Beating Baylor on the Road Would Further Legitimize Oklahoma

“If you’re looking for somebody that’s fearful as a coach or as a team, you’re not going to find it on University Parks Drive (a street in Waco where Baylor’s facilities are located)”.

For the first time this season, Baylor didn’t dominate the line of scrimmage against Kansas State. Now Baylor or Oklahoma has the opportunity to step up.

Oklahoma is 8-1 on the year, 5-1 in the Big 12, 7-2 against the spread and 6-3 with the over. He has fewer yards and touchdowns than Bradford did in 2008, but he has a higher completion percentage, fewer interceptions, and more rushing yards and touchdowns.

Both Stoops, Bob and Mike, said there was value in playing the Golden Hurricane earlier this season but everyone in crimson and cream understands Baylor is a completely different proposition. Rhoads’ team has taken on five teams that now appear in The Associated Press Top 25.

“They were having their way with us”, defensive coordinator Wally Burnham said. I want to play to the best of my ability. But so do we. Houston, on the other hand, barely held onto its undefeated record with 33-30 win against Cincinnati. He has run for nine TDs on the year and has caught another. The problems were more complex than just how big the opponent was, but the solution couldn’t be any simplier. A loss makes it much harder for them from here on out. They did keep Oklahoma without a point in the second quarter, but the Sooners started making throws in the flat that ISU struggled to stop.

Keeping Oklahoma State from first down success is imperative. The Bears had their NCAA-record-tying streak of five straight games of at least 60 points snapped (the record was established by Oklahoma in 2008). “Even though I am a freshman, we’re going to keep firing on all cylinders”. We just created that difference, and we’re playing from behind the entire time. Stidham was highly productive in his first start after the injury to Seth Russell, but he’s never been in a moment as the one that he’ll be in the heart of on Saturday night. Baylor’s Shock Linwood, a name right out of the WWE, is a stud and has to be put into hibernation for OU to have a viable shot at leaving Waco with the “W”.

Scouting the passing game: If Stidham can throw the ball at the clip he did against Kansas State, it might not matter if the Bears are able to reignite their running game or not.

Another WR stole the show in James Washington of Oklahoma State, racking up 184 yards and 3 touchdowns, essentially dropping TCU from the playoff picture. K-State quarterback Joe Hubener ran for 153 yards and scored twice.

Either you leave those safeties deep and deal with death by a thousand paper cuts via the run or you play man coverage outside.

The other issue for Baylor moving forward is their defense. LB Grant Campbell posted a sack for 15 yards, but it was the only time the Bears got to the KSU QB.

Scouting the special teams: The Bears were somewhere between not great and bad against Kansas State. Oklahoma is not quite at the top of the pecking order for one-loss teams, so Sooner fans should be rooting for Mississippi State (against Alabama), Wake Forest (against Notre Dame), OR (against Stanford), Arkansas (against LSU), and SC (against Florida) this week. Striker has 11.0 tackles for loss over the last four games. “You’d think maybe they’d come in here one of these Mondays and say, ‘Aw, another top 25 team”. The plan was to match Baylor’s quick strikes, as the score heading into halftime was at 28-21 thanks to the Mustangs scoring on the first play on offense. The massive, intimidating defensive end had three solo tackles and no superlatives.

LT Spencer Drango and Baylor’s offense line vs. LB Eric Striker and the Oklahoma pass rush.