By Kevin Lonnquist
Publisher
Baylor picked up a well-earned 38-35 victory on Saturday at Oklahoma. The Bears control their Big 12 title game appearance hopes as they won their third straight game.
Dave Aranda’s program now sits at 6-3 and 4-2 as it prepares to play Kansas State at 6:00 p.m. Saturday night (FS1) at McLane Stadium. The Bears have won the last four meetings against the Wildcats. Call this an elimination game.
So what was trending from a buying and selling mode from Oklahoma? SicEmSports continues its new segment that began with the conference opener against Iowa State and runs through the rest of the season.
Buying: Offensive line
A few weeks ago, this group landed in the selling category. But since West Virginia, this has been the group that has performed at 2021 levels. Regardless of Oklahoma’s rushing defense issues, the Bears played to that strength for 281 yards and averaged 5.9 yards per carry. The return of Khalil Keith helps. But this surge started to come before he permanently was inserted against Texas Tech. Baylor is fourth in the Big 12 in rushing offense (210.3) but that number has been climbing since West Virginia.
Selling: Passing game
This has become erratic over the last several weeks. Wind notwithstanding, Blake Shapen was marginal against Kansas, then was good at Texas Tech followed by last week’s clunker against the Sooners. If you watched the game and listened to analyst Ryan Leaf (a former college/NFL QB), he was right about Shapen’s mechanics being out of sync. On a couple of occasions, Shapen’s footwork was poor. That needs to be corrected. That might be part of the reason why Shapen has thrown five interceptions in the last five games.
Buying: TOP
Sometimes, time of possession can be misleading because of how other things happen in a game. However, if your running game is really good and you win, it goes together. Not only have the Bears won this category during the three-game winning streak they have dominated it. They possessed it for 40 minutes against Kansas, 40 minutes against Texas Tech and nearly 34 minutes at Oklahoma. And it's a little more impressive because they haven’t been clean holding the football.
Selling: Third down
Actually, Baylor has been really good in this category for the season converting at 45 percent. The Bears just had a problem at 4-for-13 against Oklahoma. But then you can look at it like this: the Bears were 7-16 in gotta-have-it situations because in three of those failed conversions, they converted on fourth down.
Buying: Turnover margin
As critical as I have been about the defense, the ball hawking is back. This team has collected eight interceptions in the last two games. Before Texas Tech, the turnover ratio was -3. After Oklahoma, it’s +3. That’s called flipping the script. The impressive part what they did to Gabriel is that he came into that game having thrown just one interception for the season. His season total is now four. Keep doing that and Dec. 3 has a chance.
PFF OL Grades
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. We’ll break it down from run blocking, pass blocking and overall in that order.
Grant Miller: 75 snaps, 65.0 run, 80.7 pass = 67.5 overall
Jacob Gall: 75 snaps, 72.7 run, 84.4 pass = 78.6 overall
Khalil Keith: 70 snaps, 61.3 run, 76.0 pass = 66.0 overall
Gavin Byers: 5 snaps, 59.7 run, 72.3 pass = 61.1 overall
Micah Mazzccua: 75, snaps, 55.8 run, 49.7 pass = 52.9 overall
Connor Galvin: 75 snaps, 72.4 run, 79.1 pass = 76.8 overall
Publisher
Baylor picked up a well-earned 38-35 victory on Saturday at Oklahoma. The Bears control their Big 12 title game appearance hopes as they won their third straight game.
Dave Aranda’s program now sits at 6-3 and 4-2 as it prepares to play Kansas State at 6:00 p.m. Saturday night (FS1) at McLane Stadium. The Bears have won the last four meetings against the Wildcats. Call this an elimination game.
So what was trending from a buying and selling mode from Oklahoma? SicEmSports continues its new segment that began with the conference opener against Iowa State and runs through the rest of the season.
Buying: Offensive line
A few weeks ago, this group landed in the selling category. But since West Virginia, this has been the group that has performed at 2021 levels. Regardless of Oklahoma’s rushing defense issues, the Bears played to that strength for 281 yards and averaged 5.9 yards per carry. The return of Khalil Keith helps. But this surge started to come before he permanently was inserted against Texas Tech. Baylor is fourth in the Big 12 in rushing offense (210.3) but that number has been climbing since West Virginia.
Selling: Passing game
This has become erratic over the last several weeks. Wind notwithstanding, Blake Shapen was marginal against Kansas, then was good at Texas Tech followed by last week’s clunker against the Sooners. If you watched the game and listened to analyst Ryan Leaf (a former college/NFL QB), he was right about Shapen’s mechanics being out of sync. On a couple of occasions, Shapen’s footwork was poor. That needs to be corrected. That might be part of the reason why Shapen has thrown five interceptions in the last five games.
Buying: TOP
Sometimes, time of possession can be misleading because of how other things happen in a game. However, if your running game is really good and you win, it goes together. Not only have the Bears won this category during the three-game winning streak they have dominated it. They possessed it for 40 minutes against Kansas, 40 minutes against Texas Tech and nearly 34 minutes at Oklahoma. And it's a little more impressive because they haven’t been clean holding the football.
Selling: Third down
Actually, Baylor has been really good in this category for the season converting at 45 percent. The Bears just had a problem at 4-for-13 against Oklahoma. But then you can look at it like this: the Bears were 7-16 in gotta-have-it situations because in three of those failed conversions, they converted on fourth down.
Buying: Turnover margin
As critical as I have been about the defense, the ball hawking is back. This team has collected eight interceptions in the last two games. Before Texas Tech, the turnover ratio was -3. After Oklahoma, it’s +3. That’s called flipping the script. The impressive part what they did to Gabriel is that he came into that game having thrown just one interception for the season. His season total is now four. Keep doing that and Dec. 3 has a chance.
PFF OL Grades
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. We’ll break it down from run blocking, pass blocking and overall in that order.
Grant Miller: 75 snaps, 65.0 run, 80.7 pass = 67.5 overall
Jacob Gall: 75 snaps, 72.7 run, 84.4 pass = 78.6 overall
Khalil Keith: 70 snaps, 61.3 run, 76.0 pass = 66.0 overall
Gavin Byers: 5 snaps, 59.7 run, 72.3 pass = 61.1 overall
Micah Mazzccua: 75, snaps, 55.8 run, 49.7 pass = 52.9 overall
Connor Galvin: 75 snaps, 72.4 run, 79.1 pass = 76.8 overall
