Bluebonnet : Baylor Defense Defuses Colorado in 21-9 Victory

Baylor’s defense was ranked No. 3 nationally this season. Wednesday, the Bears did nothing to tarnish their reputation.

Led by linebacker Ray Berry, the Baylor defense forced Colorado into four turnovers, and the Bears’ offense turned three of them into touchdowns in a 21-9 victory in the 28th Bluebonnet Bowl.

Baylor recovered three Colorado fumbles and intercepted a pass.

“The defensive performance was the best since I’ve been here,” Berry said. “We executed everything real well. We felt going into the game they were going to be tough, so we went in with a great effort.”

Berry earned the most valuable player award for Baylor with 12 total tackles, two for losses, a sack, a fumble recovery that set up a touchdown and the stopping of a two-point conversion attempt.

Derrick McAdoo turned two of Baylor’s defensive gems into one-yard touchdown runs, and quarterback Cody Carlson completed a two-yard touchdown pass to Darnell Chase.

“When I accept an award, I accept it as a team effort,” Berry said. “We had a few sacks and shut them down. Near the end of the first half, we felt we had an edge on them.”

Baylor ended a string of three straight losses in the Bluebonnet Bowl by Southwest Conference teams.

“We wanted to win for the SWC,” Baylor Coach Grant Teaff said. “It was important to win for the SWC against the Big Eight. We lost to Oklahoma State here (in 1983) and we wanted to eradicate that loss.

“Our defense set the tone.”

Baylor (9-3) took advantage of the Bear defensive effort to build a 14-3 halftime lead on McAdoo’s first touchdown and Carlson’s scoring pass to Chase.

Carlson completed his first eight passes to eight different Baylor receivers. When he went to Chase for the second time, it was a two-yard touchdown in the corner of the end zone.

Colorado’s only first-half score came on a 36-yard field goal by Dave DeLine, who missed a 41-yard attempt with nine seconds to go in the half.

Colorado (6-6) was held to 194 total yards, and had just 81 at halftime.

“Baylor’s defense played great,” Buff quarterback Mark Hatcher said. “We couldn’t stop their stunts. They were pursuing to the ball very well.

“Our defense kept us in the game, but we kept them on the field and they got tired. We had bad field position all day. Our goal in that situation is to get at least two first downs, but we didn’t do that.

“I think Baylor’s defense was the cause of our fumbles.”

Berry’s fumble recovery at the Colorado 20 on the second play of the third quarter set up McAdoo’s second scoring run and boosted the Bears to a 21-3 lead.

Colorado got its touchdown with 2:38 left in the third period on a 31-yard run by Hatcher, named Colorado’s most valuable player in the game.