JJ Joe: Defense Rises Up In Houston

That game seemed to play out exactly like you thought it might. Sawyer Robertson struggled with turnovers for the first time this season. The defense did their job holding Houston out of the end zone, and it was a good special teams day! Two 45+ yard field goals, a fumble recovery on a return, good punting and no miscues in the return game. How do you encapsulate this win? 

JJ Joe:

There's a memoir by an African-American author (Ta-Nehisi Coates) titled 'The Beautiful Struggle' that I believe is a very appropriate title for Baylor's game against Houston. That memoir is a little heavier and more focused on the life of a young African American male and the struggles of being raised by a 'tough love' father and thoughtful, loving mother in his journey to becoming a man. Well, not to get lost here, our Bears grew up a little on Saturday. 

The win over the Cougars on Saturday while a very ugly 'Win' was in essence a 'Beautiful Struggle'. This season, head coach Dave Aranda and his players have had a heartbreaking loss (Colorado), a blowout loss (Iowa St.), a couple of disappointing losses due to just not making that one or two plays (Utah & BYU), the dominating wins (Air Force, Tarleton) and the offensively desirable Wins (TTU, WVU, OSU, TCU). The win on Saturday was a struggle, similar to the previous four wins, but the one on Saturday was the first time where the exploits of Baylor's dynamic offense just couldn't bail this team out. For the first time since the second half of the Iowa State game, Sawyer Robertson (RJr.) just didn't see things clearly and appeared flustered by what Houston was doing on defense.

For the first time this season, Coach Aranda's squad had to turn to the defense to not necessarily win the game, but this team needed the Baylor defense to protect the Baylor offense from itself. How did they do that, you may ask? They simply didn't give up 'cheap' chunk plays or yield panic defensive PI penalties. The defensive players stayed disciplined and didn't commit any personal foul or unsportsmanlike penalties that would help the struggling Cougar offense and force our offense to panic a little more than they already were if they sensed struggle from the Baylor 'D'.

At no time did I feel that Baylor would lose the game because the Cougar offense simply is not where head coach Willie Fritz wants it to be. However, as ugly of a game as it was, it was beautiful to see the offensive line continue to grow. Upfront, the Baylor offensive line generated 148 yards rushing on 47 carries despite Robertson losing 14 rush yards via the sack. Bryson Washington (RFr.) went for a tough 113 yards on 28 carries. Dawson Pendergrass (So.) and Richard Reese (Jr.) added another tough 49 yards on 16 carries. Those tough yards were beautiful because as tough as the yards were to come by when Baylor needed to run the ball, they were able to run it against a solid Cougar defense that yielded only 131 rushing yards per game. 

Michael Trigg (RJr.) showed beautiful flashes of why many believe he'll play on Sundays if he simply keeps grinding and stays disciplined. Houston took away a big part of Baylor's strength by limiting the opportunities for Josh Cameron (RJr.) and Hal Presley (Sr.), who combined for a mere four catches for 42 yards. However, it was beautiful to see those guys block for the running backs like they had 20 targets. It was beautiful to watch them run decoy routes and support the way Trigg and Ashtyn Hawkins (5Sr.) were 'eating' as Trigg and Hawkins combined for 10 catches, 161 yards, and two touchdowns. 

It was beautiful to watch how the Baylor secondary struggled to make plays and play the ball in the air all season. However, Devyn Bobby (Jr.) makes a big-time interception to pick up Robertson and the Baylor offense after Sawyer threw an interception on the third play of the game, setting up the Cougars at the Baylor 33-yard line. Bobby had just missed an INT he should've had a week prior in West Virginia when the ball went through his hands and to the West Virginia wide receiver for a touchdown. It was beautiful to see both Devin Lemear (RJr.) and Lorando Johnson (RJr.) make big-time plays to keep any threat of a Cougar comeback at bay. 

Finally, it was beautiful to watch Isaiah Hankins (RJr.), who has struggled with consistency this season, bang home a 45-yard field goal to close the first half and push Baylor's lead to 17-7. It was also beautiful to see Hankins close out Baylor's scoring for the evening by knocking through a 50-yard field goal to push Baylor's lead to 20-10 with less than five minutes to play. The struggle on Saturday was simply that nothing came easy. Coach Aranda's squad had to earn everything, and everything was a struggle. The beautiful part is that growth comes by experiencing struggle; this weekend, the Jayhawks will test that growth! #SicEm