Young, Baylor's linebackers vs. Jesse Ertz the matchup to watch

Through four games in 2017, Baylor senior linebacker Taylor Young is averaging a career-low 5.8 tackles per contest. Following his first three seasons where he averaged 7.1 as a redshirt freshman, 6.7 as a sophomore, and 9.3 as a junior, the totals could come across as a little disappointing.

Jim Black

Taylor Young collected two sacks against Oklahoma.

That's definitely not the case according to Baylor head coach Matt Rhule, who expects the DeSoto prospect to elevate his game to another level as the Bears progress through conference play.

After sacking Oklahoma quarterback Baker Mayfield twice a week ago, Rhule singled out Young as the defensive player who will need to lead the charge against a physical Kansas State unit that wants to run over, through and around Baylor's defense.

"He’s playing really well," Rhule said. "He’s playing the best football I’ve seen him play and I think he can take it up another notch, and he’s going to have to against these guys."

Young watched as Mayfield made his move to break out of the pocket on play action. After safety Chris Miller flushed him back inside, it was Young there who was in position and planted the QB on his back. It was his first of two sacks in the game and was in the midst of a surge for Baylor's defense who recovered after going down by 18 in the first half.

Baylor doesn't have intentions of getting down three scores again, but their focus for Kansas State quarterback Jesse Ertz will need to be on a similar level as it was for Mayfield or they could find themselves in a similar hole.

"This is no exception," Rhule said. "You know, Ertz is really, really tough to defend. He can throw the football, he can run it, and he’ll run over you and make people miss."

It will take a group effort to slow Ertz, but Young's presence on defense can be the difference. The senior, who is closing in on Baylor career records in sacks (14.5) and tackles for loss (34.0), has a natural downhill style of play, something that can be used to get KSU off schedule. His eyes will need to stay disciplined, as Rhule described, but identifying the play and attacking is key.

Young is joined by three other Bears who rank among the top 15 in tackles for loss on the season including linebacker Clay Johnston (2), defensive lineman Ira Lewis (8), and linebacker Eric Ogor (14).

"If you want to pinpoint something the game will come down to it will come down to our ability to tackle and really our ability to tackle the quarterback," Rhule said.

For a third-consecutive week, the Bears will face a form of a dual-threat quarterback, but Ertz's running style, compared by Rhule to Tim Tebow's power back approach, and the unique KSU offense presents a challenge unlike anything they have seen.

"Ertz takes a lot of big hits and keeps on coming," Rhule said. "He’s hard to tackle, he wears people down, and they line up with big people and pound you and try to make it difficult on you to want to play 60 minutes."

"How many times do you want to line up and tackle a 230, 240-pound man?"

Young missed the matchup between the two teams in 2016, but in 2014 and 2015 Young averaged 10 tackles and secured 1.5 tackles for loss. As important as explosive offensive plays and touchdowns are going to be against the Wildcats, disruption at the line of scrimmage on defense falls into the "winning plays" category this weekend.

"As I told our players, whenever we’re ready win, we will go win," Rhule said. "Whenever we’re ready to go out there and lay it all on the line and lie exhausted on the field of battle, as Vince Lombardi said, then we’ll find a way to win.

"We have to win in the fourth quarter if you want to win football games."