Gameday Thread: Baylor (2-1) starts conference play against Kansas (2-1)

BAYLOR (2-1) vs. KANSAS (2-1)

McLane Stadium | 2:30 p.m CT | FS1

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Storylines of the Week

Can Baylor's defensive line make an impact?

So far this season the Bears defensive line has not played up to the expectations that they had coming into the season. The group was much more disruptive last year than they have been so far this year. Through three games, the defensive line has four sacks and 13 tackles for loss. At this time last year the Bears had nine sacks and 28 tackles for loss. Now I know other players besides the defensive line contribute to these plays but it all starts upfront. 

This group has a lot to prove this week in a matchup that should be very favorable to them. Kansas has given up 12 sacks and 29 tackles for loss through three games. This is an opportunity for the line to take a big step forward and truly takeover a game for the first time this season. The Bears need this unit to play well by stopping the run and disrupting the rhythm of the Kansas offense by forcing negative plays. If they can do that then it will give Baylor a chance to run away in this football game.

Will the physicality show up this week?

Across the board the Bears need to play more physical because physicality can mask a whole lot of mistakes. The offensive line has not come out with the toughness consistently enough to create many holes in the run game but even in the pass game opposing players have gotten by untouched a few times this year. Even if a blitz comes, a little contact needs to be made. On the defensive side, the corners have not been physical enough with opposing receivers and the tackling has been very suspect to say the least. Seeing players make contact in the backfield or at the line and then getting dragged forward for four yards is discouraging and it needs to be fixed. If Baylor can come out and be the more physical team for the remaining nine games they will make a bowl. It all has to start against Kansas and continue through conference play.

Quote of the Week

"I thought there were people behind our bench cheering and screaming for us, giving us energy. The crowd is always an advantage. That's why people like to play at home. You'd like it to be so loud the team can't even hear the calls. You'd like it to be so hard that the other team's offense struggles. You'd like your team to feed off that energy. All that stuff is on the outside. We have to control what we can control which is how we play and what we do. We have great fans, a lot of people stayed and cheered us on until the very end. And we got booed, someone asked me about that after the game, it's part of playing ball. You learn from it. I just hate it for our players in that I don't want our players to start to doubt themselves. Our players are doing a great job. They have come a long way. You guys kind of see bits and pieces of it but if you're on the inside and you know where we were when we first walked in here to now, I can't tell you how good of a job I think our coaching staff is doing, how good of a job our players are doing. That's not good enough for everybody and I certainly understand that. I'm a results-oriented guy. I want to win. But we've got kids playing before it's their time. I'm proud of them and I will sit there and try to take every bullet for them and fight for them. I hope fans come out and support them and love our players and are grateful for our players. I hope they see the young guys, Tyquan [Thornton] and [Josh] Fleeks and Christian [Morgan], all these true freshmen out there playing and making plays and they say 'Wow, this team is going to be something else. This is going to be a force at some point.' Why not enjoy it along the way? Our team has to learn that when we go to Oklahoma and go to Iowa State, we're not going to have a crowd, so let's learn to play on our own. I would just say this one last thing - if you've been on the sideline with us at away games, then you would cheer for us at home. I won't even let my son on the field at most away games because of the things that are said to us. I love this football team. They are grinding away. And they played a bad game on Saturday, and I coached a bad game on Saturday. We're not going to point any fingers. We're going to come back and work and get better and better and better and better. This year will be fun. We'll fight our way through it and we'll fight our way through this week against a good Kansas team. These guys that go out there and put on the BU, not to give some long, impassioned speech, just know this from me, they've overcome more people, more stuff, they're fighting for Baylor. So, if you come to the games, great, if you're not a fan I understand that too. But there are some great stories, there are some great young men out there playing. I know what our coaching staff has done in 2 years and what our players have done in 2 years, they're doing some things I would have never expected them to do. They're doing them and I'm proud to be their coach. We'll go out there on Saturday and we'll fight our tails off. Win, lose or draw we'll come back and we'll try to get better next week and go from there. That's the never-ending process of trying to build a great football team." — Coach Matt Rhule

Statistic of the Week

Despite playing two quarterbacks, Baylor's passing attack has been among the best in the country through the first three games of the 2018 season. The duo of Charlie Brewer and  Jalan McClendon have led the Bears to the No. 15-ranked passing offense in that span as the Bears average 328.0 yards passing per game on 111 attempts. 

Brewer, who has 76 pass attempts on the season, has thrown for 641 yards on 60.5 percent passing while McClendon has attempted 35 passes for 307 yards on 65.7 percent passing. The two have each thrown for three scores and an interception. 

The 15th ranked passing attack comes after the Bears finished No. 24 in the country a season ago, throwing for 280.9 yards per contest. The Bears finished No. 4 in the Big 12 in 2017 behind Texas Tech, Oklahoma State and Oklahoma.

Finding success on the ground has been more of an issue. The Bears finished 2017 with the No. 114-ranked rushing offense nationally. Through three games in 2018 the Bears are ranked No. 73.

Jim Black John Lovett WIth the suspension of of JaMycal Hasty in the first half, sophomore John Lovett should receive a large portion of the carries in the first half. Matt Rhule says the team needs to give their backs the ball more and doing so against Kansas is a must.

Jim Black James Lynch Along with running the football, stopping or slowing the Kansas rushing attack is the must on Saturday afternoon. That means Baylor has to play well up front and it starts with James Lynch and the defensive line. Kansas freshman running back Pooka Williams Jr.

Jim Black Clay Johnston The play behind the defensive line is just as crucial as well. Linebackers Clay Johnston, Jordan Williams and Terrel Bernard specifically will need to be sure tacklers and wrap up the speedy freshman back Williams.