Arizona’s defense to present a challenge to Baylor passing attack
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Coming off a 55-28 drubbing at the hands of Utah last Saturday, the Baylor Bears (5-5) will face off against another squad of talented pass defenders on the road vs. the Arizona Wildcats (7-3).
Arizona fields a secondary of talented ball-hawks that will challenge Baylor quarterback Sawyer Robertson, who leads the nation in passing yards (3,210) and passing yards per game (321).
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Arizona will look to stop Robertson’s favorite target, receiver Josh Cameron. Cameron has hauled in 60 catches for 746 yards and seven touchdowns. Last week, Cameron posted a season-high 13 catches for 165 yards and two touchdowns in the loss to Utah.
The Wildcats' pass defense ranks No. 7 nationally and has allowed 159.5 yards per game through the air. They are the best in the Big 12 Conference at defending the pass and tied for first in INTs with 14. Through 10 games, Arizona has allowed just eight TD passes and has picked off 14 passes.
Arizona has an opportunistic defense
An opportunistic unit, the Wildcats have posted five games with multiple INTs, including two games with three picks each. In addition, in 10 games, the Arizona pass defense has produced the following:
- 2 games over 200 yards
- 3 games of less than 100 yards passing
- Did not allow a TD pass until week 6
- Allowed 52.2 percent completion rate
- Only two games of over 60 percent completion rate
While Robertson passed for 430 yards and added three touchdowns to his national-leading total against Utah, he also added two INTs to his stat total, including a pick six. And he completed just 49 percent of his passes.
It was Robertson’s second game of the season with less than 50 percent completion rate. Robertson must cut down on those mistakes and not try to do too much and succumb to the pressure of winning. Just as important, the Bears must finish drives in the red zone and score touchdowns and not settle for field goals.
With two games left, Baylor is aiming for at least six wins to become bowl eligible for the second consecutive season.
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Tony comes to On SI with six years of experience writing about sports online. His work has been published on such sites as The Gridiron News, Mike Farrell Sports, YardBarker, Athlon Sports and College Football Backers. Tony is a U.S. Air Force veteran and is a member of the Football Writers Association of America (FWAA).
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