Vanderbilt and Baylor might’ve played 2018’s best (non-bizarre) bowl

You thought the deeply strange Cheez-It Bowl was fun? 24 hours after it wrapped up, we got a different kind of bowl game fun, making up for the lack of offense the night before thanks to two unlikely sources. I don’t even have a place to put this interception gif, I just think it illustrates how fun this game is, so I think you should see it and feel ashamed that you went to bed early.

Just as we all expected (not really), Baylor and Vanderbilt combined for one of the most gaudy combined total yardage performances in college football postseason history, a 45-38 Texas Bowl barnburner that the Bears won.

The 1,241 combined yards between the Dores and the Bears nestles right behind two other Baylor performances on the all-time bowl game records list:

But these Bears aren’t those Bears. The 2018 Baylor team hasn’t scored this many points against any FBS opponent all season. Baylor had 8.2 yards per play in the Texas Bowl, but hadn’t broken 7 YPP in against any FBS opponent this year.

But it takes two to tango, and the disparity in styles and the approaches to get us to those 83 combined points.

In the first half, the Bears played a methodical bludgeonball style of play. They sustained three long scoring drives (12 plays, 69 yards; nine plays 73 yards; eight plays 75 yards) to put up their first 21 points.

Meanwhile, Vanderbilt was striking like lightning, scoring its first 21 points in drives of four plays, three plays, and four plays.

Holy shit this dude was absolutely electric.

The Bears just could not contain this guy as he rushed for 243 yards on just 13 carries. If you’re counting, that’d be 42 percent of Vandy’s 573 total yards. He just made it look so easy.

Baylor was able to do just enough to win the game. But it was a fun ride.