A back injury forced quarterback Bryce Petty to leave Baylor's season-opening 45-0 win over SMU at halftime on Sunday but the senior signal caller doesn't expect to miss any game time due to the injury.
Petty suffered a bruised back after taking a hit on his first run of the 2014 season but remained in the game until halftime. After the game, he insisted that he expects to play when BU hosts Northwestern (La.) State on Saturday.
"It's already feeling a lot better right now," Petty said. "Plus we have a great training staff and doctors. Hats off to my teammates, they really picked me up."
A potential Heisman Trophy candidate, Petty finished 13 of 23 for 161 yards and two touchdowns during the first two quarters of action as BU cruised to a 31-0 halftime lead.
"I feel old," Petty joked when asked how he was feeling. "I took a pretty good shot to the back and was battling through some stuff in that first half. I really couldn't throw the ball as well as I wanted to. I got to the point where it was hard to stand up so I think [leaving the game] was a good decision."
Coach Art Briles said he considered taking Petty out of the game earlier but left him in the game because he was told Petty's injury wasn't structural and he wanted to get Petty as much game time as possible with two more games on the horizon. BU faces Buffalo on Sept. 12 after Saturday's contest against Northwestern State.
"It effected him tonight, without question," Briles said. "We were a little nervous about leaving him out there but they didn't feel it was structural so we were able to do it because he needs work, we're going to be sitting here two weeks from yesterday and our first three games will be over. So that's why we left him out there."
Petty was the Big 12 Offensive Player of the Year in 2013 after passing for 4,200 yards with 32 touchdowns and three interceptions during his first season as a starter for Art Briles' team. His 86.6 Adjusted QBR is the third highest among returning FBS quarterbacks behind Florida State's Jameis Winston (89.4) and Oregon's Marcus Mariota (88).