Demolize absolutely digs this opening segment. So he couldn’t resist and asked what could be done to have some Yacht Rock placed here. Well, I told him that would depend on his artist of choice. He said Michael McDonald. And I said well, we would need an interpreter since no one can really understand what he’s singing anyway. Then I asked him about the Doobie Brothers. That got a thumbs up.
****
Ok, so we’re through Week 1 of the Baylor’s 2015 season. We’ve discussed, debated and got a little heated about the way things went in the 56-21 victory over SMU.
But message boards are an interesting frontier. We can sit around like the Grinch (remember the scene when his mouth curled up about him puzzling and puzzling?) and try to analyze why the first half was so not what anyone was expecting and how the second half turned into what everyone was expecting.
But this segment and Monday should be the last day to analyze it before the attention turns toward Lamar. There’s really not a lot for me to review beyond what I posted in the wee hours of Saturday.
What I will say is that I thought SMU made more plays than I thought it would be capable of making. So to see the Mustangs come within nine yards of tying this game in the closing seconds of the first half caught me by surprise.
Two thoughts about the missed tackling. First, I think this can be attributed to programs reducing the amount of contact during the week. While I do believe that’s a good thing, there’s going to be a tradeoff. This can be a muscle memory thing. But form tackling is becoming a lost art. Plus, you still have guys that want to make the Saturday night highlight reel for the big hit instead of doing their job.
Yet you remember the five answers I gave to our SMU colleagues and told them that Baylor would just be too much because this is the fastest team and most athletic team SMU will see this year. That played out perfectly.
I think we can agree that this group may be one of the five fastest teams in all of college football. It could be the fastest. But the aggregate of 40s and 100s between Baylor against others won’t settle it.
Regardless, it’s a first game. Baylor handled its business. It finalized as a dominant win. The Bears still had other gears in the fourth quarter. SMU was pretty much out of gas as the 3rd quarter expired.
In my lifetime of watching football, I don’t think I’ve ever witnessed the perfect game in all three phases. Coaches can say their teams played as good as they can. Yet they are notorious micro managers so they’re going to nitpick on a lot of things that the film will show. Show me a content coach and I’ll show you a coach is no longer in the industry.
That’s just the way this industry is.
This is really going to be a great football team provided it can get through the season free of distractions. As for Shawn Oakman and Orion Stewart, the rumors – fact or not – about their suspension appear to be more of a compliance issue. Well, that seems to be the case when it comes to Oakman.
They return this week. Hopefully, they understand the consequences of their actions. Baylor certainly doesn’t need this to be a recurring theme for the season. It could derail everything that has been built into this. I have no doubt there are more Baylor fans hoping that what occurred over the weekend will be last of this. Of course, we thought the news cycle with Sam Ukwuachu was in the collective rear view mirror.
To be honest, I hope it’s over. But if it isn’t, it’s our job to report on it – good, bad or indifferent.
Now, it’s time to move on to this week’s exhibition game against FCS Lamar. I don’t mean to disrespect the Cardinals. But there’s a reason why these are called guarantee games. Baylor is cutting a six-figure check so Lamar can enjoy the experience of playing in its biggest atmosphere of the season, get beat soundly and return to Beaumont knowing that it can take some positives moving forward for the rest of the season.
****
I really wish I could give you an answer about Baylor’s future out of conference scheduling. I know the frustration continues to build after that 2-for-1 Texas State series was slipped into the 2015 media guide.
I’m not sure why there’s a trip to San Marcos in 2022 unless you want to make a weekend of it and head to Schlitterbahn in New Braunfels. But then I’m sure Oklahoma State fans were wondering what the deal was with their Cowboys agreeing to go play a game in Mount Pleasant, MI against Central Michigan of the Mid-American Conference.
I don’t believe Baylor is purposely avoiding big P5 teams. In the spring, I reported Baylor had a series set with an unnamed ACC team until that program backed out. Baylor had hoped to get its game with California in Sydney, Autralia done. But the longer that process drags on, the more that game looks less likely.
There’s an interesting series with Duke. Duke may not be the name opponent like what TCU has set for the next four years Arkansas and Ohio State (those were set pretty well in advance if I remember correctly). But the Blue Devils did play for an ACC championship two years ago. David Cutcliffe has built a pretty solid program. Who knows what it will look like when the series starts in 2017 in Durham, N.C.
But it’s just the way it is. If the Cal game doesn’t happen, then you’re OOC opponents in 2016-2020 are going to be SMU, Duke, Rice, Northwestern St. and UTSA. Baylor is still looking for a third opponent in 2019 since Incarnate Word was moved to 2020. We’ll see what happens there.
Having said that, if it works out with Arkansas for 2020, Incarnate Word will be pushed off the schedule.
****
Now to some reactions to what we saw from the first week of the Big 12 season
Texas – Let’s start here because that was pretty much of a major embarrassment in South Bend, IN against Notre Dame - a 38-3 blowout. QB Tyrone Swoopes has no business being the starting quarterback. He doesn’t have any business being in that program. Swoopes might be the worst Texas quarterback I’ve ever seen. Now, UT fans can throw offensive coordinator Shawn Watson under the bus. That’s fine. But Watson has nothing to work with. Swoopes is too slow. The game is too big for him. He’s not elusive. He’s not fast. If people really thought this conversion to the spread was going to flip everything, then they were fooling themselves. Swoopes needs to be replaced as the starting quarterback. This team isn’t going to a bowl.
Texas Tech – Pat Mahomes is one of the Top 3 QBs in this league. I love his arm. He can move an offense. I’ll give new defensive coordinator David Gibbs the benefit of the doubt for a little bit because when your program is constantly changing DCs, it’s a recipe for defensive inefficiency after defensive inefficiency. Still not a good start when an FCS program in Sam Houston St. hangs 45 on you. The Red Raiders won 59-45.
TCU – That’s a pretty young squad that Gary Patterson has on defense. But there were some soft spots in the middle that Minnesota exposed. A one-game thing? We’ll see. As for Trevone Boykin, I promise you a lot of defensive coordinators are going to use some ideas from Minnesota to go after him. Boykin is still pretty loose with the football. He better not be on the road in Stillwater and Norman this year. TCU was the better team in the 23-17 win.
Oklahoma – Well, 41 points was a solid start for new offensive coordinator Lincoln Riley (41-3 over Akron). Baker Mayfield’s Sooner debut went very well with 388 yards. Joe Mixon is going to be a great asset to that offense. But did you see the rushing yardage? Awful.
Oklahoma State – The Cowboys played with fire with the Chippewas and got away with it, winning 24-13. Not overly impressive. But it was a trap game on the road and Mike Gundy’s team found a way to get out of it. Mason Rudolph was up and down. I think he’ll get better. Even when he was struggling, it didn’t look like Gundy had interest in bringing the hook.
Iowa State – Well, the Cyclones won the opener over Northern Iowa (31-7) and broke a string of losing consecutive season openers to FCS teams.
Kansas State – The Wildcats got the win (34-0 over South Dakota) but the story was the KSU band’s halftime performance. Yes, those crazy band people were trying to form the KU Jayhawk with a space ship crashing into it. Only the ship appeared to look more like male genitalia drawing social media chaos. School president Kirk Schulz tweeted an apology.
Kansas – Going to be a really long year for David Beaty after what happened in the 41-38 loss to South Dakota State. The Jayhawks nearly had 600 yards of total offense. They also surrendered more than 460. Boy oh boy.
West Virginia – A complete 44-0 rout of Georgia Southern. And that’s the right way for Dana Holgorsen to start his season. Remember when I told you to watch true freshman WR Jovon Durante? His debut was 3-121 with a 41-yard TD grab. That was his first college catch (a la Chris Platt).
Overall, the league went 7-2. It wasn’t an overall big wow of a debut week. It’s just that the dud Texas rolled out Saturday really casts a pall over everything. Few were expecting Texas to win. But the fact that Texas really couldn’t compete is what’s glaring. One of your flagship schools cannot go on the road and get whipped by five touchdowns. I feel bad for Charlie Strong because I think he’s set up to fail in Austin. You don’t begrudge him for taking the job. But he probably would have been better being the guy who followed the guy who followed Mack Brown.
****
Well, not a good weekend for Baylor 2016 defensive line recruiting. Hope (AR) defensive end McTelvin Agim commits to Arkansas and Euless Trinity defensive tackle Chris Daniels releases a top five and Baylor isn’t on it. Well, at least all know after weeks of him saying he was going to release it.
There was a better vibe between Baylor and Agim than there was with Daniels. But the bottom line is that neither is calling this program home on National Signing Day 2016. I realize that there was hope for Agim because of his visit at Meet the Bears on Aug. 8. But in talking to those close to his recruitment, the gap between Arkansas and the rest had widened. When Agim didn’t come to the June 6 camp in Marshall, that’s when I first thought this wasn’t going in the right direction. So Agim stays in home state. We have a couple of you subscribers who live in Arkansas, my wife is from Arkansas and my relatives live in Fayettenam (err Fayetteville) and the pressure on the top talent in that state to stay is tremendous.
With Daniels, this is a simple case of actions speaking louder than words. In the sporadic times I spoke with him and when you’ve read items from Jason Howell, he kept saying that he planned on coming to Baylor, he planned on coming to Baylor and he couldn’t find a way to get to Baylor. That’s when you know there are red flags all over this. He could get to Arkansas for a visit in July but couldn’t come 100 miles south? I don’t want to hear about each kid having different personal circumstances that prevents this or whatever. The bottom line is that Daniels wasn’t interested in Baylor as much as we thought he was. Say you can’t get a ride the first time, OK. Say it a second time, hmmm. Say it a third time, forget it.
That’s why I sincerely doubt you’ll ever see Tyrie Cleveland ever come to Baylor. He’s says he’ll come for an official visit. Let me know when that happens. To be honest, I don’t know if Baylor even feels the same way.
****
Quick thoughts…
>So far so good for the Rangers on the West Coast road trip at 3-3 with a 4-game series in Seattle starting Monday. They got the one they needed in Anaheim. Split the trip at 5-5 and that’s exactly what you want. Derek Holland has been a bulldog since his return. The offensive production from these no-name catchers has been the story few can appreciate.
>Astros were 3-3 on this homestand against Seattle and Minnesota. They still have a lot of work to do there. But they’re still three games up on the Rangers and have been in first place since May. When Dallas Keuchel allowed two solo home runs on Sunday, those were the first home runs he allowed at Minute Maid Park all year. He’s won AL Pitcher of the Month three times this year.
>Really hope Serena Williams can pull off the Grand Slam by winning the U.S. Open. She would be the first female tennis athlete to do it since Steffi Graff in 1988. Not bad when you’re 33.
>I recently saw the new Vacation movie where Rusty is grown up and takes his family to Wally World. Some funny parts. Some really really racy parts, especially in the closing credits. It didn’t live up to the 1983 original. But to expect it to equal was unrealistic. It was like my first movie in about 15 months.
****
Catching up with other Baylor sports…
> With three runners in the top eight, including the champion, the Baylor women's cross country team claimed the Bear Twilight Invitational for a ninth-straight year Tuesday at the H.O.T. Soccer Complex. The men's squad took second at the season-opening meet.
Individually for the women, junior Maggie Montoya secured the individual title with a time of 13:24.4, while Peyton Thomas (13:59.7) and Alex Davis (14:21.0) took fourth and eighth, respectively, in the 4,000-meter race.
In the men's 6K race, sophomore Eric Anderson (18:43.2) was the lead Bear with a seventh-place finish, while juniors Matt League (18:49.5) and sophomore Matt Parham (19:14.7) were eighth and 12th, respectively.
>Baylor volleyball secured a four-set victory over Cal Poly, 25-21, 25-18, 23-25, 25-23, at the Ferrell Center Saturday evening. With the win, Baylor claimed first place at the 2015 Hampton Inn North Baylor Invitational. Baylor (5-1) will travel to Dayton, OH, to compete in the Dayton Invitational, beginning with a 7 p.m. CT Friday game against Dayton. The Bears will also play a pair of matches on Saturday, facing Cleveland State at 10 a.m. CT and Eastern Illinois at 3 p.m. CT.
>Baylor soccer earned its first win of the season with a 7-1 decision over Incarnate Word Sunday afternoon at Gayle and Tom Benson Stadium. The Bears (1-4-1) used a pair of goals by Precious Akanyiridge to push ahead of the Cardinals (2-4-0), and poured on five more scores to give Paul Jobson his first win as head coach of the program. Baylor tied Sam Houston State, 1-1, this past Friday.
Let’s make it a great week.
****
Ok, so we’re through Week 1 of the Baylor’s 2015 season. We’ve discussed, debated and got a little heated about the way things went in the 56-21 victory over SMU.
But message boards are an interesting frontier. We can sit around like the Grinch (remember the scene when his mouth curled up about him puzzling and puzzling?) and try to analyze why the first half was so not what anyone was expecting and how the second half turned into what everyone was expecting.
But this segment and Monday should be the last day to analyze it before the attention turns toward Lamar. There’s really not a lot for me to review beyond what I posted in the wee hours of Saturday.
What I will say is that I thought SMU made more plays than I thought it would be capable of making. So to see the Mustangs come within nine yards of tying this game in the closing seconds of the first half caught me by surprise.
Two thoughts about the missed tackling. First, I think this can be attributed to programs reducing the amount of contact during the week. While I do believe that’s a good thing, there’s going to be a tradeoff. This can be a muscle memory thing. But form tackling is becoming a lost art. Plus, you still have guys that want to make the Saturday night highlight reel for the big hit instead of doing their job.
Yet you remember the five answers I gave to our SMU colleagues and told them that Baylor would just be too much because this is the fastest team and most athletic team SMU will see this year. That played out perfectly.
I think we can agree that this group may be one of the five fastest teams in all of college football. It could be the fastest. But the aggregate of 40s and 100s between Baylor against others won’t settle it.
Regardless, it’s a first game. Baylor handled its business. It finalized as a dominant win. The Bears still had other gears in the fourth quarter. SMU was pretty much out of gas as the 3rd quarter expired.
In my lifetime of watching football, I don’t think I’ve ever witnessed the perfect game in all three phases. Coaches can say their teams played as good as they can. Yet they are notorious micro managers so they’re going to nitpick on a lot of things that the film will show. Show me a content coach and I’ll show you a coach is no longer in the industry.
That’s just the way this industry is.
This is really going to be a great football team provided it can get through the season free of distractions. As for Shawn Oakman and Orion Stewart, the rumors – fact or not – about their suspension appear to be more of a compliance issue. Well, that seems to be the case when it comes to Oakman.
They return this week. Hopefully, they understand the consequences of their actions. Baylor certainly doesn’t need this to be a recurring theme for the season. It could derail everything that has been built into this. I have no doubt there are more Baylor fans hoping that what occurred over the weekend will be last of this. Of course, we thought the news cycle with Sam Ukwuachu was in the collective rear view mirror.
To be honest, I hope it’s over. But if it isn’t, it’s our job to report on it – good, bad or indifferent.
Now, it’s time to move on to this week’s exhibition game against FCS Lamar. I don’t mean to disrespect the Cardinals. But there’s a reason why these are called guarantee games. Baylor is cutting a six-figure check so Lamar can enjoy the experience of playing in its biggest atmosphere of the season, get beat soundly and return to Beaumont knowing that it can take some positives moving forward for the rest of the season.
****
I really wish I could give you an answer about Baylor’s future out of conference scheduling. I know the frustration continues to build after that 2-for-1 Texas State series was slipped into the 2015 media guide.
I’m not sure why there’s a trip to San Marcos in 2022 unless you want to make a weekend of it and head to Schlitterbahn in New Braunfels. But then I’m sure Oklahoma State fans were wondering what the deal was with their Cowboys agreeing to go play a game in Mount Pleasant, MI against Central Michigan of the Mid-American Conference.
I don’t believe Baylor is purposely avoiding big P5 teams. In the spring, I reported Baylor had a series set with an unnamed ACC team until that program backed out. Baylor had hoped to get its game with California in Sydney, Autralia done. But the longer that process drags on, the more that game looks less likely.
There’s an interesting series with Duke. Duke may not be the name opponent like what TCU has set for the next four years Arkansas and Ohio State (those were set pretty well in advance if I remember correctly). But the Blue Devils did play for an ACC championship two years ago. David Cutcliffe has built a pretty solid program. Who knows what it will look like when the series starts in 2017 in Durham, N.C.
But it’s just the way it is. If the Cal game doesn’t happen, then you’re OOC opponents in 2016-2020 are going to be SMU, Duke, Rice, Northwestern St. and UTSA. Baylor is still looking for a third opponent in 2019 since Incarnate Word was moved to 2020. We’ll see what happens there.
Having said that, if it works out with Arkansas for 2020, Incarnate Word will be pushed off the schedule.
****
Now to some reactions to what we saw from the first week of the Big 12 season
Texas – Let’s start here because that was pretty much of a major embarrassment in South Bend, IN against Notre Dame - a 38-3 blowout. QB Tyrone Swoopes has no business being the starting quarterback. He doesn’t have any business being in that program. Swoopes might be the worst Texas quarterback I’ve ever seen. Now, UT fans can throw offensive coordinator Shawn Watson under the bus. That’s fine. But Watson has nothing to work with. Swoopes is too slow. The game is too big for him. He’s not elusive. He’s not fast. If people really thought this conversion to the spread was going to flip everything, then they were fooling themselves. Swoopes needs to be replaced as the starting quarterback. This team isn’t going to a bowl.
Texas Tech – Pat Mahomes is one of the Top 3 QBs in this league. I love his arm. He can move an offense. I’ll give new defensive coordinator David Gibbs the benefit of the doubt for a little bit because when your program is constantly changing DCs, it’s a recipe for defensive inefficiency after defensive inefficiency. Still not a good start when an FCS program in Sam Houston St. hangs 45 on you. The Red Raiders won 59-45.
TCU – That’s a pretty young squad that Gary Patterson has on defense. But there were some soft spots in the middle that Minnesota exposed. A one-game thing? We’ll see. As for Trevone Boykin, I promise you a lot of defensive coordinators are going to use some ideas from Minnesota to go after him. Boykin is still pretty loose with the football. He better not be on the road in Stillwater and Norman this year. TCU was the better team in the 23-17 win.
Oklahoma – Well, 41 points was a solid start for new offensive coordinator Lincoln Riley (41-3 over Akron). Baker Mayfield’s Sooner debut went very well with 388 yards. Joe Mixon is going to be a great asset to that offense. But did you see the rushing yardage? Awful.
Oklahoma State – The Cowboys played with fire with the Chippewas and got away with it, winning 24-13. Not overly impressive. But it was a trap game on the road and Mike Gundy’s team found a way to get out of it. Mason Rudolph was up and down. I think he’ll get better. Even when he was struggling, it didn’t look like Gundy had interest in bringing the hook.
Iowa State – Well, the Cyclones won the opener over Northern Iowa (31-7) and broke a string of losing consecutive season openers to FCS teams.
Kansas State – The Wildcats got the win (34-0 over South Dakota) but the story was the KSU band’s halftime performance. Yes, those crazy band people were trying to form the KU Jayhawk with a space ship crashing into it. Only the ship appeared to look more like male genitalia drawing social media chaos. School president Kirk Schulz tweeted an apology.
Kansas – Going to be a really long year for David Beaty after what happened in the 41-38 loss to South Dakota State. The Jayhawks nearly had 600 yards of total offense. They also surrendered more than 460. Boy oh boy.
West Virginia – A complete 44-0 rout of Georgia Southern. And that’s the right way for Dana Holgorsen to start his season. Remember when I told you to watch true freshman WR Jovon Durante? His debut was 3-121 with a 41-yard TD grab. That was his first college catch (a la Chris Platt).
Overall, the league went 7-2. It wasn’t an overall big wow of a debut week. It’s just that the dud Texas rolled out Saturday really casts a pall over everything. Few were expecting Texas to win. But the fact that Texas really couldn’t compete is what’s glaring. One of your flagship schools cannot go on the road and get whipped by five touchdowns. I feel bad for Charlie Strong because I think he’s set up to fail in Austin. You don’t begrudge him for taking the job. But he probably would have been better being the guy who followed the guy who followed Mack Brown.
****
Well, not a good weekend for Baylor 2016 defensive line recruiting. Hope (AR) defensive end McTelvin Agim commits to Arkansas and Euless Trinity defensive tackle Chris Daniels releases a top five and Baylor isn’t on it. Well, at least all know after weeks of him saying he was going to release it.
There was a better vibe between Baylor and Agim than there was with Daniels. But the bottom line is that neither is calling this program home on National Signing Day 2016. I realize that there was hope for Agim because of his visit at Meet the Bears on Aug. 8. But in talking to those close to his recruitment, the gap between Arkansas and the rest had widened. When Agim didn’t come to the June 6 camp in Marshall, that’s when I first thought this wasn’t going in the right direction. So Agim stays in home state. We have a couple of you subscribers who live in Arkansas, my wife is from Arkansas and my relatives live in Fayettenam (err Fayetteville) and the pressure on the top talent in that state to stay is tremendous.
With Daniels, this is a simple case of actions speaking louder than words. In the sporadic times I spoke with him and when you’ve read items from Jason Howell, he kept saying that he planned on coming to Baylor, he planned on coming to Baylor and he couldn’t find a way to get to Baylor. That’s when you know there are red flags all over this. He could get to Arkansas for a visit in July but couldn’t come 100 miles south? I don’t want to hear about each kid having different personal circumstances that prevents this or whatever. The bottom line is that Daniels wasn’t interested in Baylor as much as we thought he was. Say you can’t get a ride the first time, OK. Say it a second time, hmmm. Say it a third time, forget it.
That’s why I sincerely doubt you’ll ever see Tyrie Cleveland ever come to Baylor. He’s says he’ll come for an official visit. Let me know when that happens. To be honest, I don’t know if Baylor even feels the same way.
****
Quick thoughts…
>So far so good for the Rangers on the West Coast road trip at 3-3 with a 4-game series in Seattle starting Monday. They got the one they needed in Anaheim. Split the trip at 5-5 and that’s exactly what you want. Derek Holland has been a bulldog since his return. The offensive production from these no-name catchers has been the story few can appreciate.
>Astros were 3-3 on this homestand against Seattle and Minnesota. They still have a lot of work to do there. But they’re still three games up on the Rangers and have been in first place since May. When Dallas Keuchel allowed two solo home runs on Sunday, those were the first home runs he allowed at Minute Maid Park all year. He’s won AL Pitcher of the Month three times this year.
>Really hope Serena Williams can pull off the Grand Slam by winning the U.S. Open. She would be the first female tennis athlete to do it since Steffi Graff in 1988. Not bad when you’re 33.
>I recently saw the new Vacation movie where Rusty is grown up and takes his family to Wally World. Some funny parts. Some really really racy parts, especially in the closing credits. It didn’t live up to the 1983 original. But to expect it to equal was unrealistic. It was like my first movie in about 15 months.
****
Catching up with other Baylor sports…
> With three runners in the top eight, including the champion, the Baylor women's cross country team claimed the Bear Twilight Invitational for a ninth-straight year Tuesday at the H.O.T. Soccer Complex. The men's squad took second at the season-opening meet.
Individually for the women, junior Maggie Montoya secured the individual title with a time of 13:24.4, while Peyton Thomas (13:59.7) and Alex Davis (14:21.0) took fourth and eighth, respectively, in the 4,000-meter race.
In the men's 6K race, sophomore Eric Anderson (18:43.2) was the lead Bear with a seventh-place finish, while juniors Matt League (18:49.5) and sophomore Matt Parham (19:14.7) were eighth and 12th, respectively.
>Baylor volleyball secured a four-set victory over Cal Poly, 25-21, 25-18, 23-25, 25-23, at the Ferrell Center Saturday evening. With the win, Baylor claimed first place at the 2015 Hampton Inn North Baylor Invitational. Baylor (5-1) will travel to Dayton, OH, to compete in the Dayton Invitational, beginning with a 7 p.m. CT Friday game against Dayton. The Bears will also play a pair of matches on Saturday, facing Cleveland State at 10 a.m. CT and Eastern Illinois at 3 p.m. CT.
>Baylor soccer earned its first win of the season with a 7-1 decision over Incarnate Word Sunday afternoon at Gayle and Tom Benson Stadium. The Bears (1-4-1) used a pair of goals by Precious Akanyiridge to push ahead of the Cardinals (2-4-0), and poured on five more scores to give Paul Jobson his first win as head coach of the program. Baylor tied Sam Houston State, 1-1, this past Friday.
Let’s make it a great week.
