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Baylor was without its two leading passers, leading rusher and leading receiver for the Russell Athletic Bowl on Tuesday against North Carolina, but it didn't matter as the Bears ran all over the Tar Heels in a 49-38 victory. 

Baylor ran for an all-time bowl-record 645 yards, led by Johnny Jefferson's 299 yards and three touchdowns, as Art and Kendal Briles adapted to their personnel to dominate the Tar Heels defense. The previous record in a bowl game was held by Nebraska, which ran for 524 yards in the 1996 Fiesta Bowl.

As a team, Baylor averaged 7.7 yards per carry as it gashed the Tar Heels inside and outside in the running game. The Bears gave North Carolina plenty of unique looks, running some read option, some single-wing action and all manner of other sets. Five different Baylor players took snaps Tuesday as the Bears operated an offense that was almost completely reliant on the running game. 

Baylor's offensive show was an incredible exhibition of running, and also showed off how inventive and adaptable Art Briles is with an offense. 

Story of the game: The Baylor rushing attack was incredible. It can't be overstated how well the Bears operated in an offense that they created on the fly toward the end of the Texas game. 

This looked nothing like the Baylor offense that was the nation's top scoring offense, but it worked just as well -- if not better, somehow. Baylor had 756 total yards of offense, with 645 on the ground. The offensive line mowed down the North Carolina defensive line as the Tar Heels offered little resistance. 

Jefferson led the way, but Devin Chaffin (27 carries, 156 yards, 1 TD), Terrence Williams (16 carries, 97 yards, 2 TDs) and Lynx Hawthorne (7 carries, 63 yards, 1 TD) all had a great deal of success on the ground for the Bears -- and all took direct snaps. 

Player of the game: Johnny Jefferson's performance was tremendous, with nearly 300 yards and three touchdowns. He operated as the workhorse in place of the injured Shock Linwood and showed that he too can be an explosive playmaker. He averaged 13 yards per carry, and his 299 yards got him to exactly 1,000 rushing yards on the season. 

Play of the game: There were plenty of big plays in this game from both sides, but Jefferson's 80-yard touchdown run in the third quarter was a back-breaker. 

North Carolina had just fumbled into the end zone with the chance to cut the Baylor lead to four, and Jefferson immediately took off for an 80-yard touchdown on the first play of Baylor's ensuing drive to put the Bears up 18. 

Tweet of the game: Yeah, Baylor's offense is pretty absurd. 

Grade: A. This game was mesmerizing, particularly when Baylor was on offense. The Bears ran some mutant single-wing offense that was mixed with a modern no-huddle system that just broke the will of the Tar Heels defense.

North Carolina's offense, led by Marquise Williams, did what it could and fought valiantly all game, but there was just no stopping the Baylor offense. The only thing keeping this game from an A+ was that it never really felt like North Carolina could win after the first 10 minutes of the game.

Johnny Jefferson (USATSI)
Johnny Jefferson was unstoppable for Baylor on Tuesday. (USATSI)