Sep 6, 2008 9:42 pm US/Central
Griffin Leads Baylor To 51-6 Win
WACO (AP) ―
For an 18-year-old true freshman, Robert Griffin acts and plays well beyond his years.
Griffin passed for three touchdowns and rushed for another in his first career start to help coach Art Briles earn his first win at Baylor as the Bears snapped a nine-game losing streak by beating Northwestern State 51-6 Saturday night.
In a preview of things to come Saturday, Griffin was one of the first Baylor players out of the tunnel leading his teammates onto the field before the game.
He then sounded like a team leader after he passed for 294 yards in leading the Bears (1-1) to their first win since beating Buffalo 34-21 last Sept. 22.
"The guys around me made me better," Griffin said. "It's definitely more on the players around me than it is on me."
Griffin jump started a Baylor offense which sputtered in a 41-13 loss to No. 20 Wake Forest last week.
He had an 17-yard run to give the Bears a first down on their opening drive. Three plays later, Griffin threw his first college touchdown pass -- a 49-yard throw to Ernest Smith on third-and-16.
"I'm impressed," said sophomore running back Jay Finley, who rushed for 91 yards and scored three touchdowns. "As a freshman I wasn't as calm as (Griffin) was. That's what we need. Someone who can lead."
Baylor jumped out to a 23-0 first-quarter lead and scored on its first five possessions.
Griffin completed his last nine passes and finished 15-of-19 in just over 2 1/2 quarters to help Briles, who coached Houston the past five seasons, pick up his first victory with the Bears.
"It's good to get that first win for coach," Griffin said. "We wanted to get the first one for him quick to make it easy on him."
Northwestern State (1-1), an FCS team, didn't get a first down until early in the second quarter. By that time, Baylor was already up 30-0.
"We couldn't really recover from that first quarter," Demons coach Scott Stoker said. "(Baylor) has got some great players. Griffin is a great player. We just got off to such a bad start. It was hard to get into any type of rhythm on the offensive side."
Baylor, who had 537 yards of offense, brought Griffin off the bench last week.
Griffin got Baylor going with his touchdown pass to Smith, who caught the ball over defender Cashas Pollard near the goal line.
Baylor linebacker Antonio Johnson recovered Byron Lawrence's fumble to set up the Bears' second touchdown -- Finley's 40-yard TD run.
After Ben Parks kicked a 20-yard field goal to put Baylor ahead 16-0, Chris Francis intercepted John Hundley's pass to give the Bears the ball at the Demons 19.
Hundley, who was pulled for one possession after the interception, was 16-of-28 for 127 yards.
Griffin scored on a 3-yard run three plays later to give the Bears a 23-0 cushion. It was the most points for Baylor in a first quarter since scoring 24 against Rice on Nov. 14, 1992.
Finley scored on a 35-yard run early in the second quarter to cap the early flurry.
Northwestern State managed a pair of Robert Weeks field goals before halftime to cut Baylor's advantage to 30-6.
The Bears had 308 yards of total offense by halftime -- more than they had the entire game against Wake Forest.
"We came out and had chances to make big plays," Northwestern state receiver Adam Varnado said. "We just did not execute. I am not sure of a particular reason, but we just could not get things rolling."
Griffin added a 32-yard touchdown pass to Thomas White and a 47-yarder to Finley to cap his evening.
"They're excited about winning," Briles said. "We don't want to look back at this in December as the highlight of our season. But this is a big win and we're going to enjoy it."
Baylor improved to 14-0 against FCS teams, while the Demons dropped their seventh straight against Football Bowl Subdivision teams since beating Louisiana-Monroe in 2005.
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