September 3, 2022 Week 1 · Regular Season Belt defended

Baylor defends the belt, 69–10, at home over UAlbany.

Home · Defending Holder

BaylorAP No. 10 69

Away · Challenger

UAlbany 10

AP poll, week 1: UAlbany unranked at Baylor No. 10 · No. 1 that week: Georgia. The belt vs. the polls →

Belt context

Where this game sits in the lineage

Baylor came in 245 days into reign #318, which began with a win over Ole Miss, with no defenses yet; this was its first defense. It was the last defense: BYU took the belt in the very next belt game, on September 10, 2022.

For UAlbany this was its 2nd shot at the belt; it had never held the belt. It still hasn’t: 2 attempts in all, every one of them a loss or a tie.

This is the only time Baylor and UAlbany have met with the belt on the line.

AI-Written

Recap

Baylor dominated UAlbany from start to finish, establishing control early with a Blake Shapen touchdown pass to Monaray Baldwin just under 11 minutes into the first quarter. The game featured several explosive plays, including a remarkable 72-yard punt return for a touchdown by Gavin Holmes that briefly gave UAlbany hope at 14-10, but Baylor answered immediately with another score before halftime. The Bears' ground game took over in the second half, with Richard Reese and Monaray Baldwin combining for multiple rushing touchdowns to put the game completely out of reach. UAlbany's only points came from a pair of passing touchdowns by Reese Poffenbarger to Julian Hicks and a field goal, but they could never generate sustained offensive momentum against Baylor's defense.

Monaray Baldwin's 47-yard TD reception in Q1 set the early tone for Baylor's dominance
Gavin Holmes' 72-yard punt return for a touchdown in Q1 was UAlbany's best scoring opportunity, but Baylor answered before halftime
Richard Reese's rushing touchdown in Q4 exemplified Baylor's complete control of the game in the second half
The early turnover by UAlbany (Jackson Parker fumble in Q1) set the stage for Baylor's efficient offensive performance with zero turnovers

Written by Claude from the box score and play-by-play on this page — a plain-English recap of the numbers below, not a substitute for them.

Full Box Score

Team stats

CFBD box score

BaylorUAlbany

Total yards573237

Rushing yards25987

Passing yards314150

First downs2910

3rd down conv.7/115/17

Turnovers01

Penalties–yards8–7510–72

Time of possession29:3230:28

Full team box score from CFBD’s /games/teams data. This section only appears for belt games from 2003 onward — CFBD doesn’t have team-level stats that far back.

Play By Play

Key plays

CFBD play-by-play

When	Team	Yards	Play
Q1 10:59	Baylor	+47 yd	Blake Shapen pass complete to Monaray Baldwin for 47 yds for a TD, (Isaiah Hankins KICK)
Q1 9:49	UAlbany	+2 yd	Reese Poffenbarger pass complete to Jackson Parker for 2 yds Jackson Parker fumbled, forced by Al Walcott, recovered by Bayl Bryson Jackson
Q1 8:03	Baylor	+4 yd	Craig Williams 4 Yd Run (Isaiah Hankins Kick)
Q1 5:37	UAlbany	+72 yd	Tyler Pastula punt for 40 yds , Gavin Holmes returns for 72 yds for a TD, (Isaiah Hankins KICK)
Q1 4:01	UAlbany	+20 yd	Tyler Pastula punt for 53 yds , Gavin Holmes returns for 20 yds to the BAYLOR 35 BAYLOR Penalty, Offensive Holding (10 Yards) to the Bayl 25
Q1 0:00	UAlbany	+17 yd	Reese Poffenbarger pass complete to Julian Hicks for 17 yds for a TD, (John Opalko KICK)
Q2 11:55	Baylor	+38 yd	Blake Shapen pass complete to Hal Presley for 38 yds for a TD, (Isaiah Hankins KICK)
Q2 6:35	UAlbany	+20 yd	Reese Poffenbarger pass complete to Julian Hicks for 20 yds to the Alban 28 for a 1ST down
Q2 0:00	Baylor	+1 yd	Blake Shapen run for 1 yd for a TD, (Isaiah Hankins KICK)
Q3 11:48	Baylor	+50 yd	Monaray Baldwin run for 50 yds for a TD, (Isaiah Hankins KICK)
Q3 15:00	UAlbany	+23 yd	John Opalko kickoff for 58 yds , Craig Williams return for 23 yds to the BAYLOR 30 BAYLOR Penalty, Offensive Holding (10 Yards) to the Bayl 20
Q3 7:59	UAlbany	+33 yd	Reese Poffenbarger pass complete to Thomas Greaney for 33 yds to the Bayl 14 for a 1ST down
Q3 6:19	UAlbany	+25 yd	John Opalko 25 yd FG GOOD
Q3 1:54	Baylor	+9 yd	Kyron Drones run for 9 yds for a TD, (John Mayers KICK)
Q4 13:45	Baylor	+23 yd	Richard Reese run for 23 yds to the Alban 15 for a 1ST down
Q4 13:02	Baylor	+29 yd	Kyron Drones pass complete to Drake Dabney for 29 yds to the Alban 1 for a 1ST down
Q4 13:30	Baylor	+1,105 yd	Reese, Richard rush for 1 yard to the ALBANY14, PENALTY BAYLOR tripping (Mazzccua, Micah) 1035 yards to the ALBANY-1020, NO PLAY.
Q4 12:33	Baylor	+1 yd	Richard Reese run for 1 yd for a TD, (John Mayers KICK)
Q4 11:09	UAlbany	+25 yd	Tyler Pastula punt for 39 yds , Jordan Nabors returns for 25 yds to the Alban 22
Q4 9:10	Baylor	+7 yd	Richard Reese run for 7 yds for a TD, (John Mayers KICK)
Q4 6:23	Baylor	+50 yd	Kyron Drones pass complete to Jaylen Ellis for 50 yds to the Alban 27 for a 1ST down
Q4 5:46	Baylor	+27 yd	Qualan Jones run for 27 yds for a TD, (John Mayers PAT BLOCKED)

Scoring plays, turnovers, and gains of 20+ yards, pulled from CFBD’s play-by-play. This section only appears for belt games with play-by-play on file (2003 onward).

Box Score

Player stats

CFBD player stats

Passing

Baylor

Player	C/ATT	YDS	AVG	TD	INT	QBR
Blake Shapen	17/20	214	10.7	2	0	90.0
Kyron Drones	5/7	100	14.3	0	0	99.3

UAlbany

Player	C/ATT	YDS	AVG	TD	QBR
Reese Poffenbarger	13/26	150	5.8	1	--
Joey Carino	0/2	0	0.0	0	--
Tyler Szalkowski	0/2	0	0.0	0	--

Rushing

Baylor

Player	CAR	YDS	AVG	TD	LONG
Richard Reese	9	62	6.9	2	23
Qualan Jones	6	59	9.8	1	27
Monaray Baldwin	2	46	23.0	1	50
Taye Mcwilliams	12	45	3.8	0	9
Craig Williams	3	13	4.3	1	5
Blake Shapen	4	11	2.8	1	16
Kyron Drones	1	9	9.0	1	9
Jordan Jenkins	3	8	2.7	0	5
Jordan Nabors	1	6	6.0	0	6

UAlbany

Player	CAR	YDS	AVG	LONG
Reese Poffenbarger	12	45	3.8	8
Todd Sibley Jr.	9	18	2.0	5
Landon Alexander	4	9	2.3	4
Jose Lopez-Quinones	2	8	4.0	4
Joey Carino	3	7	2.3	3

Receiving

Baylor

Player	REC	YDS	AVG	TD	LONG
Monaray Baldwin	4	84	21.0	1	47
Hal Presley	3	56	18.7	1	38
Jaylen Ellis	1	50	50.0	0	50
Ben Sims	5	37	7.4	0	14
Drake Dabney	1	29	29.0	0	29
Seth Jones	2	25	12.5	0	15
Taye Mcwilliams	4	20	5.0	0	9
Armani Winfield	1	10	10.0	0	10
Qualan Jones	1	3	3.0	0	3

UAlbany

Player	REC	YDS	AVG	TD	LONG
Thomas Greaney	3	57	19.0	0	33
Julian Hicks	4	53	13.3	1	20
Quinn Zinobile	1	17	17.0	0	17
Jackson Parker	2	12	6.0	0	10
Roy Alexander	1	6	6.0	0	6
Brevin Easton	1	3	3.0	0	3
Lasalle Rose Jr.	1	2	2.0	0	2

Show more stats (6 more categories)

Defense

Baylor

Player	TOT	SOLO	SACKS	TFL	PD	QB HUR	TD
Devin Neal	4	4	0	0	0	0	0
Matt Jones	4	3	0	0	0	0	0
Al Walcott	4	3	0	0	1	0	0
Brayden Utley	4	1	0	0	0	1	0
AJ McCarty	2	2	0	0	1	0	0
Tyrone Brown	2	2	0	0	1	0	0
Cooper Lanz	2	2	0	0	0	0	0
Devyn Bobby	2	2	0	0	0	0	0
Bryson Jackson	2	1	0	0	0	0	0
Jaxon Player	2	1	0.5	1.5	1	0	0
Garmon Randolph	2	1	0	0	0	1	0
Dillon Doyle	2	0	0	0	1	1	0
Siaki Ika	2	0	0	0	0	0	0
Gabe Hall	2	0	0.5	0.5	1	0	0
BoChao Jin	2	0	0	0	0	0	0
Alfonzo Allen	1	1	1	1	0	0	0
Chidi Ogbonnaya	1	1	0	0	0	0	0
Mark Milton	1	1	0	0	0	0	0
Griffin Speaks	1	1	0	0	0	0	0
Tevin Williams III	1	1	0	0	1	0	0
Josh White	1	1	0	0	0	0	0
Carmello Jones	1	1	0	0	0	0	0
Will Williams	1	0	0	0	1	0	0
Kyler Jordan	1	0	0	0	0	0	0
Gavin Holmes	0	0	0	0	0	0	1
Victor Obi	0	0	0	0	0	1	0
Jackie Marshall	0	0	0	0	1	0	0

UAlbany

Player	TOT	SOLO	SACKS	TFL	PD	QB HUR
Dylan Kelly	12	8	0	0.5	0	0
AJ Mistler	6	5	0	0.5	0	0
Jackson Ambush	6	3	0	0	0	0
Isaac Duffy-Webb	4	3	0	0	0	0
Larry Walker Jr.	4	3	0	0	0	0
Kevon Angry	3	3	0	0	1	0
Semaj Brown	3	2	0	0	0	0
Jahlil Johnson	3	2	0	0	0	0
Jacob Hargraves	3	1	0	0	0	0
Christian Lewis	3	1	0	0	0	0
AJ Simon	2	2	2	2	0	0
Anthony Lang	2	2	0	1	1	1
Ori Jean-Charles	2	2	0	0	0	0
Ghassan Chehade	2	2	0	1	0	0
Joseph Greaney	2	1	0	0	0	0
Bill Hackett	2	1	0	0	0	0
Denzel Patrick	2	0	0	0	0	0
Tyler Merwarth	1	1	0	0	0	0
Sammy Knipe	1	1	0	0	0	0
Nathan Genevick	1	0	0	0.5	0	0
Elijah Hills	1	0	0	0.5	0	0

Fumbles

Baylor

Player	FUM	LOST	REC
Bryson Jackson	0	0	1

UAlbany

Player	FUM	LOST	REC
Jackson Parker	1	1	0

Kick Returns

Baylor

Player	NO	YDS	AVG	LONG	TD
Craig Williams	1	23	23.0	23	0
Kelsey Johnson	1	16	16.0	16	0

UAlbany

Player	NO	YDS	AVG	LONG	TD
Lasalle Rose Jr.	2	31	15.5	18	0
Brevin Easton	1	0	0.0	0	0

Kicking

Baylor

Player	FG	PCT	LONG	XP	PTS
Isaiah Hankins	0/0	0.0	0	6/6	6
John Mayers	0/0	0.0	0	3/3	3

UAlbany

Player	FG	PCT	LONG	XP	PTS
John Opalko	1/1	100.0	25	1/1	4

Punt Returns

Baylor

Player	NO	YDS	AVG	LONG	TD
Gavin Holmes	3	96	32.0	72	1
Jordan Nabors	3	34	11.3	25	0

UAlbany

No recorded stats in this category.

Punting

Baylor

Player	NO	YDS	AVG	TB	In 20	LONG
Issac Power	1	57	57.0	0	1	57
Noah Rauschenberg	1	14	14.0	0	0	14

UAlbany

Player	NO	YDS	AVG	TB	In 20	LONG
Tyler Pastula	9	406	45.1	1	2	56

Full player stats from CFBD’s /games/players data, split out by team. This section only appears for belt games from 2003 onward — CFBD doesn’t have player-level stats that far back. Linked player names go to that player’s stat line in every other belt game they’ve appeared in.

Sources Box score at ESPN · Game record: College Football Data (id 401424416) · This game in the downloadable dataset

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