After losing the season opener against South Carolina, we really didn’t have anywhere to go but up. “Up” wound up being a 65-7 win over Murray State, which set or tied a whole slew of records.
For this game, I was more confident and relaxed – the entire team was. I wasn’t so jittery before the game, which was good. Being out there, having success personally and finding the end zone three times, felt fantastic. It was great to take it in, after all that work, and just know that I’m back.
I finally broke through a few seconds into the second half when I took the ball one yard into the end zone to make the score 28-0.
A lot of my linemen were wondering why I wasn’t going crazy in the end zone, celebrating or getting a penalty. As soon as I got to the sideline, they were like, “T. Bake, why weren’t you jumping around, getting a call?” They definitely wouldn’t have blamed me for it if I had. But really I just wanted to turn to my family — my teammates – and just celebrate with them and enjoy that moment with them. Keep it within the family, show a little class.
They told me it was the first time I’d scored in 1,022 games, which was a crazy statistic. Another thing I heard was that James Washington had three touchdowns in the second game of his career – the exact same thing happened to me my first year. In fact, that’s the only other time I’ve done that. Now we have that in common.
But with all the crazy scoring plays and the records and the crazy stats, there’s one moment in the game that stands out to me. After I scored that first touchdown, I hugged my linemen, of course, and gave my running back coach, Coach Swepson, a big hug. Coach O’Brien was waiting for a hug as well, just welcoming me back. That’s something I’ll probably remember forever.
As you all know, the scoring didn’t stop there. With Russell Wilson giving us such great feeds, how could it stop? He had a great game as well. When you’re doing good things on offense, both running and throwing, you’re going to be tough to stop.
My final score, which came with a few seconds remaining in the half, was off a 39-yard screen pass. My receiver did a great job blocking down the field. It was a good offensive play, but to actually get out in the open, to run and show a little speed – that felt good.
A 65-7 finish might make some ask why there isn’t a mercy rule in football, but we didn’t stop. Our coach wouldn’t let us do that anyway. We needed to get some work in, so we just kept going.
There was a really positive feeling in the locker room and the next few days on campus, which is great. I don’t think I’ve ever been a part of a team here that’s scored that many points, so that was my first time doing that here.
Up next is Gardner-Webb, another team we didn’t know much about before this week. Their defense is a lot better than Murray State’s and the top in their conference, I believe. It’ll be a good test for us to get out there and see what we can do on offense. It’s just another step.
We’ll see you at the game.
-As told to Kate Shefte
