By KEVIN LONNQUIST
Publisher
No. 10 Baylor (9-1, 6-1) defeated No. 6 Oklahoma State (10-1, 7-1), 45-35, Saturday night at Boone Pickens Stadium in Stillwater, OK. The Bears ended a 76-year drought of not winning at OSU.
So what did the publisher think?
>Here’s the good news. The Bears are still in the Big 12 championship race. If Oklahoma State knocks off Oklahoma next week in Stillwater in Bedlam and the Bears win out against TCU and Texas, they win their third consecutive Big 12 title. As for the college football playoff standings, they’ll move up on Tuesday. Maybe 2-3 spots. That’s fine. Michigan State winning at Ohio State will probably mean a little more. However, this win will get the committee's attention.
>Well, if I told you that Baylor was going to be down to little-used Chris Johnson – he of the zero pass attempts coming into this game – at quarterback for the injured Jarrett Stidham (hand, back, ankle) for the second half, lose starting running back Shock Linwood for pretty much the entire second half with a leg injury, not have a starting safety, not have a starting defensive tackle for this game and break the Stillwater Curse, I would have wished you God Speed and paid it no mind.
>I cannot tell you what we learned about the character of this program following this win. Coaches will always use the analogy that football is a thumbnail sketch of life. There’s going to be adversity. The question is how a program is going to find a way to deal with it. On a bitterly cold night in a place that could be considered a house of horrors, Baylor not only won this game, it won it decisively. The Bears never trailed.
>We’ve seen Baylor produce program defining victories. I think of winning in Austin in 2010. Then there was the program changing win against Oklahoma in 2011. That was followed by the miracle rally finish of 61-58 over TCU last year. And then winning at OU for the first time in school history. But there’s something about this win at Oklahoma State that you can’t quantify. Yet you appreciate it even more. Those aforementioned wins make a win like this possible. Yes, the 76 years is part of this. Depth for this program endured hit after hit. It could have been understandable for this program to drop this one. Instead, Baylor kept throwing punch after punch at the Cowboys and knocked them back.
>Baylor had 700 yards of total offense in this game. But your publisher, who is the champion of establishing the running game down your opponent’s throat, rests his case for why running the ball means everything. It wears the opponent down. Over time, the opponent loses its will to fight. The running game consumes the clock. It sets up the passing game. Baylor ran 104 plays, 73 were on the ground for 304 yards. That’s just a little more than four yards per carry. But the commitment to it revealed Baylor was the more physical team Saturday.
>As much as this offense gobbled up the yards, let’s not kid ourselves. This was a game where Baylor leaned on this defense to win it. And it did. I’ll say it again: Baylor’s defense won this games. Let’s start with the notable numbers. Baylor eliminated an already mediocre Oklahoma State running attack as it held it to eight yards. It recorded six sacks of Oklahoma State quarterback Mason Rudolph. It forced OSU without a score for six consecutive possessions. There were nine tackles for loss. And there really wasn’t a lot of defensive linemen used.
>Let’s continue with the substance: I tweeted out that nickel back Travon Blanchard may be the best defensive player on this team with no disrespect to Andrew Billings. Well, we can debate that. But Blanchard’s rise as a leader with this unit is unmistakable. I can’t remember a time where he hasn’t been out of position or taken the wrong angle. He’s solid in run support. If he’s used as an extra safety in pass coverage, that’s no problem. Blanchard was meant to play this position. Better games tonight for the linebackers. Aiavion Edwards might have been the best of all of them.
>Billings is through the ankle sprain. Along with his two sacks and 2.5 tackles for loss, I think back to the intentional grounding flag he forced of Rudolph at the end of the first half. Billings is taking on a double team and is pushing his blockers straight into Rudolph. As that happens, he extends his left arm to harass Rudolph who just has to get rid of it. I think of the line from Tombstone: “You ever seen anything like that before? Hell, I ain’t ever heard of anything like that.’’ That’s just pure ability. There’s not a lick of coaching in that.
>The harassment frustrated Rudolph. He completed some oh-by-the-way throws in the fourth quarter. But that was only good enough for 27-50. He threw for 430 yards and three TDs. I consider his numbers in the fourth quarter empty. This game was over after the third quarter.
>It is odd to single out the defense on a night where it didn’t force a turnover. That snapped a string of 25 consecutive games where it has forced at least one. I said Baylor needed three to win the game. However, when you physically beat somebody up, that’s a pretty good substitute.
>Hollywood could not have written a better script for Johnson. Stidham has back, hand and ankle injuries (pretty much a statue since the middle of the second quarter) and doesn’t return for the second half. So in his first possession in a game of his career where something is really at stake, Johnson directs an 11-play 81-yard drive that finishes in a 39-yard TD pass to KD Cannon. Given Stidham’s health, Johnson probably received a lot of snaps during the week. It showed. He was 5-10 for 138 yards with two touchdowns and an interception. He also closed out the win with his 4-yard TD run. Maybe the good thing about it was that he didn’t have time to freak out about going into this. He just had to get ready, do what the coaches told him and go play. Don't think. Just do.
>I’ve been pretty tough on KD Cannon because he’s pretty much acting like a crybaby for a good part of the year. However, something happened for the better for him starting with the Kansas State game. I couldn’t tell you if he did some soul searching, did extra work, talked about a lot of things with the coaches or maybe put some personal things in order. But the sophomore slump is over. He was 5-210 and 2 TD. The quality of the catches where there was traffic was the most impressive thing of all. He didn’t take plays off. He did his job. This is what he should be like Friday in Fort Worth, Dec. 5 against Texas and whatever the postseason may hold.
>Drew Galitz is nails as a punter. Chris Callahan is a solid kicker as long as you don’t ask him to do anything from more than 40 yards. Ishmael Zamora is really settling in as a kick returner.
>I want to save the best for last – the offensive line of LT Spencer Drango, LG Blake Muir, C Kyle Fuller, RG Jarell Broxton and RT Pat Colbert. For about one month, this group had not been playing very. It allowed decent defensive fronts to have its way. The challenge of facing this Oklahoma State defensive line seemed to be more than an uphill battle. From the opening possession, this group held the high ground. Talented Cowboy DE Emmanuel Ogbah got a sack and forced and recovered a fumble. But the rest of that front four was neutralized. This quintet probably got tired of hearing about how average it has been and more than met the challenge.
>Now, we move on to Rivalry Week with Friday’s game at TCU in Amon Carter Stadium. This will be meeting No. 111. Baylor leads, 52-51-7 and has won the last two meetings by a total of six points. A depleted TCU team was really impressive in its comeback at Oklahoma, losing 30-29. By the way, I had no problem with Gary Patterson going for two to try and take the lead. He had momentum. Oklahoma had to make a play and did.
>Friday after Thanksgiving is coming. It should be an amazing week as we prepare to talk about arguably the best rivalry in college football.
Publisher
No. 10 Baylor (9-1, 6-1) defeated No. 6 Oklahoma State (10-1, 7-1), 45-35, Saturday night at Boone Pickens Stadium in Stillwater, OK. The Bears ended a 76-year drought of not winning at OSU.
So what did the publisher think?
>Here’s the good news. The Bears are still in the Big 12 championship race. If Oklahoma State knocks off Oklahoma next week in Stillwater in Bedlam and the Bears win out against TCU and Texas, they win their third consecutive Big 12 title. As for the college football playoff standings, they’ll move up on Tuesday. Maybe 2-3 spots. That’s fine. Michigan State winning at Ohio State will probably mean a little more. However, this win will get the committee's attention.
>Well, if I told you that Baylor was going to be down to little-used Chris Johnson – he of the zero pass attempts coming into this game – at quarterback for the injured Jarrett Stidham (hand, back, ankle) for the second half, lose starting running back Shock Linwood for pretty much the entire second half with a leg injury, not have a starting safety, not have a starting defensive tackle for this game and break the Stillwater Curse, I would have wished you God Speed and paid it no mind.
>I cannot tell you what we learned about the character of this program following this win. Coaches will always use the analogy that football is a thumbnail sketch of life. There’s going to be adversity. The question is how a program is going to find a way to deal with it. On a bitterly cold night in a place that could be considered a house of horrors, Baylor not only won this game, it won it decisively. The Bears never trailed.
>We’ve seen Baylor produce program defining victories. I think of winning in Austin in 2010. Then there was the program changing win against Oklahoma in 2011. That was followed by the miracle rally finish of 61-58 over TCU last year. And then winning at OU for the first time in school history. But there’s something about this win at Oklahoma State that you can’t quantify. Yet you appreciate it even more. Those aforementioned wins make a win like this possible. Yes, the 76 years is part of this. Depth for this program endured hit after hit. It could have been understandable for this program to drop this one. Instead, Baylor kept throwing punch after punch at the Cowboys and knocked them back.
>Baylor had 700 yards of total offense in this game. But your publisher, who is the champion of establishing the running game down your opponent’s throat, rests his case for why running the ball means everything. It wears the opponent down. Over time, the opponent loses its will to fight. The running game consumes the clock. It sets up the passing game. Baylor ran 104 plays, 73 were on the ground for 304 yards. That’s just a little more than four yards per carry. But the commitment to it revealed Baylor was the more physical team Saturday.
>As much as this offense gobbled up the yards, let’s not kid ourselves. This was a game where Baylor leaned on this defense to win it. And it did. I’ll say it again: Baylor’s defense won this games. Let’s start with the notable numbers. Baylor eliminated an already mediocre Oklahoma State running attack as it held it to eight yards. It recorded six sacks of Oklahoma State quarterback Mason Rudolph. It forced OSU without a score for six consecutive possessions. There were nine tackles for loss. And there really wasn’t a lot of defensive linemen used.
>Let’s continue with the substance: I tweeted out that nickel back Travon Blanchard may be the best defensive player on this team with no disrespect to Andrew Billings. Well, we can debate that. But Blanchard’s rise as a leader with this unit is unmistakable. I can’t remember a time where he hasn’t been out of position or taken the wrong angle. He’s solid in run support. If he’s used as an extra safety in pass coverage, that’s no problem. Blanchard was meant to play this position. Better games tonight for the linebackers. Aiavion Edwards might have been the best of all of them.
>Billings is through the ankle sprain. Along with his two sacks and 2.5 tackles for loss, I think back to the intentional grounding flag he forced of Rudolph at the end of the first half. Billings is taking on a double team and is pushing his blockers straight into Rudolph. As that happens, he extends his left arm to harass Rudolph who just has to get rid of it. I think of the line from Tombstone: “You ever seen anything like that before? Hell, I ain’t ever heard of anything like that.’’ That’s just pure ability. There’s not a lick of coaching in that.
>The harassment frustrated Rudolph. He completed some oh-by-the-way throws in the fourth quarter. But that was only good enough for 27-50. He threw for 430 yards and three TDs. I consider his numbers in the fourth quarter empty. This game was over after the third quarter.
>It is odd to single out the defense on a night where it didn’t force a turnover. That snapped a string of 25 consecutive games where it has forced at least one. I said Baylor needed three to win the game. However, when you physically beat somebody up, that’s a pretty good substitute.
>Hollywood could not have written a better script for Johnson. Stidham has back, hand and ankle injuries (pretty much a statue since the middle of the second quarter) and doesn’t return for the second half. So in his first possession in a game of his career where something is really at stake, Johnson directs an 11-play 81-yard drive that finishes in a 39-yard TD pass to KD Cannon. Given Stidham’s health, Johnson probably received a lot of snaps during the week. It showed. He was 5-10 for 138 yards with two touchdowns and an interception. He also closed out the win with his 4-yard TD run. Maybe the good thing about it was that he didn’t have time to freak out about going into this. He just had to get ready, do what the coaches told him and go play. Don't think. Just do.
>I’ve been pretty tough on KD Cannon because he’s pretty much acting like a crybaby for a good part of the year. However, something happened for the better for him starting with the Kansas State game. I couldn’t tell you if he did some soul searching, did extra work, talked about a lot of things with the coaches or maybe put some personal things in order. But the sophomore slump is over. He was 5-210 and 2 TD. The quality of the catches where there was traffic was the most impressive thing of all. He didn’t take plays off. He did his job. This is what he should be like Friday in Fort Worth, Dec. 5 against Texas and whatever the postseason may hold.
>Drew Galitz is nails as a punter. Chris Callahan is a solid kicker as long as you don’t ask him to do anything from more than 40 yards. Ishmael Zamora is really settling in as a kick returner.
>I want to save the best for last – the offensive line of LT Spencer Drango, LG Blake Muir, C Kyle Fuller, RG Jarell Broxton and RT Pat Colbert. For about one month, this group had not been playing very. It allowed decent defensive fronts to have its way. The challenge of facing this Oklahoma State defensive line seemed to be more than an uphill battle. From the opening possession, this group held the high ground. Talented Cowboy DE Emmanuel Ogbah got a sack and forced and recovered a fumble. But the rest of that front four was neutralized. This quintet probably got tired of hearing about how average it has been and more than met the challenge.
>Now, we move on to Rivalry Week with Friday’s game at TCU in Amon Carter Stadium. This will be meeting No. 111. Baylor leads, 52-51-7 and has won the last two meetings by a total of six points. A depleted TCU team was really impressive in its comeback at Oklahoma, losing 30-29. By the way, I had no problem with Gary Patterson going for two to try and take the lead. He had momentum. Oklahoma had to make a play and did.
>Friday after Thanksgiving is coming. It should be an amazing week as we prepare to talk about arguably the best rivalry in college football.
