By Kevin Lonnquist
Publisher
Baylor headed to its bye week following a 36-25 loss at McLane Stadium to Oklahoma State. The Bears had their nine-game home winning streak snapped.
The Bears are 3-2 and 1-1 as they get 10 days before they travel to Morgantown, WV to face an embattled West Virginia squad.
So what was trending from a buying and selling mode? SicEmSports continues its new segment that began with the conference opener against Iowa State and runs through the rest of the season.
Buying: Monaray Baldwin
He’s a lot of fun with the ball in his hands as evidenced from the 70-yard catch and run for his second touchdown of the game. His Yards after Catch are pretty impressive. When he caught that TD pass he probably ran away from the defenders for the last 30 yards. Baldwin has big-play ability in him. He’s not ready to ascend to the throne of the alpha. Just has to keep grinding.
Selling: Special Teams
Yes, you can easily point to the gaffes on the two Oklahoma State kickoff returns in the second half that either were a touchdown or led to a touchdown. You can also get after Gavin Holmes for some poor decisions in the punt return game. They were rough. But when your punter is not used in obvious punting situations (see the 4th and 2 at the Baylor 33 in the middle of the third quarter), that’s disappointing. Issac Power is such a weapon. Use him! A punt is not a bad thing.
Buying: Penalties
After the nightmare in Provo, this is going in the right direction. Baylor isn’t beating itself. The Bears were only flagged twice for 10 yards against Oklahoma State. It’s been trending really well the last three games. Baylor was 5-55 against Texas State – not terrible – followed by 3-30 at Iowa State – very good. If you get beat because the other team beats you, that’s fine. If self-inflicted wounds lead to a loss, then there’s a lot more going on.
Selling: Defensive backs play
But a little of this is on the defensive front, which really must consistently apply the heat on the opposing QB to give this group a chance. That front hasn’t been the force like we anticipated. That leads to an inexperienced group sitting on an island. Still, there must be ownership. It didn’t sound good when Dave Aranda said in his postgame presser: “It’s almost like quicksand, you feel. Wherever you step, you’re going to get sunk in. So, that may be where we’re at a little bit. I think our ability to, ‘Hey, dude, you’ve got all the tools, you’ve got all the ability.’ One thing doesn’t affect the other thing. Let’s take the emotion out, let’s focus on what we can do better.”
Buying: The bye week
There has to be some hope of the things that were addressed with presumably the offensive line related to the running game, getting the defensive line to have a little more umph in it as well as helping the corners produce some good results. Fundamentals. Attention to details. Those items had to matter this week. If it shows up against West Virginia, that’s a positive start. Then it needs to continue with a couple of extra days to prepare for homecoming against Kansas. Win or lose, if West Virginia is a continuation of what’s been going on for the first five games, then it’s probably what you should expect for the remainder of the season. A team's personality and playing traits are really difficult to flip in the middle of the season. But there can be tweaks to stop the leaks.
Report Card: Offensive Line
Thanks to Rivals’ relationship with Pro Football Focus, each week we’ll share with you how Baylor’s offensive line graded from the previous week. This one comes following Oklahoma State. We’ll break it down from run blocking, pass blocking and overall in that order.
Grant Miller: 85.9 run, 84.8 pass = 83.2 overall
Jacob Gall: 78.8 run, 81.3 pass = 82.9 overall
Mose Jeffery: 64.7 run, 75.7 pass = 66.5 overall
Gavin Byers: 55.5 run, 63.0 pass = 59.0 overall
Micah Mazzccua: 91.9 run, 61.9 pass = 84.7 overall
Connor Galvin: 42.0 run, 27.3 pass = 37.2 overall
Publisher
Baylor headed to its bye week following a 36-25 loss at McLane Stadium to Oklahoma State. The Bears had their nine-game home winning streak snapped.
The Bears are 3-2 and 1-1 as they get 10 days before they travel to Morgantown, WV to face an embattled West Virginia squad.
So what was trending from a buying and selling mode? SicEmSports continues its new segment that began with the conference opener against Iowa State and runs through the rest of the season.
Buying: Monaray Baldwin
He’s a lot of fun with the ball in his hands as evidenced from the 70-yard catch and run for his second touchdown of the game. His Yards after Catch are pretty impressive. When he caught that TD pass he probably ran away from the defenders for the last 30 yards. Baldwin has big-play ability in him. He’s not ready to ascend to the throne of the alpha. Just has to keep grinding.
Selling: Special Teams
Yes, you can easily point to the gaffes on the two Oklahoma State kickoff returns in the second half that either were a touchdown or led to a touchdown. You can also get after Gavin Holmes for some poor decisions in the punt return game. They were rough. But when your punter is not used in obvious punting situations (see the 4th and 2 at the Baylor 33 in the middle of the third quarter), that’s disappointing. Issac Power is such a weapon. Use him! A punt is not a bad thing.
Buying: Penalties
After the nightmare in Provo, this is going in the right direction. Baylor isn’t beating itself. The Bears were only flagged twice for 10 yards against Oklahoma State. It’s been trending really well the last three games. Baylor was 5-55 against Texas State – not terrible – followed by 3-30 at Iowa State – very good. If you get beat because the other team beats you, that’s fine. If self-inflicted wounds lead to a loss, then there’s a lot more going on.
Selling: Defensive backs play
But a little of this is on the defensive front, which really must consistently apply the heat on the opposing QB to give this group a chance. That front hasn’t been the force like we anticipated. That leads to an inexperienced group sitting on an island. Still, there must be ownership. It didn’t sound good when Dave Aranda said in his postgame presser: “It’s almost like quicksand, you feel. Wherever you step, you’re going to get sunk in. So, that may be where we’re at a little bit. I think our ability to, ‘Hey, dude, you’ve got all the tools, you’ve got all the ability.’ One thing doesn’t affect the other thing. Let’s take the emotion out, let’s focus on what we can do better.”
Buying: The bye week
There has to be some hope of the things that were addressed with presumably the offensive line related to the running game, getting the defensive line to have a little more umph in it as well as helping the corners produce some good results. Fundamentals. Attention to details. Those items had to matter this week. If it shows up against West Virginia, that’s a positive start. Then it needs to continue with a couple of extra days to prepare for homecoming against Kansas. Win or lose, if West Virginia is a continuation of what’s been going on for the first five games, then it’s probably what you should expect for the remainder of the season. A team's personality and playing traits are really difficult to flip in the middle of the season. But there can be tweaks to stop the leaks.
Report Card: Offensive Line
Thanks to Rivals’ relationship with Pro Football Focus, each week we’ll share with you how Baylor’s offensive line graded from the previous week. This one comes following Oklahoma State. We’ll break it down from run blocking, pass blocking and overall in that order.
Grant Miller: 85.9 run, 84.8 pass = 83.2 overall
Jacob Gall: 78.8 run, 81.3 pass = 82.9 overall
Mose Jeffery: 64.7 run, 75.7 pass = 66.5 overall
Gavin Byers: 55.5 run, 63.0 pass = 59.0 overall
Micah Mazzccua: 91.9 run, 61.9 pass = 84.7 overall
Connor Galvin: 42.0 run, 27.3 pass = 37.2 overall