championship.”

The Sooners' eventual 33-24 victory over their in-state rival paved the way for a de facto Big 12 Championship game between Baylor and Texas.

“Going into the game, all of us felt like we knew what the result was going to be,” one former player said. “We didn’t feel like there’s a chance we’d lose that game.”

To further add to the pomp and circumstance leading into the matchup, it was the final game in Floyd Casey Stadium's 64-year history, and the temperatures were in the mid-20s, with wind chills making it feel much colder.

“We had all the gear for the cold weather, and it was really, really cold,” one fan said. “But I honestly don’t even remember being cold inside the stadium. We were so focused on the game, like the Green Bay fans in the ‘Ice Bowl.’ The game took all of our attention.”

Prior to kickoff, the fans in the stands and the players on the sideline were rocking to Drake’s ‘Started From The Bottom’ as it played over the loudspeakers before the Bears were about to take the field.

“That song had so much meaning for those of us who had been there through all those terrible years,” one fan said. “We had so much attitude and confidence as a program and a team at that point. Texas was in town, but they were the prey.”

In front of a record crowd of 51,728 and rocking throwback uniforms with all-gold lids, Baylor earned its first Big 12 title in school history, routing the Longhorns 30-10. Senior cornerback KJ Morton sealed the win with an interception late in the fourth quarter.

“Floyd Casey was so old by this point that the floor of the student section was peeling back, and concrete chunks could come out by hand,” one fan said. “I pulled two chunks. I kept one and had a lot of people from my floor in Allen [Hall] sign it, and the other one I ended up giving to one of the players out on the field.”

As the final seconds ticked off the clock, fans rushed the field to celebrate the conference championship and the final game in ‘The Case’ until the lights eventually went out.

“It was such an awesome experience because it felt like the future was here,” one fan said. “We felt like we had arrived, and it was only going to get better because of the new stadium.” 

“It was an exciting moment to see our community together and experience something connected with football,” another fan said. “It was a special moment in the Baylor community to feel joy and accomplishment with so many people when at no point was it taken for granted.”

The 2013 Bears broke a program record in wins (11), finished No. 1 nationally in total offense with 618.8 yards per game and set an NCAA record with 681 total points in a 13-game season. At one point, they reached as high as No. 3 in the AP — the highest ranking in school history.

The following year, Baylor opened its new $260-million McLane Stadium on the banks of the Brazos River. Considering where the program was less than a decade prior (14 consecutive losing seasons from 1996-to-2009), it was unthinkable to most fans that a top-10 football team and a brand-new stadium would eventually become a reality.

“That opening day was the culmination of decades of fandom, watching the team get close but never getting over the hump and telling anyone who would listen that we were a sleeping giant based on location and access to talent — all that we needed was a commitment from our administration,” one fan said.

Before kickoff, the Baylor Line ran for the first time in McLane Stadium, and a tribute video showed on the video board with the song ‘I’m Coming Home’ blasting through the speakers. After the pre-game pageantries, the No. 10 Bears cruised past the SMU Mustangs, 45-0, in front of a sold-out crowd of over 45,000.

“Grown men were crying; I stood there hugging my best friend as we cried like babies,” one fan said. “That day laid the foundation of something I am now sharing with my sons. Being there on opening day still makes me tear up thinking about it.”

Baylor then reeled off four-straight wins, including a 28-7 victory in Austin over Texas, marking the third win in four years over the Longhorns.

Heading into the sixth week of the season, the Bears had reached as high as No. 5 in the polls and were slated to welcome No. 9 TCU to Waco for the second top-10 game in the city’s history.

In the battle of the undefeated rivals, the Horned Frogs had the upper hand, taking a 58-37 lead with 11:38 remaining in the fourth quarter after Petty threw a pick-six to TCU senior linebacker Marcus Mallet.

“When we went down, the feeling was that this isn’t good, but it’s not over,” one fan said. “There was no quit in the stands, around us at least, just like there was no quit on the field. We knew we could score. The question was whether we could stop them.”

From that point on, the comeback mounted. Baylor’s defense got three consecutive stops, and the offense scored 24 straight points in the final 11 minutes. Redshirt freshman kicker Chris Callahan capped off one of the greatest college football games of the 2010s with a walk-off 28-yard field goal to give the Bears a 61-58 victory.

One Baylor fan, a missionary in Guatemala at the time, remembers watching the game via Slingbox in his second-floor apartment with a perfect view of an active volcano. There was enough seismic activity in the area that he and his wife grew accustomed to running down the stairs with their neighbors when the building would sway with a tremor.

“As the comeback began to build, so did our excitement, and we tried to remind ourselves to be good neighbors and avoid raising our voices,” he said. “When the final kick sailed through the uprights, we began jumping for joy, hugging, laughing and shouting — there may have been a tear or two as well.”

Suddenly, there was frantic banging on the door, and the neighbors yelled, “Terremoto! Terremoto!” The neighbors confused the celebration with a ‘terremoto,’ which means ‘earthquake’ in Spanish.

“We were happy to explain that everyone was safe except for the Frogs,” he said jokingly, reflecting on the incredible win.

The Bears were upset by West Virginia in Morgantown the following Saturday but rebounded with a four-game winning streak. Going into the final week of the regular season, a matchup against No. 9 Kansas State awaited with another potential conference championship on the line and College Football Playoff implications.

There was still no Big 12 title game at the time, and No. 3 TCU (11-1, 8-1) had crushed a lowly Iowa State team earlier in the day, paving the way for a shared conference crown with either the No. 5 Bears (10-1, 7-1) or Wildcats (9-2, 7-1). The idea of a shared title was controversial to Baylor fans, considering the 61-58 victory over the Horned Frogs should have been the first-place tie-breaker.

ESPN’s College Gameday was in attendance for the top-10 matchup, and to end the show, Lee Corso picked Kansas State to win and wore a ‘Willie the Wildcat’ mascot head, much to the chagrin of the Baylor fans in attendance.

The Bears jumped out to a quick two-touchdown lead and never looked back, defeating Kansas State 38-27 and picking up consecutive conference crowns. Petty threw for over 400 yards, and senior wide receiver Antwan Goodley led the Bears with nine receptions for 116 yards and a touchdown.

With hope springs eternal and a potential changing of the guard in the inaugural year of the College Football Playoff, Baylor was regrettably the first team left out of the four-team tournament, which is still a sore subject among the fanbase to this day.

When asked whether the Bears should have made the CFP, most responded, “No question.”

“If the name on the jersey were different, the result would have been different,” one fan said. “I was crushed. I was sort of a believer that the committee would do what’s right. It’s hard when you’re so biased, but I didn’t see any reason [Ohio State] was selected other than the fact that they were a blue-blood and we weren’t.”

Instead, Baylor played in the Cotton Bowl and lost to No. 7 Michigan State, 42-41, in heart-breaking fashion. The 2014 team again led the nation in total offense, averaging 581.5 yards per game and 48.2 points per game. Baylor tied a school record with 11 wins and finished with a program-high ranking of No. 7 in the AP Poll.

The 2013 and 2014 seasons showed that the small private school from Waco, Texas, could become a national powerhouse in college football, and that will forever be a special time in the hearts and minds of Baylor fans.

“Those teams did such a magnificent job of bringing the community together; that’s the great thing about sports,” one fan said. “There’s nothing like the first time that your team is great. The newness of it all gives you a zeal that’s pretty hard to replicate.”