GameDay Thread: Baylor (1-0) travels to face West Virginia (1-1)

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Baylor vs. West Virginia Primer

Coming off their season opening victory over Kansas, Baylor (1-0) will hit the road for the first time this season to take on West Virginia (1-1) Saturday morning at 11 a.m. CT in a game that will be aired live nationally on ABC. 

Baylor opened the season with a dominant 47-14 performance against the Jayhawks last Saturday. The Bears 47 points came in a variety of different of ways including a passing touchdown, three rushing scores, a field goal, two kickoffs returned for scores and a safety on defense. 

West Virginia opened the season back on Sept. 12 with a dominating 56-10 victory over Eastern Kentucky where the Mountaineers rushed for 329 yards and five scores and threw for 295 and another three. In their second game, the Mountaineers fell to Big 12 opponent Oklahoma State 27-14 in Stillwater. 

The Bears and Mountaineers have played every season since 2012 with WVU winning five of the eight contest. Baylor won the contest a year ago in Waco, 17-14. 

Baylor OL will get big test against WVU’s DL

Written by Craig Smoak

Baylor’s season-opening win over Kansas featured plenty of highlights, but perhaps no performance was more encouraging than that of the offensive line.

Despite starters missing at center, right guard, and right tackle, Joe Wickline’s group allowed just one sack, while Charlie Brewer completed 15-of-23 and the Bears’ stable of running backs cruised over the Jayhawks to the tune of nearly 5.0 yards per rush. 

Now, in year four since the start of a total rebuild on the offensive line, Baylor has collected depth and experience, but showing continued improvement will require consistency. This week’s opponent is an early-season measuring stick against a defense that has been the stuff of nightmares for Baylor linemen the past three seasons. 

Jim Black

As a freshman, Charlie Brewer led Baylor to a valiant comeback against West Virginia, but fell short in the final seconds of the game.

It was October 21, 2017, in Waco when the Charlie Brewer era began at Baylor. Down 38-13 with seconds remaining in the 3rd quarter, and well on their way to 0-7, first-year head coach Matt Rhule knew the team needed a shakeup when he put the true freshman from Lake Travis on the field. 

A week removed from making his first collegiate completion, the Austin native would throw his first career TD pass, and a second, as the Bears would outscore WVU 23-0 in the final period, falling just short, 38-36, when Brewer was sacked by linebacker Xavier Preston on the two-point attempt to tie with 17 seconds remaining. It was the sixth sack of the night for the Mountaineers. 

"We thought we had a good play to convert," Brewer said in the postgame. "I need to do a better job of getting rid of the ball in that situation.” 

Two weeks later, he would make his first of what has now grown to 31 career starts, where me led the 2017 Bears to their only win that season against Kansas. In the process, he’s taken a lot of hits, some due to his own stubbornness or misfortune, with quite a few due to a lack of time and protection.

That’s especially been the case against the ‘Eers. 

In 2018 during Baylor’s last trip to Morgantown, WVU crushed the Bears while intercepting the sophomore quarterback three times and allowing just 1-of-8 passing before knocking him out of the game in the 2nd quarter. The Mountaineers finished with 5.0 sacks and four forced turnovers on their way to a 58-14 blowout victory in front of a Thursday night national audience.

The showing was a tough pill to swallow for Rhule’s team, embarrassing even, but for a group known for overcoming adversity, the night ultimately turned into a bump in the road and additional building block in their rise back to prominence. 

Last season, amidst that rise, it was all about the defenses as Baylor outlasted West Virginia 17-14 at McLane Stadium, moving to 8-0 in the process. Brewer had a solid enough game statistically, throwing for 277 yards and two touchdowns on 20-of-26 passing, but the Bears’ OL allowed 8.0 sacks and were denied from the one-yard line on three straight plays to keep the score 7-0 just before halftime. 

Dating back to that nearly magical night in 2017, West Virginia’s defense has compiled 19.0 sacks and 36.0 tackles for loss in their last three contests against Baylor. The Sills’ brothers, Darius and Dante, combined for 5.0 takedowns alone last season. They duo returns, but without the same amount of depth and experience in their supporting cast. 

Things are also a bit different on Baylor’s side of the equation. New offensive coordinator Larry Fedora’s offense, for one, is designed to get the ball out of his quarterbacks hands quicker and should cause some decline in the pressure Brewer and company will no doubt face. 

An even bigger boost should be expected with the news starting center Xavier Newman-Johnson, starting right guard Blake Bedier, and new starting right tackle Jake Burton, a graduate transfer from UCLA, are all expected to make their season debuts on Saturday. That’s a heavy dose of reinforcements and experience for a group that looked sharper than many of their peers across the league and country last week. 

SicEm365

Baylor expects senior starters Xavier Newman, Blake Bedier and Jake Burton to be back in action this weekend.

West Virginia head coach Neal Brown recruited and coached Charlie Brewer’s older brother Michael at Texas Tech. Brown made it clear to the media this week, he’s been mightily impressed by little brother. 

“The kid wins,” Brown said. “I don’t know what else you can say that’s better than that. He’s a winner. He comes from a winning family. His granddad was a winner. His dad was a winner. His brother was a winner. You know, it’s bred into him.”

“That’s as high of a compliment as I can give for Charlie.”

Brown also had plenty of praise for first-year head Dave Aranda and his staff, but one other comment, in particular, could bode well for the Bears this season and on Saturday. 

“The o-line is better, that's the thing that stuck out to me watching the game,” Brown said. “Their o-line is much improved.”

Add three more experienced starters to the mix, and the ingredients are there for a group that can consistently create lanes for a bevy of talented backs, protect their star QB, and allows him time to make throws to a speedy group of wide outs. 

As usual against West Virginia, this weekend will be a tough challenge across the board, even with no fans allowed at Milan Puskar Stadium. But, if it’s a test Aranda's Bears pass upfront, it could mean not only making history in Morgantown but perhaps making a lot more noise than expected in 2020. 

Baylor vs. West Virginia Preview & Prediction

Written by Sam Bradshaw (S11)

Baylor fans are understandably worried about the WVU pass rush but given that Baylor has 80% of a completely new offensive line and WVU hasn’t had as disruptive of a game since I am not thinking it will be the issue it was.  I think Baylor has the better home run hitters on offense.  Add to that how well Brewer completed the ball I can see Baylor keeping the chains moving.

On the other side of the ball I think WVU’s protection issues will be a big issue.  I don’t see WVU being able to grind out big drives on the ground and while their guys are good at breaking tackles for extra yards I think Baylor will have most of their full defensive line roster available as well.  Doege is the kind of QB that gives you a chance by protecting the ball and knowing where to go with it but I think Roberts & Aranda will be able to dial up pressure on him.

Last year I predicted 34-17 Baylor and after BU missed a few opportunities it ended up 17-14.  It won’t be pretty but Bears likely go to 2-0.  

Baylor 31, West Virginia 23

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