Player’s Club: Starting Fast and Flying Around
A week and a half ago, the Bears fell in Salt Lake City to No. 11 Utah, 23-12. Despite an attempted comeback, the early hole Baylor found itself in was too large to overcome – a common theme of last year’s 3-9 team.
To avoid the sluggish starts that have plagued the Bears for quite some time now, the focus heading into this weekend’s conference opener against Colorado is on playing fast, free and confident.
“The main key would be starting fast and being on our details from the get-go and not trying to feel our way into the new environment,” wide receiver Josh Cameron (RJr.) said when speaking to the media on Tuesday.
When asked about the biggest lesson the Bears learned in the loss to the Utes, linebacker Brooks Miller (RSr.) said, “We learned that you can’t start slow and hope to finish strong. Defensively, the second half was pretty much a shutout. But if you look at the first two or three drives, it wasn’t the Baylor defense or the new standard, and it is not what we do. We have to go Colorado and do what we do four quarters straight.”
The spotlight now shifts to a primetime showdown in the conference opener against Deion Sanders and the Colorado Buffaloes at 7 p.m. on Saturday at Folsom Field in Boulder. With all of the national attention that Colorado draws, the Bears can’t allow themselves to get caught up in the hype and storylines going into the weekend.
“The whole team's treating it like every other game, like a faceless, nameless opponent,” Cameron said. “No matter how big the Colorado name is, we're treating it like another game week. We're going to prepare the same exact way, and we're going to execute.”
Miller added, “I'm excited to get into conference play, but it doesn't really matter who the opponent is. Colorado has a lot of swag. I think the home-field advantage is pretty good up there. I like that the sidelines are tight. It's like an Oklahoma State kind of vibe, so you get to hear the fans chirping, and you get to use it as juice.”
Colorado’s offense, however, will be a significant test for the Bears this weekend. To stop the high-flying Buff’s offense, it starts with limiting quarterback Shedeur Sanders (Sr.) and the talented wide receiver trio of Travis Hunter (Jr.), Jimmy Horn (Sr.) and LaJohntay Webster (Sr.).
“The challenge they present is all of their skill guys are NFL talents,” Miller said. “You look inside and out; any of those guys can go to the league. [Sheder is] a great quarterback, and I have a lot of respect for him. A lot of people like to talk about their O-line, but I think they're very athletic. We have to be good with our feet and get into the backfield.”
Through three games this season, Baylor’s defense has been excellent and much improved compared to last fall. The Bears became the first non-service academy to hold Air Force without a touchdown since San Diego State in 2003. Players like Matt Jones (6Sr.), Keaton Thomas (RSo.) and Jackie Marshall (RJr.) have come into their own with head coach Dave Aranda manning the play-calling on defense.
“It’s been awesome; I'm not going to lie,” Cameron said of Baylor’s defense. “Seeing them ball out, make plays, fly around, rally to the ball and be aggressive all the time. It gives the offense a breath of fresh air, knowing that we got a hard defense at our back.”
Excluding a blocked kick returned for a touchdown, the Bears have surrendered just 22 points to opponents through three games. Miller says the improvements on defense are due to a renewed commitment to selflessness and discipline.
“It's just doing your job,” he said. “It's kind of like people say all the time, ‘I hate losing more than I like winning.’ It's like that for me [in a sense] that I hate messing up my job more than I like doing my job because if I mess up, they're going to exploit it, especially with a team like Colorado – they're looking for the mismatches, they're going to get it and they're going to go to it every time. If I'm not in the right position, it's going to mess up my teammates.”
Offensively, Baylor had its best game of the season with quarterback Sawyer Robertson (RJr.) behind center in place of an injured Dequan Finn (6Sr.). Robertson led the Bears to their first FBS home victory since 2022 and threw for a career-high 248 yards on 18-of-24 passing against Air Force. However, who will start at the helm on Saturday against the Buffaloes remains to be seen.
“I feel super comfortable with Sawyer,” Cameron said. “Going back to last year, it was the same situation whenever he had to step up when Blake [Shapen] got hurt. [Dequan Finn] unfortunately got hurt [also]. But both of those dudes have the arm talent, they have the smartness and they can both make it happen. Whenever Sawyer stepped to the plate, it felt good.”
Cameron, meanwhile, has had stellar back-to-back games against No. 11 Utah and Air Force. In that span, he leads the Bears in receptions (7) and receiving yards (122) and is tied for the team lead in receiving touchdowns (1).
“I'm definitely playing some of my best ball,” he said. “I want to keep doing whatever I can to help the team, though, at the end of the day, whether that be making five catches, one catch, whatever it takes to win – I'm happy, as long as that happens.
The offensive improvement against the Falcons may have been drastic to the fanbase, but it didn’t come as a surprise to Miller, who sees it every day in practice.
“It's cool seeing them roll because we’ve seen them do it all during camp,” Miller added. “In the first two games, our offense didn't play the way they knew they could, and they'll tell you that. It’s cool to see our receivers do what they do during seven-on-sevens. It’s cool to see our quarterbacks balling out like they do every day.”
The Bears (2-1) will travel to Boulder to take on Colorado (2-1) at 7 p.m., Saturday, Sept. 21, at Folsom Field. The game will be televised on FOX.