Baylor

We think of our ancestors as living much more settled lives than we do.  But consider this biography.  Robert Emmett Bledsoe Baylor was born in Kentucky on May 5, 1793.  After fighting in the War of 1812, he practiced law in Kentucky, which his uncle (Jesse Bledsoe) represented in the U.S. Senate.  He served in the Kentucky House of Representatives from 1819 to 1820.  But then he resigned his seat (at the age of 27) and moved to Alabama.  There he was elected to the Alabama House of Representatives and later represented Alabama in the federal House of Representatives from 1829 to 1831.  But he lost his seat in the election of 1830.  While in Alabama, he was also ordained a Baptist minister.

In 1839 (at the age of 46), he left Alabama and moved to Texas.  There he held various posts, serving as a district judge for 25 years.  He died in Texas on January 6, 1874 at the age of 80.  While in Texas, he also led the movement to start a Baptist university.  The university was chartered by the Congress of the Republic of Texas -- which was still a separate country at that point -- on February 1, 1845 -- and it was named after the remarkable Mr. Baylor.

Baylor University started life in Independence, Texas, but moved to Waco, Texas in 1885.  Baylor started playing football in 1896, and was a charter member of the old Southwest Conference, where it stayed from 1915 until the conference expired in 1996.  It then followed the University of Texas into the Big XII conference, where it remains to this day.  As a private school competing against the likes of Texas, Texas A&M, and Oklahoma, Baylor has had a relatively mediocre football history.  In fact, the schools' all-time record is 544-539-44.

But recently the Bears have been on a roll.  Last year they went 10-3, beating both Texas and Oklahoma, and knocking off the Washington Huskies in the Alamo Bowl.  Much of that success was due to Robert Griffin III, who became Baylor's first Heisman trophy winner.  But this year they are off to a 3-0 start with wins over SMU (59-24), Sam Houston State (48-23), and Louisiana-Monroe (47-42).

Today's game against West Virginia will be Baylor's 35th appearance in an Unofficial College Football Championship Game.  The Bears took the title on October 20, 1928 with a 28-7 win over Centenary (who had taken the title from Texas A&M the week before).  A few weeks later, they lost the crown to Texas.  But the UCFC spent much of the 1930's in Texas, and Baylor played in 17 UCFC games between 1928 and 1938.  They held the title for four weeks in a row in 1937 before losing it to Texas again.  Baylor did not regain the crown until September 14, 1991, when they beat Colorado 16-14.  In fact, they played in eight UCFC games in 1991, going 5-3 in those contests.

Since then, however, they have only had three more shots at the title.  On October 11, 1997, Nebraska beat them 49-21.  On October 17, 1998, Texas A&M beat them 35-14.  And on October 18, 2008, Oklahoma State beat them 34-6.  Their all-time record in UCFC play is 14-17-3.