Baylor is trying to make Saturday about subtraction.
After a sloppy stretch that included nine penalties, 85 penalty yards and three turnovers in a 44-3 win over Prairie View A&M, coach Dave Aranda made it clear what needs to change before the Bears move into Big 12 play.
"Right now, it's too easy to beat us, with the penalties and the turnovers," Aranda said. "We need to clean that up."
The Bears will get one more nonconference test when they host Louisiana Tech on Saturday in Waco, Texas. Baylor is 1-1, and the matchup comes at a time when the Bears are also waiting on the status of quarterback DJ Lagway, who missed the Prairie View game because of a lower leg injury suffered in the season opener against Auburn. Aranda said Monday that Lagway felt good in Sunday's practice and was expected to be good for this week's practices.
In Lagway's absence, Nate Bennett handled the offense and put up 314 passing yards with three touchdowns and two interceptions.
Baylor's injury list also grew on defense. Defensive tackle Devonte Tezino suffered a serious leg injury Saturday and will miss the rest of the season.
Louisiana Tech comes in at 1-1 after taking a 45-14 loss at then-No. 8 LSU, but the Bulldogs had their moments early. They forced four first-half turnovers and stayed within 10-7 at halftime, helped by Jordan McRae's 100-yard interception return for a touchdown.
The offense, though, never found a rhythm. Louisiana Tech finished with just 139 total yards, and coach Sonny Cumbie was blunt afterward.
"We just didn't play enough offense," Louisiana Tech coach Sonny Cumbie said.
One of the few bright spots was Jalen Mickens, who caught six passes for 101 yards and a 67-yard touchdown. Through two games, he has nine receptions for 234 yards and two touchdowns.
The Bulldogs' defense has at least 10 tackles for loss in each of its first two games, with Alonzo Jackson Jr. leading the way at five tackles for loss and three sacks.
Baylor owns a 5-1 edge in the all-time series, and the teams haven't met since 1996. Aranda and Cumbie also share a connection from their Texas Tech days, when Aranda was a graduate assistant from 2000-02 and Cumbie was a quarterback for the Red Raiders.
In Other News...
Baylor Suddenly Has A Defensive Line Question Slug Mitchell Could Answer
Baylors defensive front may have gotten an unexpected late-season boost, with fifth-year lineman Traevon Mitchell, better known as Slug, cleared by temporary injunction to remain eligible for at least the rest of the regular season. The ruling from Judge Alan Bennett gives the Bears another experienced body in a position group that can always use more depth, especially as the grind of conference play wears on.
Coach Dave Aranda has already pointed to Mitchell as a possible answer after another player went down with a season-ending injury, which only adds to the intrigue around what his role could become now. The legal battle is not finished, with the next trial date still estimated to be about 90 days away, so Baylor has a short-term solution but not necessarily a permanent one, leaving the Bears to plan while the situation around Mitchell remains unsettled. [Read more 🡒]
Baylor Heads Into La Tech With One Big Problem Up Front
Baylor is heading into its matchup with Louisiana Tech trying to patch things together along the line of scrimmage, where the loss of fifth-year senior Devonte Tezino has left a noticeable hole on defense. Tezinos season-ending lower body injury changes the look of a unit that had counted on his experience, but Baylor at least got one bit of relief when fellow fifth-year senior Traevon Mitchell was granted a temporary injunction to play out the rest of the season.
The Bears will need that depth to hold up, especially with players like Kyler Jordan expected to take on more responsibility up front. On the other side of the ball, starting center Koltin Sieracki is expected back after missing a game with an injury, and Baylor is still trying to clean up penalties and sharpen its overall execution before taking on Louisiana Tech. [Read more 🡒]
Baylor Suddenly Has A Breakout Star Chasing A Historic Pace
Baylor did not spend the offseason advertising Gavin Freeman as the centerpiece of its passing game, but two games in, the senior transfer has forced his way into that role. Freeman arrived from Oklahoma State with a reputation for reliability, and he has already become one of the most important pieces in the Bears offense, helping drive wins over Auburn and Prairie View A&M while pacing the entire country with 22 catches.
The early production puts Freeman on a pace that is hard to ignore, especially for a Baylor team looking for answers as the season settles in. It is still early, and sustaining that kind of volume over a full schedule is another matter entirely, but Freeman has already given the Bears something they can build around and a storyline that will keep getting louder if he keeps this up. [Read more 🡒]