Player's Club: 'Having Each Other’s Back Is The Biggest Thing'
For the first time amidst Baylor's five-game winning streak, it wasn't the Bears high-flying offense that stole the show. Instead, head coach Dave Aranda's defense forced four turnovers and held Houston to three total points en route to a 20-10 win over the Cougars on Saturday night.
"[The defense] really saved us," running back Dawson Pendergrass (So.) told the media on Tuesday. "They were the MVP of that game. Everywhere they were supposed to be — they were there."
"You always want to play team football," safety Devin Lemear (RJr.) said. "To have each other's back is the biggest thing. [The offense] carried us the past four games, and being able to have their back was huge for us and allowed us to win."
Before Saturday, Baylor's defense was surrendering over 300 passing yards per game to opposing quarterbacks during this winning stretch. Against the Cougars, the Bears limited UH quarterback Zeon Chriss (So.) to 126 yards through the air and collected three interceptions.
"It boosts our confidence," Lemear said. "Obviously, we've had some struggles in the past couple of games. We've been giving up more points than we wanted to. To be able to prevent them from scoring was big for our confidence, and we know we want to take that into the next game."
After losing multiple one-possession games toward the beginning of the season, the Bears are learning how to win in different ways, whether it be offensive shoot-outs or defensive rock fights.
Lemear and Pendergrass also believe the lessons they learned from last year's disastrous 3-9 season helped them turn things around this fall, even when they started 2-4.
"As bad as that felt last year, that experience helped us," Lemear said. "We've been here before. We know how to not approach things and how to approach things."
"All the people here last year didn't want to go through the same thing again," Pendergrass added. "We still had a chance to turn things around. We set the tone going into that Texas Tech game during the bye week."
During Baylor's five-game winning streak, the run game's resurgence has been a major factor in the team's success. Bryson Washington (RFr.) and Pendergrass have emerged as a dynamic duo in the backfield, but the offensive line's growth throughout the season has been remarkable to watch.
"The credit always goes to the guys up front — Sydney [Fugar], Ryan [Lengyel], Coleton [Price], Omar [Aigbedion] and Campbell [Barrington]," Pendergrass said. "They're setting the tone, running through somebody's face and giving us holes. We have an easy job."
Against the stout Cougars' front seven, Washington and Pendergrass combined for 154 rushing yards on 42 carries. Washington recorded his fifth 100-yard game of the season, a Baylor freshman record.
"We feed off each other," Pendergrass said of the tailbacks. "But I feel like that's the whole running back room; we're all like that. We're just looking for each other to get better and be the best we can."
While former Big 12 Offensive Freshman of the Year Richard Reese (Jr.) has taken a step back in his on-field role (16 carries in the last five games), Pendergrass mentioned that he continues to be a mentor for the rest of the running back room.
"He's helping us out," Pendergrass said. "He's very wise and is older. He helps us out a lot and is very humble. He's a great guy."
This weekend, a familiar face will be on the opposing sideline as former offensive coordinator Jeff Grimes will return to Waco — this time with the Kansas Jayhawks. Grimes was hired for the same position on Lance Leipold's staff at Kansas this offseason.
"It'll be fun to see a familiar face," Pendergrass said.
But the real question is whether Baylor's defense will have the upper hand this Saturday after facing off against Grimes' 'Wide Zone' offense in practice for three seasons.
"For sure, but there are small changes that they do with the Kansas offense," Lemear said. "They are operating at an elite efficiency, even better than [Baylor] in 2021, which is crazy to think about. I think having all those reps from is definitely going to help."
KU's offense is spearheaded by its quarterback-running back tandem of Jalon Daniels (Jr.) and Devin Neal (Sr.), who Lemear called "dynamic."
Daniels is a true dual-threat quarterback, and Neal is one of the top backs in the Big 12; he totaled over 280 all-purpose yards and four touchdowns in the upset win over No. 16 Colorado last weekend.
"They're going to run, run, run, and then lull you to sleep and try to hit you over the top with a big play," Lemear said. "It's stopping the run but maintaining our eyes and being able to stop the big shots."
Kansas is one of the hottest teams in the country and is riding a three-game winning streak coming into the weekend. Last Saturday, the Jayhawks became the first unranked team in college football history to beat three consecutive ranked opponents: No. 17 Iowa State, No. 6 BYU and No. 16 Colorado.
"They're not going to lie down," Pendergrass said. "They're going to play physical, but we play physical as well. It's going to be a dog fight. That's what I'm looking for; those are the fun ones."
Lost in the shuffle of Baylor's matchup against Kansas is that the Bears are technically still alive in conference title hopes and have an outside shot of making the Big 12 Championship.
Baylor will need to take care of business against the Jayhawks and hope that three of the four teams ahead of them in the standings — No. 25 Colorado, No. 16 Arizona State, No. 18 Iowa State and No. 19 BYU — find a way to lose. The players, however, are focusing on the task at hand and paying no mind to the standings.
"It's the Big 12," Lemear said. "It's always like that. It's always close at the end."
The Bears (7-4, 5-3) and Jayhawks (5-6, 4-4) are slated to face off at 11 a.m. on Saturday, Nov. 30 at McLane Stadium. The game will be televised on ESPN2.