Despite Duke QB change, solutions to stop explosive runs must be found

If you read S11's breakdown of Baylor's defensive struggles against explosive runs from the UTSA game, you probably came away feeling more comfortable that the issues presented are fixable. There was major improvement from week one to week two and there will definitely need to be similar improvement from week two to week three. 

Jim Black

Baylor's defense gave up 8.1 yards per carry to Abilene Christian in the first week of the season.

Against FCS opponent ACU, Phil Snow's defense gave up an abysmal 8.1 yards per carry on 27 attempts for 220 yards. A week later against UTSA of Conference USA, his defense cut that number by more than half, holding the Roadrunners to 3.8 yards per carry on for 98 yards. 

The primary issue stayed the same, however, coming in the form of explosive plays. Take away four of the 53 total runs from the two contests, 75 and 47 yard by ACU and 36 and 27 by UTSA, and the 6.0 yards per carry turns into 2.7 yards per carry. The issues in the first two games of 2018 resulting from missed assignments are the same that riddled Baylor's defense early in 2017. It wasn't until the final six games that the defense began to limit those plays more frequently. 

If Baylor wants to find victory on Saturday, finding a fix will need to happen much earlier this season than it did a year ago.

"Defensively, I know we’re working hard to correct some of those big plays that popped the other day," head coach Matt Rhule said. "We’re getting better, we just need a little bit more in terms of discipline and gap-integrity and making sure that we don’t come out of our gap."

With four rushes resulting in an unforgiving 185 yards on the ground, it's obvious that the front seven, or those defenders in the box on a current play, are a large part of the issue. Specifically, starting junior linebacker Clay Johnston participating in roughly only one fourth of game action has been a big issue. His absence left walk-on Chad Kelly and snapper Ross Matiscik to fill in at the middle linebacker position.

Jim Black

Long snapper Ross Matiscik was moved to linebacker in fall camp to help depth issues because of injuries.

Johnston's extremely limited role through two games along with the limited experience of  Terrel Bernard, a redshirt freshman, and new starter Jordan Williams, a junior, means the unit will need to grow up quickly if improvement is imminent. 

“The biggest thing for us on defense is we still have a lot of guys making decisions," Matt Rhule said. "Our defense is based on precision and we just must do our job. We are just in that time in space where we are just missing our spots. We can’t play like that."

With Duke starting quarterback Daniel Jones out with a fractured collarbone, the Blue Devils will turn to Quentin Harris, a fourth-year junior quarterback who has twice as many rushing attempts (39) as pass attempts (15) in his career. 

Though Duke head coach David Cutcliffe told reporters at his weekly press conference that Harris is one of the more accurate downfield passers that he's ever been around, you can expect Baylor to feel the pressure in the running game more. That is, until Harris proves he is capable of loosening up the front seven.

“He’s only attempted 15 passes, but he’s played," Rhule said. "He came in against us last year. He’s a dual-threat guy, he can run it, he can throw it. He’s been their short-yardage, goal-line quarterback, run game. It introduces a whole other element to us now – Daniel could run, they ran him a ton in the red zone last year, ran him against us last year – but we’re going to have to handle the quarterback run game."

Though he is an NFL prospect because of his arm talent and size at 6-5, 220, Duke's offensive scheme relied heavily on Jones making plays with his feet through the first two seasons of his career and the first two games of 2018.

In those two-plus seasons Jones rushed 314 times for 1,044 yards and 15 touchdowns. Jones led the team in rushing touchdown in 2016 (7) and 2017 (7) and is currently tied for the team lead in 2018 (1).

© Mark Dolejs-USA Today

QB Daniel Jones will be replaced by Quentin Harris.

Harris could prove to be a more dynamic runner than Jones, but the balance between Jones in the running and passing games are unlikely to be matched. 

"When you have a quarterback who will run it, you gain a defender. It becomes 11-on-11 for the first time," Rhule said. "It will be a challenge and it introduces a whole other set of variables that we probably hadn’t planned on working on this week.”

But at the end of the day, regardless of the personnel lining up across the line of scrimmage, stopping the big plays that have been an issue for the Baylor's defense comes with controlling what they can control and playing their assignments. 

If they don't rise to the occasion when playing a team like Duke, it will be difficult to find a victory. That goes for all units, not only the defense.

"As we move forward, offensively, defensively and special teams, we’ve been able to overcome a lot of self-inflicted mistakes," Rhule said. "You certainly can’t do that against Duke. 

"We can’t drop kickoffs, we can’t have crucial penalties on fourth-and-one. We’ve got to grow up as a football team, and they’re working hard to do that. I’m proud of our players. They’re learning as the games go, but this will be quite a test."