3 Important Quotes From Dave Aranda After Baylor's Win Over Prairie View — Shine Light on Offense
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Even after a blow-out victory over Prairie View A&M, there are still improvements that can be made to this Baylor team. Coach Dave Aranda spoke about some of the highs and lows of the offense's performance. From praising Nate Bennett for his effort in his first collegiate start to showing frustration in penalties from the offensive line. We'll be looking over a few of Coach Aranda's quotes and providing our editorial takes on them.
DJ Lagway's Replacement Due to Injury Nate Bennett Seemed Poised and Prepared
Coach Aranda: "Yeah, I thought his preparation was right on. I thought, real confident dude. And his attention to detail and his routine throughout the week, I thought, couldn't be any better. And Spav was singing his praises all throughout the week in terms of, he's seeing this. He's making these checks. He had a great check today for a touchdown. And I thought that his preparation put him in a position to play fast and play free, which I thought he did.
"I didn't see a lot of thinking out there or a lot of double-guessing or any of those things. I think there's a couple plays we'd like to take back. But I think for just the moment and how long, from where he's been and what he's had to overcome and the hurdles that he's had to go through, it's really cool to see him have this moment. He was really happy. I thought his joy transferred over to a lot of guys.
Our Take: Bennett looked very competent in the offense. He could perhaps use a bit more work on fine tuning either his timing or distance judgment, but Bennett has an impressive arm on him. The few plays that Coach Aranda would "like to take back" can be speculated to be the two interceptions thrown by Bennett because, of course, a drive ending in one play due to a turnover (as happened to the Bears with about ten minutes to go in the second quarter) is never the plan.
The interceptions may not have influenced the outcome of the game this time, but if Bennett is to start the next game against Louisiana Tech, it can be reasonably believed that the available footage will be viewed and studied deeply in effort to mimic those same results.
Coach Aranda could have played things very conservatively this week with needing to use a new quarterback, but then I remembered that this is Coach Aranda and he's going to try to win as efficiently as possible. Bennett's night could have been spent handing the ball off to Dawson Pendergrass or Caden Knighten (or even Michael Turner) on every play only to occasionally attempt very safe and high percentage screen and bubble routes otherwise.
However, only a few plays into Bennett's first drive as a starting quarterback and he nearly completes a long ball to Louis Brown IV that (even though slightly overthrown) still connected with Brown's hands. While that particular pass fell incomplete, Bennett would end up throwing for over 300 yards total and two passing touchdowns while using his feet to earn another on a 19 yard run.
With Jadon Porter Injured, How Important is it for Other Receivers (Like Jayden McGowan) to Step Up?
Coach Aranda: "Yeah, it was a huge deal for us. Yeah, I mean, we were hoping. I'm not sure when we're going to get JP back. And so we're hoping as soon as possible. But Jayden McGowan is someone that's coming back from surgery himself. And he's been at a couple schools. You look at film from a couple schools ago, way dynamic, unbelievably dynamic film. His highlight film when he was at Vanderbilt is amazing to look at.
"And we're at a spot where we were looking for someone, and he was available. And he has loved everything about Baylor and has really kind of taken up. He's smiling more than I thought he would. I thought when he first came in here it was going to be kind of a tough nut to crack. And he's really taken the community and the school. And it's cool to see him have success. When he first got here, his knee was a little gimpy. But he's healthy now, and he's fast, fast. And so we got to get him the ball a little bit more."
Our Take: The Bears have a deep receiving corps that are all hungry for receptions, and a head coach willing to throw the ball. This is the best-case scenario kind of problem for a football team to have, a team full of capable receivers. If the offensive line is able to improve and stay healthy, it won't matter who's in the backfield, Lagway or Bennett, if they have receivers like Freeman, McGowan, Miller, and Brown IV for them to throw to.
On the Offensive Line's Performance Against Prairie View A&M
Coach Aranda: "We had one particular guy had a bunch of penalties. And we have got to fix that. That's very aggravating for him, too. And so right now, O-line-wise, we're at a spot to where, man, I think you can see the promise of it. You could see if everything's working, what it could be. And we got to get there soon. We're not there yet. We took some steps forward to that today. But like I say, it's two steps forward, one step back.
"It's penalty here.It's a false start. We have to clean that up. And so I think that, to me, that's the part that's missing right now with us, is to get that totally fine-tuned, because we're going to need it to be. We're going to have to run the ball when they know we're going to run it, and we know we're going to run it, and everyone knows we're going to run it, but we're still going to run it. And we got the guys to do that. We're not in a position to do that right now, though."
Our Take: With every one of Baylor's four false-start penalties attributed to Offensive Lineman Asher Hale, the frustration is understandable. It's not an unfixable problem though, and that's the silver lining here. The coaching staff will work with him, fellow players will assist, and the hope is that next week Hale will have improved and be able to keep from committing an otherwise needless penalty at home.
Four holding calls by one player in a game could be explained away as the player doing the most that they can to prevent the opponent from getting to the ball. Four false start penalties and a holding penalty by one player in a home game though? The whole job was to not move until everyone else does. Frustrating? Yes. Fixable? Also yes.
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Brad is a writer and contributes to the Baylor Bears on SI, with aspirations to share his own unique thoughts and perspectives with fans. Whether through the facts and figures of the past or the untold potential and triumphs of the future, sports have always been a large influence on Brad's storytelling and life overall. His inspiration to write began while watching sports when he first noticed the highs and lows of each game, each quarter, each play; there's a story in each of them worth telling, and he wanted to tell them.
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