Four Things Baylor Football Still Needs to Improve Ahead of Big 12 Play
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After the conclusion of college football's week two, Baylor currently has a record of 1-1. While only a few feet may have separated the Bears from being 2-0, there are several other factors that could have influenced the overall outcome of the Auburn game.
Even in the decisive win against Prairie View A&M there were several areas where improvement is still necessary. Below, we've taken the liberty of compiling a few of the more glaring areas that could use some help.
1. Keep the Laundry off the Field
The penalties are often rough to justify as some are situationally beneficial. An OPI that prevents an interception, a DPI that prevents an otherwise assured big gain or touchdown, even the occasional holding penalty can be debated and justified if the offensive lineman was simply doing all that he could to protect his quarterback. Those are all things that we can have a discussion about.
False starts though? Unfortunately these are penalties of the more indefensible kind. It's hard to try and justify a false start penalty as a good thing and not just something that requires fixing. Forcing your own offense to move backwards, stalling momentum, and often forcing a different play to be called than originally intended; a trifecta of red flags for "fix this immediately."
2. The Defensive Line is Dominating, but the Offensive Line Still Needs Work
Hosea Wheeler and Travion Barnes are doing a good job leading the defensive line and linebackers, respectively. The offensive line needs their version of that. Baylor has capable players at each position on the line, though most are still new and fresh, starting their first games together.
The injury to Koltin Sieracki was certainly unfortunate as it kept one of the key components of the Bears' offensive line off of the field. Currently listed as day-to-day, though expected to play, as Coach Dave Aranda said Monday during media availability.
Dawson Pendergrass and Caden Knighten have both shown that they gain yardage when they have the ball in their hands, but just imagine the possibilities if the o-line were able to push the defenders off of the line and create larger areas of open field for running lanes.
3. Gavin Freeman is Great, but the Bears Have More Than Just One Receiver
22 receptions through the first two games of the team's total passing completions have gone to Gavin Freeman. It's not that he hasn't produced, as Freeman's 10+ catch and 100+ yards receiving performances have shown that he is quite effective at what he does.
The issue is that the Bears' next leading receiver has six receptions on the year, and only one of them occurred in week two's game. Against Prairie View A&M, the Bears did indeed spread the ball around in the passing game as twelve different players caught a pass.
The biggest issue with that is that four of those are primarily running backs, and that Jayden McGowan was the only other dedicated wide receiver to catch more than one pass against Prairie View A&M having three total catches on the day.
4. Fourth Down Plays
At some other time we can discuss the philosophy of "going for it on fourth down" but that's not really the issue here. Some areas of the field are too far to attempt a field goal and too short to have a punt really make much of a difference, and a variety of other factors for wanting to attempt the conversion.
There are plenty of reasons both for and against a fourth down conversion attempt. The issue isn't the willingness to attempt the conversion though, it's the need for the decision to be made in the first place. A better outcome on third down would help to alleviate the issues beholden of a fourth down attempt.
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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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