Baylor, West Virginia rewrite record books during conference opener

Baylor suffered its first loss of the season today to Big 12 newcomer West Virginia during an intense offensive battle.

As West Virginia quarterback Geno Smith and the Mountaineers made their way to a one-possession game over the Baylor Bears, both teams made sure to write their names in the record books along the way.

Smith tied a conference record eight touchdown passes while going 45-51 for 656 yards during his team’s 70-63 win over the Bears. But Baylor went down gracefully tying an FBS mark for the most points scored by a losing team.

On the other side of the ball, Baylor quarterback Nick Florence threw for a career-high five touchdown passes and broke Baylor’s single-game passing record with 581 yards. Before it was broken, the record was held by recent Heisman winner Robert Griffin III with a single game yardage total of 479 yards.

On the receiving side of the game, West Virginia’s Stedman Bailey set a Big 12 record with 303 yards that was broken minutes later by Baylor’s receiver Terrance Williams when he caught for 314 receiving yards.

The game also marked the most points scored in a game involving a team ranked in the AP poll, previously set in 1980 when Oklahoma and Colorado combined for a total 124 points.

In the West Virginia record books, Smith set marks for completions, yards, and touchdown passes. In addition, receivers Bailey and Tavon Austin became the first FBS teammates with 200 yards receiving since 2007.

With other records being set along the way, this game was arguably one of the most exciting games of the weekend.

So what was learned from this record-breaking, no doubt exciting game tonight? Both teams need to go home and run some serious defensive drills. An offensive game is great and brings the crowd and audience to life, but when it comes to an offensive playoff, the only thing that really matters is who has the ball when the clock runs out. And that’s not really the point of football now, is it? -- Savannah Pullin