Houston, TX – In the chill of the night the Baylor Bears outlasted the Vanderbilt Commodores 45-38 in the Academy Sports and Outdoor Texas Bowl played at NRG Stadium.
An unlikely hero was former walk-on Marques Jones who caught the game winning touchdown pass for game MVP Charlie Brewer.
Brewer put his stamp on this game throwing for 384 yards, 2 touchdowns finding 8 different receivers. To keep Vanderbilt defense on their toes he also lead the team rushing for 124 yards and touchdown.
“It maybe means a little bit more to us doing it probably here in the state, where our family and friends could be here. I thought our crowd today was awesome and we very much appreciate them for that. I thought today was a hard fought game, came down to the end.” said Matt Rhule Baylor head coach.
Vanderbilt had one last chance to tie the game up down seven points needing to travel 82 yards in 1:50 on the clock. Five plays later Kyle Shurmur pass went incomplete on 4th – 5.
“They (Baylor) made plays when they need to,” said Derek Mason Vanderbilt coach, “It was a heck of bowl game.”
Shurmur did throw for 286 yards and a touchdown, with no interceptions in the game. They were lead by a great rushing performance by Ke’Shawn Vaughn who had two big play touchdowns for 68 yards, 69 yards and 243 yards total for the Commodores.
Baylor will build on this 7th victory of the year for next year.
“We were there to win,” said Rhule, “We weren’t going to come out and be safe. We were going to push the ball down the field and go for it on fourth down and have some fun and we thought the best way to win the game was just keep possession of the ball, especially when they started moving it pretty well.”
