Sqwirl Williams' Career Day Epitomizes Baylor's Resilience
When Craig “Sqwirl” Williams took the field in warmups before Saturday’s game against the Oklahoma Sooners, me and many Baylor fans breathed a sigh of relief. Finally, someone was going to give Richard Reese a break in the Bears’ backfield.
Instead, the only break going on was Williams breaking tackles, breaking Sooner hearts, and his own long-awaited breakthrough.
Like the Sooner Schooner itself, the Bears rode Williams all afternoon long to a 38-35 victory, the second win in Norman in the program’s history.
Williams gave a career performance, rushing for 192 yards on 25 carries and two touchdowns. Like a thoroughbred he impersonated all day, Williams iced the game like Secretariat at the Belmont, looking back at the hapless Sooner defenders as he broke away and slid seven yards short of his third touchdown, content to watch the clock run out on Oklahoma’s Big 12 championship hopes.
Conversely, as Williams slid, he also ensured Baylor’s Big 12 destiny is still in their hands with three tough games remaining in the regular season.
Another week, another hero for the Bears. While Blake Shapen struggled and Reese battled the flu bug, Williams carried Baylor as he gashed the Sooners for eight yards a carry. While the team hasn’t lived up to the preseason Top 10 ranking, Williams is another example of a new player stepping up each week to keep pace for a second straight conference crown.
The road for Williams was much longer than the 43 yards he galloped for to close out the game. In 2018, fans first heard his name when he scored the fourth-quarter, go-ahead touchdown against Kansas State. After missing the entire 2019 season with an injury and tearing his ACL and MCL as the team’s leading rusher in 2020, Baylor fans had to doubt they’d ever hear his memorable nickname called over the McLane Stadium PA again.
Williams’ career is a microcosm of this Baylor season. When people thought he was down and out, he comes back as good as he’s ever been. After the nightmare Thursday night loss to West Virginia, this team has won three in a row and controls their own destiny.
Saturday was Sqwirl’s day and he literally ran with it. The hero next Saturday night against Kansas State? It’s anyone’s guess.
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You can follow Cameron Stuart on Twitter @RealCamStuart
Covering Baylor for Inside The Bears and the Locked on Baylor podcast. You can follow me for more Baylor content at @realcamstuart on Twitter. Originally from Rockland, Massachusetts and a Baylor alum, so I might mix the occasional bias and/or Boston sports tweet in there every once in a while.