WA Jim said:
So, A - Bears win and I'm happy or B) I net 2 Hundo but am sad
But I gotta say: you crack me up with the whole because we are thin on Defense we won't create "a barrage of turnovers" ha! ha! We haven't created a "barrage of turnovers" since 2021!
Still enjoy reading your stuff - some of it is great - and some of it is absolutely laughable. One question and be honest: Are you in any way employed or associated with the Baylor Athletic Social Media Department?
lmao no. I'm just a knowledgeable fan who chooses to acknowledge the positives rather than simply regress into the negatives, and that rubs some folks the wrong way especially if I have the temerity to defend my position, lol.
But I absolutely get where you're coming from on the defensive side!
"Injuries happen
*", of course they do it's a high impact contact sport. But losing 3 starters for the season by the 1st quarter of the 4th game is not typical for most teams most years. It just isn't and every knowledgeable fan here knows that. But as example, our opponent this week has exactly zero key injuries per SI:
Quote:
UC has no key players even listed on the report, as they continue to reap the benefits of all the recovery technology inside their new team facility.
This year really was in fact set up to be different on defense, though.
Devin Turner, last season in the Big 10: 33 solo tackles, 18 assists, 3 INTs, 1 TD. The year before he had no INTs but nearly 50% more tackles. We miss the production he'd have brought to STAR, badly. When he went down the whole defense's ceiling lowered.
That's in no small part because of a major knock-on effect: instead of getting to shine in a more natural spot at FS, Carl Williams had to come back into the STAR role and his health didn't hold up there. He's been effectively OFS even if he's not listed that way yet.
T. Barnes was starting next to Thomas and playing well until he went OFS early vs ASU. Phoenix Jackson was just starting to show his potential as a pass rusher until he went OFS vs Samford.
We couldn't afford more depth in the Spring to backfill the losses of Turner, Bett and Foster with players of equal caliber, and obviously we can't replace Barnes, Jackson and Williams at all at this point, even if we had the money to replace at value.
It is what it is...but, fwiw, it's not some irrational homer talk to say that with better injury luck this defense would be performing at a much higher level.
*EDIT(add): sorry if the quotation marks are confusing - not trying to put those words in your mouth, it's just the most common response when injuries are brought up as explanation for lack of production etc.
