AMES, Iowa – Bryce Petty threw for 336 yards and a touchdown and ran for a pair of TDs as seventh-ranked Baylor cruised past Iowa State 49-28 in its Big 12 opener Saturday night.
Shock Linwood had three TDs rushing for the Bears (4-0, 1-0 Big 12), who have started 4-0 in back-to-back seasons for the first time in 76 years.
Baylor's first game against a Power 5 school was a bit more difficult than its first three against weaker competition. But the Bears jumped ahead 35-7 late in the second quarter and led by at least 21 points for the entire second half.
Quarterback Sam Richardson threw for 212 yards and ran for 99 more for Iowa State (1-3, 0-2), which is 0-3 at home.
The Cyclones did make things briefly interesting in the third quarter, pulling within 42-21. But Petty found Corey Coleman for a 42-yard reception that set up Petty's 1-yard plunge.
The return of receivers Coleman (hamstring) and Antwan Goodley (quadriceps) made Baylor's offense more explosive than ever. The pair combined for 18 catches, 268 yards and a touchdown.
The high-flying Bears now have 10 touchdown drives where the yards outnumbered the seconds it took to reach the end zone.
But Baylor's offense actually looked a bit flustered at first.
That lasted for one series.
Then the Bears got rolling.
Baylor followed a rare 3-and-out with a 67-yard scoring drive that lasted just 2:04 and was capped by Linwood's 2-yard TD run. Petty then hurtled over Iowa State's Kamari Cotton-Moya on a 16-yard scoring run that made it 14-0 Bears with 7:51 left in the first quarter.
Richardson answered with an 11-yard TD pass to Dondre Daley.
Then he did the one thing the Cyclones couldn't afford to do: give Baylor the ball.
The right-handed Richardson inexplicably threw a left-handed interception under duress. Four plays later, Petty found Coleman for a 25-yard touchdown and a 21-7 lead.
Linwood's 24-yard TD run put the Bears up 28-7 with 8:45 left before halftime, and Johnny Jefferson's 12-yard TD run gave Baylor a 28-point halftime lead.
It also put the Bears on pace to match the 71-7 whipping it gave the Cyclones in Waco a year ago.
Richardson's 47-yard touchdown run to open the second half ensured that such a beating wouldn't happen again. But the Cyclones tried an onside kick that sailed out of bounds, and Linwood's third TD run with 11:06 left in the third quarter made it 42-14.
The Bears outgained Iowa State 601-339. They've had at least 500 yards in every game this season.
Tad Ecby had a 51-yard TD catch for the Cyclones. They nearly beat No. 25 Kansas State in the Big 12 opener on Sept. 13 but had few answers for Petty and the Bears.
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Follow Luke Meredith on Twitter: www.twitter.com/LukeMeredithAP
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