Gabriel Mayberry-USA TODAY Sports
Penalties, Lack of Identity Sink Baylor in Double OT Loss at BYU
The Baylor Bears were not supposed to lose to No. 21 BYU after the Cougars kicker Jake Oldroyd missed a 35-yard field goal with 8 seconds left in regulation that would have won the game.
The Baylor Bears were not supposed to lose to the Cougars when BYU scored to go ahead in the second overtime but missed two shots at their 2-point conversion after the go-ahead touchdown.
The Baylor Bears were not supposed to lose to the Cougars when a first-quarter PAT miss from Isaiah Hankins ultimately meant the game headed to overtime tied at 20-20 instead of a 21-20 miracle Baylor victory.
Yet, just after midnight in Provo, Utah, under the glow of a lit up "Y" on the side of the Rocky Mountains and over 63,000 fans rocking LaVell Edwards Stadium, the Baylor Bears dropped an instant classic, 26-20, in double overtime.
Ultimately, the Bears will drop out of the top 10 this week because of their own lack of self-discipline. Dave Aranda's team was flagged 14 times for a total of 117 yards, including an ejection for senior captain linebacker Dillon Doyle for targeting in the fourth quarter.
Every time the Bears seemed to get momentum on either side of the ball, the yellow laundry was going against them, with very little to argue, including backing them up to a 4th and goal from the 12-yard line on the last play of the game after a false start.
Aranda, the soft-spoken and positive coach that he is, even said he was "disappointed" in his team's lack of discipline, an emotion that was palpable in his post-game press conference.
With shades of their 24-14 loss in a hostile environment at Oklahoma State a year ago, the Bears were not ready for the spotlight Saturday night.
Aranda said the team had been preparing for this kind of atmosphere since January, but there just isn't any simulation for over 64,000 screaming fans, thousands of whom camped out Friday night just to secure the best seats.
Aranda now knows better than anyone how those environments can rattle a team, as his head coaching record runs to 3-8 on the road.
The Bears' offense, namely Blake Shapen, was rattled early on. In fact, I really struggled to find the offensive strategy as all three scoring drives looked entirely different. Shapen didn't run the ball at all, going for -22 yards on the ground, and he didn't throw a pass on a crucial drive where the Bears got the ball with the game tied and 5:45 remaining in regulation.
As of now, it's hard to tell if this is a passing team, a running team, or how they will win games. In their first look at real competition this year, the offense had shades of the dreadful 2020 unit led by short-lived offensive coordinator Larry Fedora that went 2-7.
Penalties aside, the Bears played well defensively, but they clearly have holes in the secondary. The unit has not forced an interception through two games and the team's 23-game streak where they forced at least one turnover was snapped.
Right now, they can not cover down the field. They get beat like a rented mule and had to resort to jersey pulling and sometimes shoe-string tackling receivers who were still tracking the ball. The 2021 team was susceptible to the deep ball, but they could force turnovers as well as anyone in the Big 12. That will not be the case in 2022.
Just two games into the season, the Bears aren't in dire straits, but there are glaring issues and lack of focus that need to be corrected if they can defend their conference title.
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