Seneca `Flawless’
October 1, 2001
ISU quarterback Seneca Wallace put on an aerial display almost too good for words Saturday and did so by spreading the wealth to his receivers.
Wallace torched the Baylor secondary for a 22-of-24 passing performance, which included 18-straight completions. Wallace’s 18 in a row shattered the Big 12 Conference record of 14, held by former Colorado quarterback Koy Detmer.
“Seneca’s gotten better each game and did an excellent job today,” ISU head coach Dan McCarney said. “I had no idea he had that many in a row, all I knew was that he was having a hell of a day.”
Wallace finished with 299 yards through the air and four touchdowns. Wallace got everybody in on the act as eight players caught passes and his four touchdown strikes went to four different receivers.
Craig Campbell and Lane Danielsen led the Cyclones with five catches each. Danielsen, Campbell, Jack Whitver and Lance Young all hauled in a touchdown pass.
“We were able to effectively involve a lot of guys in the offense and show that we have a lot of guys that can make plays,” Campbell said. “Today you got to see all of that in one showing instead of one guy here, one guy there.”
Wallace completed his first four passes of the game before an incompletion on the Cyclones second drive of the game. The next incompletion didn’t come until the fourth quarter when Wallace put a little too much on a fade route in the end zone.
The Bears’ defense came out to stop Ennis Haywood, limiting the Cyclone back to just 71 yards on 18 carries. Wallace felt that was a factor to his success as well as great catches by his receivers.
“They [Baylor players] tried to load up and stop the run so the passes were there,” Wallace said. “The receivers played a big factor today. I threw a couple of decent passes, not great, and the receivers made good catches. Once you get rolling, it seems like everything is working fine.”
Danielsen was Wallace’s favorite target early on, accounting for all of the Cyclones yards on the first scoring drive. Danielsen snared three passes for 63 yards, including a 19-yard touchdown pass to put the Cyclones up 7-0.
Danielsen nearly caught another touchdown pass as he was right next to Young when the sophomore snagged a 29-yard score. Wallace had to scramble away from trouble and heaved it toward the end zone and Young caught the first pass of his Cyclone career.
“I didn’t even realize Lance was behind me. I thought Seneca was throwing the ball away,” Danielsen said. “I turned around to go after it and Lance was there so it worked out pretty good.”
During his streak of 18 straight completions, Wallace made one of the toughest plays a quarterback can make. Wallace rolled all the way to the right sideline and threw a perfect strike back across his body to Danielsen.
ISU linebacker Matt Word knew what the Baylor defense was going through.
“Every time I looked around, it was Seneca doing something out there and it was exciting to hear that the offense was doing so good,” Word said. “I know how it is to go against him [Wallace] in practice and he’s just a big-time player that can make plays.”