The Baylor Bears and the SMU Mustangs will kick off their respective seasons on Friday night when they meet-up at Gerald J. Ford Stadium in Dallas, Texas. Baylor comes into the season as the number four ranked team in the nation while SMU is still in rebuilding mode.
Baylor and SMU faced off last year in the season opener, and Baylor put a beat down on the Mustangs winning by a score of 45-0. Baylor has won the last 11 meetings between the two schools and the same is expected from this meeting.
Baylor comes into the 2015 season with very high expectations after a season when they shared the Big 12 title with TCU. Baylor lost starting quarterback Bryce Petty to the NFL, but they don't expect much of a fall off from new quarterback Seth Russell. The Bears also return nine starters on defense and a bunch of key skill position players from last season, so Russell will have a lot of help.
Russell played in one game last season when he filled in for Petty against Northwestern State and threw for 438 yards and five touchdowns in just one half in a game Baylor would go on to win by a score of 70-6. Russell has had a strong offseason which has inspired confidence amongst his teammates.
Baylor defensive end Shawn Oakman and starting safety Orion Stewart will not play in this game as they were both suspended for violating an unspecified team rule.
SMU is coming off a season in which they went 1-11. They had lost their first eleven games before beating UConn in the final game of the season by a score of 27-20. Former head coach June Jones resigned after only two games of that season and now Chad Morris, the former Clemson offensive coordinator, is the head coach.
Morris plans to implement a spread offense that utilizes the no-huddle more often than not. It is just a matter of whether they have the players to be able put up points. Last season, they averaged just over 11 points per game which was worst in the nation, and the team as a whole threw just six touchdown passes, which was second worst in the nation.
Matt Davis will likely be the starting quarterback for SMU in the opener. Davis is a former Texas A&M recruit and is entering his junior season. The transfer quarterback got limited playing time last year and wasn't great in that time as he completed just 54 percent of his passes and had only three touchdown passes compared to five interceptions.
The game kicks off at 7 p.m. Eastern time and you can watch the live broadcast here. For the Baylor radio broadcast go here and for the SMU radio broadcast go here.
