SicEm365’s Jack Mackenzie answers the questions posed by Grayson Grundhoefer in the “Keys to the Game” for Baylor’s matchup against Arizona.
1. Can the Bears find some answers in the run game on both sides of the ball?
If you looked just at the box score, Baylor’s 181 rushing yards would look good. Caden Knighten’s 107 yards, averaging 5.9 yards per carry, were good. But, a couple of Bryson Washington’s lost fumbles with the Baylor defense giving up 172 rushing yards and rushing touchdowns of 28 and 19 yards, then the answer to this question is simply no.
Baylor once again had execution errors on defense, which led to big run plays and an average of 4.9 yards per carry. While the offensive rushing numbers were solid, it did not help Baylor keep things close in the end. As Grayson said, “If Baylor doesn’t rush for over 130 yards, it will be difficult for them to break 20 points in this game.” So maybe this is a testament to the Arizona defense, or maybe Sawyer was pressing too much to keep the team in the game. Either way, Baylor’s 181 rushing yards did not turn into more than 20 points, and 20 points was not even half of what the Bears let the Wildcats hang on the scoreboard.
2. Will Baylor be able to pressure Noah Fifita?
Per PFF, Baylor put Noah Fifita under pressure on 10 of his 27 dropbacks and converted that into one sack and one interception. While the Bears did well to try to exploit Fifita’s weakness and did force him into a 56% completion percentage, it did not matter in the end. Fifita did not have to beat the Bears because the Bears beat themselves with turnovers and allowed long rushing touchdowns in the second half. Clearly, Baylor slowed Arizona’s offense in the second quarter and early in the third, but, as has been the case all year, they could not hold on long enough to let the offense figure something out.
3. Can Baylor correct the turnover problems for a week?
Two interceptions and a fumble lost. Baylor lost the turnover battle 3-to-1, including a 34-yard pick-six in the fourth quarter. The Bears are now -12 on the season in turnover margin, which is a bottom-10 mark in the FBS. On the other hand, Arizona is +12 and in the top 10 (the NCAA website was not updated at the time of writing, so no exact ranks are available).
Grayson knows his stuff, saying before the game, “I find it hard to believe that Baylor will win this game if they lose the turnover battle, but I find it equally as hard to believe they will win the turnover battle in another conference game. So the best-case scenario is coming away even in this area to give the Bears a shot.”
Baylor literally threw away any shot at staying in the game with the turnovers.
4. Will Sawyer Robertson get this team to a bowl game?
A bowl game is looking less and less likely each week despite Robertson continuing to lead the FBS in passing yardage. Robertson also tied Indiana’s Fernando Mendoza back up for most passing TDs in the nation at 30.
Now, Robertson’s 162 yards passing and 1 TD to 2 INTs is not a good stat line, but he is not out of contention for Big 12 Offensive Player of the Year with other stars in the league not quite matching his raw numerical output.
As Grayson said, though: “Only Shedeur Sanders, Ollie Gordon, Chuba Hubbard and Breece Hall have won the award with fewer than 10 regular-season wins in the last decade, with Hall being the only one to win the award with fewer than eight regular-season wins. Still, Robertson could sneak in if his national numbers are strong and they win at least one more game.”
And, since the Bears lost handily against Arizona, “This question will be posed next week.”
Maybe Robertson can carry the Bears to a bowl game and grab himself that award in the process. Good luck to him, given that Houston allows around 200 yards passing and 22 points per game. Not to mention that Houston was Robertson’s worst game during the 6-0 streak to end last season.
