By Kevin Lonnquist
Publisher
No. 17 Baylor’s pursuit of its fourth Big 12 championship began the right way with a solid 31-24 victory Saturday at Iowa State.
A 31-17 lead in the fourth quarter was whittled to one score on a Cyclone chip shot field with 55 seconds remaining. However, the Bears covered the onside kick and secure the league opener.
Baylor now returns home to face No. 8/9 Oklahoma State at 2:30 p.m. (FOX) on Saturday.
SicEmSports provides reflections, observations and three Golden Bears.
Upon reflection
It makes a difference when important parts of a team return to the lineup. The Bears got wide receiver Monaray Baldwin, tight end Ben Sims, defensive lineman Gabe Hall and safety Christian Morgan back.
That made a difference. Morgan collected one of the two interceptions by the Baylor defense. While Baldwin wasn’t a factor – one reception, three yards – just having him out there was important. Sims caught a TD pass among his team-high five grabs. Hall had a couple of stops.
What they didn’t have was offensive lineman Grant Miller. Mose Jeffery started in Miller’s place. We’ll ask Dave Aranda on Monday about Miller’s status.
That said, when you purposely or cautiously hold out people you know you won’t need in games like the one Baylor had against Texas State may look rough around the edges.
There’s a different look – as there should be – when they are on the field.
Offensive Line Thoughts
Most offensive linemen will tell you that it’s harder to pass protect than it is to run block. Well, that script has kind of flipped this year to this point with this 2022 group.
It’s actually decent protecting Blake Shapen. He’s been sacked eight times and hurried nine other times. A couple of those sacks are on Shapen because he’s held the ball too long. Regardless, you’d like those numbers to be a bit lower through four games.
What still concerns me is its ability to run block against better opponents. Now while I said on the postgame podcast it was effective enough to let the passing game do its thing, it’s still not where it needs to be.
This is the second consecutive game against a P5 opponent (I’m putting BYU in that category) where Baylor averaged 2.9 yards per carry. That’s not good.
The magic number is 4.0. When you’re a full yard behind that, that means you have to look at what isn’t working and why it isn’t.
Now, in Baylor’s defense, this unit has been without Khalil Keith all season and it lost Miller last week. But this group had Miller in Provo, UT and it wasn’t good then either.
The RVO was impressive to watch in 2021 because the OL was injury free. Now, it’s not. Still, if you’re going to be an RVO type of team, that needs to improve. The interesting thing about Saturday in Ames is that the Bears only played six linemen. Tate Williams was the only reserve who played.
Grimes grab bag
Offensive coordinator Jeff Grimes is one to pick his spots for trickeration. The flea flicker to Gavin Holmes (Pssst…I think he’s emerging as the alpha wide receiver. Not TE, receiver.) was the kill shot.
But it was also nifty that he found a way to involve Dillon Doyle on TD. The Iowa kid had a nice return home.
When pulling out these plays, it’s matter of feel of how the game is going. Is the opposing team just lulled into a sleep? Is it committing to hard to one tendency. That’s why the flea flicker worked. That was a total busted coverage on Holmes. The only tough part for Holmes was him making sure he caught it. Harder than you think.
When it counts
Statistically, Baylor had a decent day on 3rd down (5-13) but was good on 4th down (2-3). You know Aranda’s analytic rule on fourth down: if it’s five yards or less they’re probably going to go for it. Now, field position will play into the decision on when to do that. But you can bet that if it’s anywhere starting around the Baylor 40, the punt team isn’t coming on.
What’s been really good about these downs of decision is that the Bears have enjoyed success. Pretty close to what they were last year. So far, they are 25-53 on third down (47 percent) and 7-11 on fourth down (64 percent). That’s going to win a lot of ballgames.
We’re through one-third of the season to where you can make an honest assessment of that.
Golden Bears
The yearly tradition returns. No matter the outcome, we select the three who had the most impact on the Bears’ performance. The following are from Baylor’s 31-24 victory over Texas State.
>Bryson Jackson, LB, 6th: He was all over the field and had a big sack in the third quarter that wiped out a promising Iowa State drive. It’s probably the best he’s looked when it comes to coming after the opposing quarterback.
Notable – 4 solo tackles, 2 QB sacks, 1 QB hurry
>Ben Sims, TE, 5th: When you become Baylor’s all-time TD receiver for tight ends (11), that’s saying something. Sims likely will go down in annals as one of the best to ever play the position. He’s a really good route runner and his hands are sure.
Notable – Receiving: 5-39 1TD
Issac Power, P, 5th: The time you’re going to notice Power’s absence is if the 2023 punter is not as effective. Baylor only used him three times against the Cyclones. But it’s getting to the point that no matter where Power is standing to receive a snap, he’s going to flip the field.
Notable – Punting: 3-46.3 2 inside 20, long of 59
Publisher
No. 17 Baylor’s pursuit of its fourth Big 12 championship began the right way with a solid 31-24 victory Saturday at Iowa State.
A 31-17 lead in the fourth quarter was whittled to one score on a Cyclone chip shot field with 55 seconds remaining. However, the Bears covered the onside kick and secure the league opener.
Baylor now returns home to face No. 8/9 Oklahoma State at 2:30 p.m. (FOX) on Saturday.
SicEmSports provides reflections, observations and three Golden Bears.
Upon reflection
It makes a difference when important parts of a team return to the lineup. The Bears got wide receiver Monaray Baldwin, tight end Ben Sims, defensive lineman Gabe Hall and safety Christian Morgan back.
That made a difference. Morgan collected one of the two interceptions by the Baylor defense. While Baldwin wasn’t a factor – one reception, three yards – just having him out there was important. Sims caught a TD pass among his team-high five grabs. Hall had a couple of stops.
What they didn’t have was offensive lineman Grant Miller. Mose Jeffery started in Miller’s place. We’ll ask Dave Aranda on Monday about Miller’s status.
That said, when you purposely or cautiously hold out people you know you won’t need in games like the one Baylor had against Texas State may look rough around the edges.
There’s a different look – as there should be – when they are on the field.
Offensive Line Thoughts
Most offensive linemen will tell you that it’s harder to pass protect than it is to run block. Well, that script has kind of flipped this year to this point with this 2022 group.
It’s actually decent protecting Blake Shapen. He’s been sacked eight times and hurried nine other times. A couple of those sacks are on Shapen because he’s held the ball too long. Regardless, you’d like those numbers to be a bit lower through four games.
What still concerns me is its ability to run block against better opponents. Now while I said on the postgame podcast it was effective enough to let the passing game do its thing, it’s still not where it needs to be.
This is the second consecutive game against a P5 opponent (I’m putting BYU in that category) where Baylor averaged 2.9 yards per carry. That’s not good.
The magic number is 4.0. When you’re a full yard behind that, that means you have to look at what isn’t working and why it isn’t.
Now, in Baylor’s defense, this unit has been without Khalil Keith all season and it lost Miller last week. But this group had Miller in Provo, UT and it wasn’t good then either.
The RVO was impressive to watch in 2021 because the OL was injury free. Now, it’s not. Still, if you’re going to be an RVO type of team, that needs to improve. The interesting thing about Saturday in Ames is that the Bears only played six linemen. Tate Williams was the only reserve who played.
Grimes grab bag
Offensive coordinator Jeff Grimes is one to pick his spots for trickeration. The flea flicker to Gavin Holmes (Pssst…I think he’s emerging as the alpha wide receiver. Not TE, receiver.) was the kill shot.
But it was also nifty that he found a way to involve Dillon Doyle on TD. The Iowa kid had a nice return home.
When pulling out these plays, it’s matter of feel of how the game is going. Is the opposing team just lulled into a sleep? Is it committing to hard to one tendency. That’s why the flea flicker worked. That was a total busted coverage on Holmes. The only tough part for Holmes was him making sure he caught it. Harder than you think.
When it counts
Statistically, Baylor had a decent day on 3rd down (5-13) but was good on 4th down (2-3). You know Aranda’s analytic rule on fourth down: if it’s five yards or less they’re probably going to go for it. Now, field position will play into the decision on when to do that. But you can bet that if it’s anywhere starting around the Baylor 40, the punt team isn’t coming on.
What’s been really good about these downs of decision is that the Bears have enjoyed success. Pretty close to what they were last year. So far, they are 25-53 on third down (47 percent) and 7-11 on fourth down (64 percent). That’s going to win a lot of ballgames.
We’re through one-third of the season to where you can make an honest assessment of that.
Golden Bears
The yearly tradition returns. No matter the outcome, we select the three who had the most impact on the Bears’ performance. The following are from Baylor’s 31-24 victory over Texas State.
>Bryson Jackson, LB, 6th: He was all over the field and had a big sack in the third quarter that wiped out a promising Iowa State drive. It’s probably the best he’s looked when it comes to coming after the opposing quarterback.
Notable – 4 solo tackles, 2 QB sacks, 1 QB hurry
>Ben Sims, TE, 5th: When you become Baylor’s all-time TD receiver for tight ends (11), that’s saying something. Sims likely will go down in annals as one of the best to ever play the position. He’s a really good route runner and his hands are sure.
Notable – Receiving: 5-39 1TD
Issac Power, P, 5th: The time you’re going to notice Power’s absence is if the 2023 punter is not as effective. Baylor only used him three times against the Cyclones. But it’s getting to the point that no matter where Power is standing to receive a snap, he’s going to flip the field.
Notable – Punting: 3-46.3 2 inside 20, long of 59
