After each Baylor win, coach Art Briles signs the baseball cap he's wearing and throws it into the student section.

On Saturday, it looked like A&M threw in the towel long before that.

That may not be a totally true statement, because I don't want to question the Aggies' effort. This team doesn't lay down.

The 41-21 loss to the Bears was a bad result, though. So if it's not because of a lack of effort, then one has to wonder what's going on if Baylor, the perennial doormat of the Big 12 South, is leading 41-7 after three quarters.

For the second straight week, A&M filled the stat sheet with negative numbers.

Oklahoma's 66 points last week speak for themselves, but in some ways it's almost understandable, even excusable. OU has a history of winning football and its present roster is loaded with 4-and 5-star players. When the Sooners get it going they can make anybody look bad.

Baylor's a different story, but A&M made the Bears look like OU on Saturday.

Let's just start with those 41 points. It's the third most ever for Baylor against A&M and only the fifth time the Bears have eclipsed that mark in 103 Big 12 games.

And it only took three quarters.

Saturday's victory was only the Bears' 13th Big 12 win in 13 seasons, and only the fourth against a team from the South Division. But the most telling stat was Baylor's rushing total -- 269 yards -- which is the Bears' highest total ever in a Big 12 contest.

Much of Baylor's success came from the quick feet/quick decision making by freshman quarterback Robert Griffin III, who is certainly a budding star. But an average offensive line created holes all day for Jay Finley, a solid but unspectacular running back who ran for 116 yards and was only thrown for a loss once in 23 carries.

Meanwhile, A&M has just 184 yards on the ground in its last three games combined. Take away the Iowa State game and it's 204 in the previous four games. And it's not because the Aggies aren't trying to run the ball. A&M coach Mike Sherman's first priority is to establish the running game.

Disappointing was the word used most to describe Saturday's game. It wasn't necessarily how many times it was uttered to describe the rout the Aggies had just suffered, but the tone in which it was spoken.

Before the OU game, Sherman spoke of the Sooners as being a formidable opponent, almost as if he knew the task in hand. There was none of that leading up to Baylor, so the result was obviously devastating.

A&M has given up points in bunches the entire season. But during the two league wins and even in some of the early losses, the offense, with Jerrod Johnson taking the snaps, appeared to be making progress.

That offense, which is Sherman's baby, has taken a step backward the past two weeks.

Baylor had only held one Big 12 opponent to fewer than 30 points until Saturday. On Saturday, the Aggies made it appear as if the Bears had a handful of all-conference performers.

Baylor pressured Johnson, stayed with the receivers for the most part and quickly closed the few holes A&M did open.

They were unquestionably the better unit.

"Speed of the defense," running back Cyrus Gray said when asked what surprised him about Baylor. Speed is synonymous with athletes, and right now the scales are tilting toward Waco in that category.

It could have been worse for the Aggies on Saturday. If the game had been televised, Briles would have gained more artillery for the recruiting trail. Even so, Briles, donning a new cap at the postgame press conference, wasn't shy about what the victory meant to the program.

He used the "poor us" theory when it comes to recruiting, saying there are four teams from Texas in the Big 12 and three have the word Texas in their name, which makes it difficult for Baylor. He closed by asserting that every time they beat one of those teams it helps when he goes out on the road.

That road was paved a little more on Saturday.

Unless there is an unforeseeable result on Thanksgiving night, this will be the first year the Bears have not finished below the Aggies in the Big 12 standings. And even though they will likely end up tied at 2-6, the Bears proved they are the better and more talented team.

Another first since the Big 12 was formed.

Richard Croome's e-mail address is richard.croome@theeagle.com.