By Kevin Lonnquist
Publisher
Baylor couldn’t hold an early 10-point lead last Thursday in Milan Puskar Stadium against West Virginia and wound up falling, 43-40. A chip shot 22-yard field goal with 33 seconds to play was the difference.
The Bears are 3-3 and 1-2 as they have two extra days to prepare for Homecoming on Saturday against Kansas (11:00 a.m., ESPN2) at McLane Stadium.
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: WR Gavin Holmes
How can you not go back to him following his performance? His day – 7-210 1TD – was the most receiving yards for a Bear since the 2016 Cactus Bowl, when KD Cannon went over 200 yards. More importantly, Holmes bounced back from the Oklahoma State nightmare. That shows leadership, setting the example for every player in the locker room to just keep playing and fighting through adversity. Holmes would know all about that given his injury history.
Selling: Defensive Line
Sooner or later, you can’t keep saying to yourself, “Well, let’s wait and see what happens against Team X to know what we really have.’’ It would have to be finding the golden ticket for this to flip the right way. We’re halfway through this season and the front has been arguably the biggest disappointment on this team. Stopping the run has been a hit and miss thing. The biggest problem is that it cannot manufacture a pass rush. When opposing QBs can survey the field as long as they can, that leaves an inexperienced secondary exposed.
Buying: QB Kyron Drones
If the redshirt freshman is preparing to start on Saturday against Kansas, I wouldn’t be too worried. He came in last week and handled a stressful situation well. Drones has a big arm. Even the 2-yard TD pass to Hal Presley had some zip on it. He finished 7-14-1 95 1 TD. The gameplan probably will be simplified. You could expect the running factor to be a part of it. At the very least, you have the question answered if Baylor’s backup QB can do this.
Selling: The little things
Of course, turnovers are not a little thing. They can flip a ballgame. West Virginia scored 14 points off three Baylor turnovers including a fumble return. Then mix in the rare blocked PAT returned for two points and that’s 16 points. Finally, Baylor’s 3rd down defense was really good coming into that game, allowing just 35 percent on attempts. The Mountaineers were 7-of-13 (54 percent).
Buying: Moving forward
If this team can put the consecutive losses to Oklahoma State and West Virginia in the right frame of mind, it should be fine for Kansas. And that may not matter how the starting quarterback situation unfolds for this game. But I will caution that this game is going to test the Bears’ resolve because of this adversity. They need to respond to it. I think this team will. It may not be pretty. All that counts is getting a W.
Publisher
Baylor couldn’t hold an early 10-point lead last Thursday in Milan Puskar Stadium against West Virginia and wound up falling, 43-40. A chip shot 22-yard field goal with 33 seconds to play was the difference.
The Bears are 3-3 and 1-2 as they have two extra days to prepare for Homecoming on Saturday against Kansas (11:00 a.m., ESPN2) at McLane Stadium.
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: WR Gavin Holmes
How can you not go back to him following his performance? His day – 7-210 1TD – was the most receiving yards for a Bear since the 2016 Cactus Bowl, when KD Cannon went over 200 yards. More importantly, Holmes bounced back from the Oklahoma State nightmare. That shows leadership, setting the example for every player in the locker room to just keep playing and fighting through adversity. Holmes would know all about that given his injury history.
Selling: Defensive Line
Sooner or later, you can’t keep saying to yourself, “Well, let’s wait and see what happens against Team X to know what we really have.’’ It would have to be finding the golden ticket for this to flip the right way. We’re halfway through this season and the front has been arguably the biggest disappointment on this team. Stopping the run has been a hit and miss thing. The biggest problem is that it cannot manufacture a pass rush. When opposing QBs can survey the field as long as they can, that leaves an inexperienced secondary exposed.
Buying: QB Kyron Drones
If the redshirt freshman is preparing to start on Saturday against Kansas, I wouldn’t be too worried. He came in last week and handled a stressful situation well. Drones has a big arm. Even the 2-yard TD pass to Hal Presley had some zip on it. He finished 7-14-1 95 1 TD. The gameplan probably will be simplified. You could expect the running factor to be a part of it. At the very least, you have the question answered if Baylor’s backup QB can do this.
Selling: The little things
Of course, turnovers are not a little thing. They can flip a ballgame. West Virginia scored 14 points off three Baylor turnovers including a fumble return. Then mix in the rare blocked PAT returned for two points and that’s 16 points. Finally, Baylor’s 3rd down defense was really good coming into that game, allowing just 35 percent on attempts. The Mountaineers were 7-of-13 (54 percent).
Buying: Moving forward
If this team can put the consecutive losses to Oklahoma State and West Virginia in the right frame of mind, it should be fine for Kansas. And that may not matter how the starting quarterback situation unfolds for this game. But I will caution that this game is going to test the Bears’ resolve because of this adversity. They need to respond to it. I think this team will. It may not be pretty. All that counts is getting a W.
