Gadget Performs Galore: Baylor Battles Previous Put up-Gundy Pokes in Sloppy 45–27 Win

STILLWATER, Okla. – For the primary time in over 20 years, Mike Gundy wasn’t patrolling the slender sidelines of Boone Pickens Stadium on Saturday. Instead, interim head coach Doug Meacham stood in his place, because it was introduced on Tuesday that Gundy had been fired following an embarrassing 19-12 residence loss to Tulsa, which dropped the Cowboys to 4-11 throughout their final 15 video games.

The Pokes, determined to infuse some power right into a program on the brink, entered the matchup towards Baylor as three-touchdown underdogs, and deliberate all week to drag out all the mandatory stops to attempt to accomplish an unbelievable upset.

While Baylor was capable of depart Stillwater with a 45-27 win, it wasn’t the prettiest efficiency, and it teetered towards ugly more often than not, leaving individuals to query why it’s so tough for Dave Aranda’s crew to place all of it collectively on each side of the ball for 4 quarters.

Defensively, particularly, the Bears struggled to cease Oklahoma State’s seemingly infinite bag of tips, which included a heavy mixture of double passes, jet sweeps and different gadget-type performs.

Oklahoma State entered Saturday’s contest with one of many worst offenses within the nation amongst Power Four groups, however the Pokes managed to exceed their season averages in factors (14) and yards (324) within the first half alone, hanging 20 factors on the scoreboard and totaling 349 yards.

In the second half, the Bears cranked up the strain and began to go after freshman quarterback Zane Flores extra, and it confirmed, as Baylor’s protection held the Cowboys to seven factors and fewer than 100 yards throughout the ultimate two quarters. 

“There’s definitely a lot to learn from,” redshirt junior outdoors linebacker Kyler Jordan stated after the victory. “Going into this game, it was kind of hard to know what we were going to get. Obviously, we got a few things that we didn’t really practice. In the second half, we did a good job adjusting, but there’s definitely going to be some stuff we put on tape that we’re going to have to learn from.”

After the sport, Aranda admitted that Saturday was a singular state of affairs, contemplating the circumstances. The sixth-year head coach famous that with Gundy, Oklahoma State “kept it simple” and that the offense was extraordinarily conservative, working the identical play someplace between 5 and 9 occasions per recreation.

With Meacham, who occurred to be TCU’s offensive coordinator within the Horned Frogs’ 2021 upset of Baylor, on the helm, the Pokes had nothing to lose and ran trick play after trick play after trick play in all types of wacky formations to confuse the protection.

“This one was a little bit different with all of the gadget plays and trick plays,” Aranda stated. “I think on that first drive alone, there were two double-passes. We had an idea that was coming, and we repped it. We looked at the TCU film and ‘Hey. This is how it looked. This is how we’re going to rep it.’ But of course it’s not going to look that way. We’re going to have to get better at those things.”

Offensively, issues got here a lot simpler because the Bears obtained no matter they wished on the bottom and rushed for 219 yards and 5.6 yards per carry. Star redshirt sophomore working again Bryson Washington obtained banged up within the second half however nonetheless totaled 77 yards and a rating on 10 carries. 

True freshmen Michael Turner and Caden Knighten each toted the rock fairly a bit, combining for 128 dashing yards on 18 makes an attempt.

“I thought they were able to move people,” Aranda stated of the offensive line. “I thought there were times when you saw the line of scrimmage pushed and the running backs churned for two to three yards. That’s the identity of Baylor football. That was really cool to see. We saw glimpses of that last week, but we saw much more of that this week. We want to be able to build off that.”

Through the air, Sawyer Robertson had one other spectacular day, throwing for 393 yards and 4 touchdowns on 24-of-35 passing. The redshirt senior has appeared tentative to run after struggling a lower-leg harm towards the top of final season, however used his legs a bit extra on Saturday, together with for a two-yard designed landing run.

“On the sideline, Spav is yelling for Sawyer to run; I’m yelling for Sawyer to run,” Aranda stated. “There’s an opportunity to just take off. We saw a lot of two-man [coverage] today. When they’re rushing four guys, playing man under with coverage and there are two high safeties on top, there’s no one really for Sawyer. His ability to run greatly maximizes our ability to score, so that was good to see.”

Robertson is now second within the nation in each passing yards (1,713) and passing touchdowns (17); the Lubbock native is rapidly taking pictures up leaderboards and setting data, as he grew to become the primary Big 12 quarterback since Kyler Murray (2018) to throw for 3 touchdowns in 5 straight video games.

“I’m living in answered prayer right now,” Robertson stated. “Every single Saturday, I get to go out and play a game that I’ve played growing up, literally from eight years old to 22. I’ve prayed to be in this position, and now I’m in it.”

He continued, “Having that perspective, like the one where it’s ‘Hey, I’ve gotta achieve these things or I’m a failure,’ and the one where it’s like, ‘Thank you, God, for allowing me to do what I can do.’ It takes so much of the pressure off, and that’s why I’m able to play the way that I can play.”

Redshirt senior large receiver Josh Cameron additionally had a bounce-back afternoon, following his two-fumble forgettable efficiency towards Arizona State. Cameron hauled in six passes for a team-high 98 receiving yards, whereas Kole Wilson (6 rec, 76 yards, TD), Michael Trigg (3 rec, 62 yards, TD) and Kobe Prentice (rec, 73 yards, TD) all chipped in with stable showings.

“This was a personal game for him,” Aranda stated of Cameron. “Last game really stung, so this was a game where he was going to show out regardless of who we were playing.”

The solely factor lacking for Baylor’s offense on Saturday was a killer intuition and a capability to bury their opponent. The Bears might have simply scored a pair extra touchdowns, however continued to shoot themselves within the foot, with both pricey penalties or a fumble from Knighten.

“Sometimes, it doesn’t fit together for four quarters, and we’re still looking to do that,” Robertson stated.

With Washington and a litany of different Bears banged up throughout the final week, a ton of underclassmen noticed the sphere on Saturday. Turner and Knighten performed prolonged snaps within the backfield. Redshirt freshman Koltin Sieracki entered rather than an injured Omar Aigbedion at proper guard. Redshirt sophomore Sean Thompkins noticed some run at left sort out. Defensively, true freshman linebacker Kaleb Burns performed exceptionally effectively with three tackles and a sort out for loss.

“We’ve got a bunch of young guys that are playing,” Aranda stated. “I think our depth is being tested at a bunch of positions, whether that be O-Line or linebacker. The one spot that it’s not is at receiver. In other spots, we’re being tested, and the young guys are learning on the run. You take all that learning, if the lessons are applied. We were able to see some of that today, which was cool.”

As for Burns, Aranda added, “Kaleb is very talented. He’s very smart. He has a mind for football. Football comes easy to him. It’s a language that he eats up — his appetite is strong.”

The Bears (3-2, 1-1) will return to Waco to face Kansas State (2-3, 1-1) at 11 a.m. subsequent Saturday, Oct. 4, at McLane Stadium. The recreation can be streamed on ESPN+.