1979 Baylor Bears football team

The 1979 Baylor Bears football team represented the Baylor University in the 1979 NCAA Division I-A football season. The Bears finished the regular season fourth in the Southwest Conference. A win over Clemson in the Peach Bowl capped the season.

1979 Baylor Bears football
Peach Bowl champion
Peach Bowl, W 24–18 vs. Clemson
Conference	Southwest Conference
Ranking
Coaches	No. 15
AP	No. 14
1979 record	8–4 (5–3 SWC)
Head coach	Grant Teaff (8th season)
Offensive coordinator	John O'Hara (1st season)
Home stadium	Floyd Casey Stadium

1979 Southwest Conference football standings
	Conf							Overall
Team	W		L		T			W		L		T
No. 5 Houston +	7	–	1	–	0			11	–	1	–	0
No. 8 Arkansas +	7	–	1	–	0			10	–	2	–	0
No. 12 Texas	6	–	2	–	0			9	–	3	–	0
No. 14 Baylor	5	–	3	–	0			8	–	4	–	0
Texas A&M	4	–	4	–	0			6	–	5	–	0
SMU	3	–	5	–	0			5	–	6	–	0
Texas Tech	2	–	5	–	1			3	–	6	–	2
TCU	1	–	6	–	1			2	–	8	–	1
Rice	0	–	8	–	0			1	–	10	–	0
+ – Conference co-champions Rankings from AP Poll

Schedule

Date	Opponent	Rank	Site	Result	Attendance
September 8	Lamar*		Baylor Stadium Waco, Texas	W 20–7	25,000
September 15	Texas A&M		Baylor Stadium Waco, Texas	W 17–7	48,500
September 22	at No. 2 Alabama*		Legion Field Birmingham, Alabama	L 0–45	77,512
September 29	Texas Tech		Baylor Stadium Waco, Texas	W 27–17	35,800
October 6	at No. 6 Houston		Astrodome Houston, Texas	L 10–13	37,142
October 13	at SMU		Texas Stadium Irving, Texas	W 24–21	65,101
October 20	at Army*		Michie Stadium West Point, New York	W 55–0	32,591
October 27	TCU		Baylor Stadium Waco, Texas	W 16–3	36,250
November 10	at No. 9 Arkansas	No. 17	Razorback Stadium Fayetteville, Arkansas	L 20–29	43,284
November 17	Rice	No. 20	Baylor Stadium Waco, Texas	W 45–14	28,500
November 24	at No. 6 Texas	No. 17	Texas Memorial Stadium Austin, Texas	L 0–13	63,288
December 31	vs. No. 18 Clemson*	No. 19	Atlanta–Fulton County Stadium Atlanta, Georgia (Peach Bowl)	W 24–18	57,321
*Non-conference game Homecoming Rankings from AP Poll released prior to the game

Game summaries

Peach Bowl

#19 Baylor vs. #17 Clemson

1 2 3 4 Total • Baylor 0 14 10 0 24 Clemson 7 0 3 8 18 Date: December 31 Location: Atlanta–Fulton County Stadium, Atlanta Game attendance: 57,371

Scoring summary 1 CLEM Brown 1-yard run (Ariri kick) CLEM 7-0 2 BAY Taylor 3-yard pass from Brannon (Bledsoe kick) Tied 7-7 2 BAY Holt 24-yard pass from Brannon (Bledsoe kick) BAY 14-7 3 CLEM Ariri 40-yard field goal BAY 14-10 3 BAY Bledsoe 29-yard field goal BAY 17-10 3 BAY Cockrell 7-yard pass from Brannon (Bledsoe kick) BAY 24-10 4 CLEM McSwain 1-yard run (Lott to McCall pass) BAY 24-18

Freshman DB Kyle Woods, who injured his neck in preseason practice, spoke to the team before the game and was on the sidelines in wheelchair as team wore No. 23 towels as tribute.[1]

Roster

1979 Baylor Bears football team roster
Players			Coaches
Offense Pos. # Name Class RB 34 Walter Abercrombie So OL 57 Ron Barnes Sr T 54 Keith Bishop Sr QB 7 Mike Brannan Fr TE 80 Raymond Cockrell Jr G 60 Frank Ditta Jr RB 3 Dennis Gentry So G 79 Bill Glass Sr WR 17 Robert Holt Jr TE 86 Sam Houston Fr T 72 Brent Jones Sr C 58 Buzzy Nelson So FB 30 Frank Pollard Sr WR 5 Bo Taylor Sr T 51 Arland Thompson Sr	Defense Pos. # Name Class DE 90 Thomas Brown Sr DL 78 Joe Campbell Jr DB 42 Kirk Collins Sr LB 53 Paul Hurst Sr LB 46 Doak Field Jr CB 44 Howard Fields Sr SS 16 Vann McElroy So DE 89 Andrew Melontree Sr LB 63 Mike Singletary Jr LB 49 Lester Ward Jr DB 32 Thomas Earl Young Jr	Special teams Pos. # Name Class	Head coach Grant Teaff Coordinators/assistant coaches Legend (C) Team captain (S) Suspended (I) Ineligible Injured Redshirt

Team players drafted into the NFL

The following players were drafted into professional football following the season.

Player	Position	Round	Pick	Franchise
William Glass	Guard	4	86	Cincinnati Bengals
Arland Thompson	Guard	4	103	Chicago Bears
Keith Bishop	Guard	6	157	Denver Broncos
Bo Taylor	Running back			Tampa Bay
Andrew Melontree	Linebacker	6	159	Cincinnati Bengals
Gary Don Johnson	Defensive tackle	7	168	Cincinnati Bengals
Kirk Collins	Defensive back	7	176	Los Angeles Rams
Thomas Brown	Defensive end	11	302	Philadelphia Eagles
Frank Pollard	Running back	11	305	Pittsburgh Steelers
Howard Fields	Defensive back	12	329	Philadelphia Eagles

[2]

Awards and honors

• Mike Singletary, (All-America) honors
• Mike Singletary, Davey O'Brien Memorial Trophy, awarded to the most outstanding player in the Southwest Conference.[3]
• Mike Singletary was the only college junior to be selected to the All-Southwest Conference Team of the 1970s.

References

1. "Injured player spurs Baylor to Peach win." Eugene Register-Guard. pg. 18. 1980 January 1.
2. https://www.pro-football-reference.com/draft/1980.htm
3. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2002-02-23. Retrieved 2015-12-07.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)