SicEm365’s Jack Mackenzie answers the questions posed by Grayson Grundhoefer in the “Keys to the Game” for Baylor’s matchup against Utah.
1. Will Sawyer Robertson and his pass catchers win consistently enough?
Grayson was on point when he phrased this question because the lack of consistency was what doomed the Bears' offense on Saturday against the Utes. Baylor went 8-for-23 on conversion downs, and specifically 5-for-17 on third down. The Bears were also limited to scoring on just five of their fourteen drives while turning the ball over twice. Sawyer Robertson did not help matters by missing an open Kole Wilson multiple times on his way to a 29-for-58 performance. That 50% completion percentage is his second-lowest of the season, behind the TCU game. Michael Trigg also had a pair of drops early in the game.
"Utah has played six Big 12 games, and Colorado is the only team to fail to reach 149 rushing yards."
Well, the Bears joined Colorado, coming up 17 yards short. And, as Grayson also noted, "In the Dave Aranda era, Baylor is 29-7 when it runs for over 150 yards."
That leaves Aranda's record when Baylor rushes for less than 150 yards at 7-28 now.
2. Can Baylor force Devon Dampier to win the game with his arm?
Does it count if Dampier didn't really win the game in any way? I'm partly joking and mean no disrespect to Dampier. The performance from Utah's QB1 was everything that it needed to be in light of the fact that backup quarterback Byrd Ficklin ran for 166 yards and touchdowns of 67 and 74 yards. Starting running back Wayshawn Parker also posted 129 rushing yards and a 64-yard touchdown run. With the Utah pick six and another interception returned to the Baylor nine-yard line, Devon Dampier did not have that much to do to help the Utes outscore Baylor. In fact, Dampier accounted for just 103 of Utah's 483 yards of total offense.
3. Does Baylor build off what they did against UCF to stop the run game?
I hate to be too short in any answer, but all the important stats are listed above outside of these: Utah totaled 380 net yards rushing — they gained 400 yards rushing before subtracting losses — for an average of 8.8 yards per carry. Oh, and five of the seven offensive touchdowns for the Utes came on the ground, too. Looking at the year as a whole, this was the Baylor defense's worst performance against the run since the opener against Auburn, where they gave up 307 yards. The next worst performance was at Cincinnati, where they gave up 265 yards on the ground.
4. Can Baylor win a big game at home?
This game made the record 6-13 in home games against Power Four teams since 2022 and 1-10 in what Grayson has classified as "big games."
Baylor's last home win over a ranked team remains a November 13, 2021, victory over No. 4 Oklahoma (27-14). Among other things, Grayson said, "This is a great opportunity for the program to put on a big performance in front of the home fans and for Aranda to save his job."
Well, the home fans put on one of their better performances of the year with the "tarps off" section high in the north endzone, but Dave Aranda's squad could not reward the effort with a competitive game. Now the Bears are staring down a 6-6, or perhaps even 5-7, finish, as uncertainty looms over the Baylor Athletic Department for multiple reasons.
