ARLINGTON, Texas -- Baylor's Big 12 opener looked pretty familiar for the two-time defending conference champion.
The No. 5 Bears transitioned from pounding on non-conference foes without much of a hiccup as they subdued Texas Tech 63-35 on Saturday at AT&T Stadium.
Baylor raced to a 49-21 advantage in the first half before playing conservatively in the third and fourth quarters to preserve the win.
A business-like Baylor coach Art Briles said following game that it wasn't total domination, just the Bears doing what they needed to take another step forward.
"I think it was just a good win against a really good football team," Briles said. "The only message we're trying to send is to be 1-0 and that's what we accomplished today."
Bears quarterback Seth Russell passed for 286 yards and four touchdowns, and running back Shock Linwood rushed for 221 yards and two TDs on 20 carries.
Baylor (4-0, 1-0 Big 12) entered the game with the nation's top rushing offense to go along with a dangerous combination of quarterback and wide receivers. Russell said that means the design is working.
"You think Baylor, you think throwing the ball," Russell said. "So when you look at the stats, it's pretty even running and throwing. Being able to run the ball strong, it definitely opens up the pass."
Texas Tech quarterback Pat Mahomes passed for 415 yards and three touchdowns. However he was intercepted twice and the Red Raiders (3-2, 0-2) lost two fumbles. Texas Tech was also penalized 17 times for 142 yards.
"I think (the offensive line) had eight of how many penalties we had," Texas Tech center Jared Kaster said. "It's unacceptable and I'll take responsibility for that. We really pushed that and emphasized that in the offseason as something that we can't have."
The Red Raiders have surrendered at least 680 yards in each of the last two games against No. 4 TCU (750) and Baylor (680). But Texas Tech couldn't push Baylor to the limit the way it did a week earlier against the Horned Frogs.
Texas Tech coach Kliff Kingsbury said Baylor didn't give the Red Raiders an opening.
"They did a great job of putting pressure on us by scoring as fast as they did, the way they came out fast and that's a lot of credit to their coaching staff," Kingsbury said. "We needed to keep pace and we didn't do a good job of that. To their credit, they didn't ever let up the whole game."
Baylor cranked up its dominating style in the first half as the Bears scored on their first four possessions and created a pair of Texas Tech turnovers.
Linwood broke loose for a 79-yard touchdown run on Baylor's game-opening offensive series. Russell hit KD Cannon for a 28-yard touchdown and Corey Coleman for a 24-yard score, and Russell ran in a 1-yard touchdown as the Bears surged to a 28-14 lead.
Briles said Linwood's first-quarter run gave the Bears a needed lift.
"We've actually been wanting him to have one for a while," Briles said. "That was encouraging. I think the reason he was able to do what he did today, he's got a great O-line. It all adds up to, if you have some capabilities as a running back, you can get you some yards and he did."
Early in the second quarter, Bears safety Orion Stewart recovered a fumble by Texas Tech running back DeAndre Washington at the Baylor 41-yard line. On the next play, Linwood toted the ball 38 yards into Red Raiders territory, setting up his 8-yard touchdown later in the march.
Baylor cornerback Xavien Howard kept up the play-making trend for the Bears defense as he intercepted a Mahomes pass and returned it to the Texas Tech 10.
After a personal foul penalty on Baylor, Russell connected with Coleman again, this time for a 16-yard touchdown that put the Bears ahead 42-14 with 8:22 left in the second quarter.
Russell completed 11 of 16 passes for 251 yards and Baylor rushed for 248 yards in the first half as it took the 49-21 lead to the break. Linwood gained 169 yards and scored twice on 12 carries.
Texas Tech seemed ready to keep up with Baylor early as Mahomes hit Zach Austin for a 55-yard touchdown to tie the game at 7 on the Red Raiders' first-offensive series. The Red Raiders pulled within 21-14 when Mahomes threw a 37-yard TD pass to Cameron Batson, but Texas Tech would get no closer than that.
NOTES: Baylor leads the series 37-36-1, but it has been a series of streaks during the last 20 years. The Red Raiders won every meeting from 1996-2010 before Baylor flipped the script and has won the last five. ... Through three games this season, Baylor was ranked first in the nation in rushing offense at 379.7 yards per game and seventh in passing offense at 387.3 yards per contest. ... For the first time in program history, Texas Tech played back-to-back games against teams ranked in the top five. No. 4 TCU defeated the Red Raiders 55-52 on September 26.
