Baylor football QB Sawyer Robertson reflects on TCU loss, looks ahead to Cincinnati

The veteran gunslinger spoke with the media about the Bears' loss to the Horned Frogs and what's ahead.

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Baylor took a tough loss this past weekend at TCU. QB Sawyer Robertson, who has been sensational for the Bears, had an off game and threw three interceptions. Robertson was off with more throws and it was one of those games for the veteran.

On Monday, Robertson met with the media to talk about the TCU loss and looking ahead toward Cincinnati.

On what the biggest issues were in the TCU loss

I think in a game like that, there's just a few things, you know, right, didn't start as fast as we wanted to, a lot of self-inflicted stuff, but credit to them, too. You know, they did a good job, I thought, of just disrupting everything, whether it was a route or getting pressure, all that stuff, but it's nothing we haven't seen, and so we've got to be better. Everybody's got to do their 1/11th, every single play for us to have a successful play. It's a lot easier to mess up a play than it is to execute one, and so I think we saw a lot of that on Saturday. So there's a few different ways you can go with that, but it all contributed into it.

On needing to play perfect to win a game

Yeah, I mean, it's tough, but, like, capable of doing it, you know, and that's the expectation. I held myself to that standard. I've done it before, and like I said, we did a lot of, we hurt ourselves. Like, you're not going to win a game that I throw three interceptions in, you know, it's as simple as that, but it's nothing that we can't do. You know, our defense is out there playing hard as well. Like, the other team's playing hard. Like, you go through tough stuff, but, you know, it's nothing that's out of our capabilities because we've done it before, and so we just got to come together as a unit.

It's not one, like, it's not really this whole, like, playing Superman thing. Like, we just got to execute. We know our team. We know what we have to do in order to win, how many points we have to score, how many points we need to hold the other team to, and at the end of the day, the offense's job is to score one more point than the other team, and we didn't do that.

In the 4th Q, did he try to do too much

Yeah, there's a little bit of that, where, you know, I think we were down 21, and so just throwing some balls that, you know, don't really want to do this, but the situation kind of had to press a little bit, and that's hard because you're not letting the game come to you. You're trying to force things, essentially, and so that was a little bit of it, but, like I said, like, watching it back, there were some balls that I forced that I didn't need to force. Like, if I just went on to my next read, like, the guy's staying wide open, and so, like I said, just not a clean game by me, by any means, especially in the fourth quarter, whether it was just missing throws, missing reads, just all throughout the game.

On needing second-level runs

I think we need it. I think every offense needs it, and I think we got a, like, glimpse of it there with Mike Turner. I thought he sparked it, sparked us a little bit, and he hit the hole hard, and you saw that on one or two of those drives there in the third quarter where he scored 10 points, and that was because of those runs, and then you get the safeties coming down, and you can throw it over the top, and so, opens up the playbook a little bit. We saw a little bit of it, but, yeah, it helps. It helps for sure.

Opportunity to play Cincinnati and get a big win

Yeah, it's huge. I mean, they're a really good team, very well coached, they're sound, they have great athletes, and so it's a huge challenge for us, but, you know, we'll rise to the occasion. You know, we've got to put our heads down this week, go to work, and, you know, it's a weight game. The atmosphere's going to be good, top 25 team, and so we've got to be ready for it, and it's a great opportunity. This is why you play the game, and so we'll be ready.

Comparisons from this season and last year's rough start

It's a little different in a way. Like, last year, it was, like, we needed, honestly, more, like, encouragement and lifting up because the previous year, we went 3-9. We started 2-4, 0-3 in conference play last year, so we just needed, like, positivity, honestly, and so that's where you saw, like, just the encouragement, that side of things last year. It's a little different this year because, you know, we're returning a lot of the guys, and now it needs to be, like, hey, maybe a little more calling out, like, hey, this is unacceptable. We have to get better in this area, so, like, that's where I would say it's different. Like, this team has only experienced, like, the tough times that we had last year, so.

On Bryson Washington's running style

And I think it sparks the whole team. Just, like, running through people, the O-linemen pushing the pile, like, I think you can feel the energy on the sideline that it creates. You can feel the energy out on the field that it creates when a guy's just giving that much effort, and so absolutely it motivates me.

Playing in the Big 12 where the top and bottom aren't far off

Yeah, it's pretty crazy. It's fun, like, it's fun keeping up with the whole thing. You just never know what you're going to get, and so it's definitely a fun conference to play in, and it's cool because different teams match up differently against all the other opponents, right? Like, I think you've seen, like, there's these triangles where one team will beat this team, but then that team that they just beat will go and beat the other team, right? And so it's just because, like, the matchups are better, all this and that, and so super fun league to play in, and I expect it to continue to be just everybody beating each other up because that's what it's been this year, and it's what it was last year a little bit, too.

Getting Ashtyn Hawkins involved

Absolutely. Ashtyn's been great. It's good to see him have another good game. I think a lot of the stuff, too, with that is, like, I mean, Ashtyn has been getting open throughout the course of the season, and I've either been missing a read or missing a throw, right? Like, a lot of that falls on my shoulders, right? And that's just the nature of the position. Like, I touch the ball every play. Like, guys are going to get open, and I'm going to miss them. I'm going to miss throws. But Ashtyn has been playing well all year long. It was good to see him have another good game, but I think a lot of that was because, like, I was able to, like, actually, I was doing my job a little better when he was getting open.

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