Box Score NATCHITOCHES – A day after a lopsided loss to Top 10-ranked Baylor, Northwestern State football coach Jay Thomas wasn't about to turn the page and trash the game tape Sunday or any time soon.
 
"I got text messages from other coaches, saying burn the film and move on. No. We did too many good things, had too many great efforts," said Thomas, despite the 70-6 final count. "Baylor has a fantastic thing going there, a ton of talent, so well coached, a championship culture in place.
 
"A few plays here or there, the score wouldn't have gotten to where it was. Our guys played hard for four quarters, they did not concede, they continued to compete down after down, and that was what I wanted to see," he said. "We had a big improvement from the first week to the second week. Our game conditioning was a lot better, particularly on defense."
 
The Demons (0-2) earned respect from Baylor head coach Art Briles and defensive coordinator Phil Bennett for the way they competed and because of outstanding individual efforts, said Thomas.
 
"After the game, Coach Briles, Coach Bennett both made a point to say we had a good team, we had good players. We do," said Thomas. "We've just got to remind ourselves even though we lost the game the way we did, we have a bunch of really good kids, they care, they're playing hard, and we're slowly getting there. We just need to have some things fall our way.
 
"Nobody likes getting beat. We're 0-2, and it feels lousy. But we're going to take it for what it's worth. We're going to use it in the learning process," he said. "We're going to move forward, get that first win, get going in the right direction. We got better as a team last week and despite what the scoreboard said, it showed at Baylor."
 
By the first play of the second quarter, the Demons already had more offense than Baylor allowed in its opening 45-0 rout of rival SMU. Even with a scaled down second-half approach, NSU threatened to score two touchdowns on a defense that gave up only 69 yards in week one.
 
"Our offensive line really played tough, our receivers competed well. Ed Eagan really shined," said Thomas. "Coach Briles was talking about Zach Adkins after the game, and how good our quarterback play is. They brought pressure when they needed to, but I thought our offensive line competed pretty well. Watching the SMU game, and watching ours, I thought we handled ourselves pretty well and made some plays.
 
"Our defensive line went toe-to-toe with that Baylor O-line. Damon Medcafe played his tail off, Deon Simon really rose to the level of competition," said Thomas. "On the back end, guys like Chase Collins were making plays. We got misaligned, we got outrun a few times, and that typically happens going against a Top 10 team, and Baylor has had one of the most explosive offenses in the history of major college football over the past several years. They've hung 70 on more than a few teams."
 
The Bears (2-0) had five touchdown passes of 40 yards or longer while exploding to a 49-3 halftime lead despite being unable to sustain a running game in the first two quarters. The deep balls weren't simply a case of Baylor playing pitch and catch, said Thomas.
 
"Part of it was them doing some different things we hadn't seen them do before. They did tackle over, put the tight end into the tackle hole, they ran motion into empty, and they'd never done that before. It threw us out of whack and credit their coaches for a great plan," he said. "We busted a few coverages and that falls back on us as a coaching staff. Because of how fast they run each play, you have to simplify your calls, and we had a good plan, but we got misaligned and confused with calls and formations and those were costly breakdowns. And yes, they have some big-time athletes who can really fly, and they beat us at times."
 
The Demons reviewed game tape and had a light evening workout Sunday. After an off day Monday, they get going Tuesday afternoon on preparing for Saturday evening's visit to Southern (1-1) in Baton Rouge.