Baylor will be without freshman quarterback Quinn Murphy when it heads to Provo on Saturday night for a matchup with No. 10 BYU.
Murphy is the lone new addition to the Bears’ injury report since last week’s 42-31 win over Iowa State, leaving Baylor with one less option behind DJ Lagway. The Bears have already leaned on Nate Bennett this season, and he made the most of his chance in September by accounting for four touchdowns in Baylor’s 36-19 win over Louisiana Tech.
Baylor comes in at 6-3 overall and 4-2 in Big 12 play after clinching bowl eligibility last week. BYU is 7-2 and also 4-2 in conference play after a 28-20 loss to Utah. A win in Provo would push the Bears ahead of the Cougars in the league standings.
Lagway carried the offense against Iowa State, throwing for 229 yards and two touchdowns while also leading Baylor with 119 rushing yards, including a 54-yard touchdown. He was responsible for 348 of the Bears’ 423 total yards.
The challenge Saturday is a BYU attack that can stress Baylor in a different way. Bear Bachmeier remains a problem on third-and-long because he can take off and move the chains himself if the middle opens up, or break outside and extend the play long enough to find a receiver. That puts extra pressure on a Baylor secondary that is already missing Jacob Redding and Jamarion Richardson.
Redding and Jones have been out all season. Redding tore his ACL in the preseason, while Jones suffered a season-ending injury during spring practice.
Tezino started Baylor’s first two games before going down with a season-ending ankle injury on the opening drive against Prairie View A&M on Sept. 12.
Richardson and Tone were both listed out for the Big 12 opener against Colorado on Sept. 26, though their exact injury dates are unclear.
Baylor’s defense will also be looking to clean up the run game after Iowa State piled up 216 rushing yards, with Aiden Flora responsible for 182 of them. The Cyclones converted eight of 17 third downs and controlled the ball for more than 36 minutes. That came a week after Baylor held UCF to 66 rushing yards and just two third-down conversions on 15 tries.
Kickoff is scheduled for 6 p.m. CT at LaVell Edwards Stadium, and the game will air on FOX.
In Other News...
BYU-Baylor Suddenly Has A Game-Day Problem Fans Need To Watch
A nationwide grounding of flights has put Baylors trip to Provo in a tricky spot, with the Bears among the college football teams dealing with disrupted travel plans heading into their game against BYU. The issue is not just getting there, either. If Baylor cannot leave as planned, the timing of the trip itself becomes a problem, and the earliest possible departure would be Saturday morning.
BYUs long-standing agreement not to play games on Sunday makes the situation even tighter, because it narrows the window for any backup plan if the Bears are delayed. Baylor is not alone in dealing with the fallout, with Arizona State and UCF among the other programs facing similar headaches, but this one has a particularly awkward setup because of the games location and the limited flexibility around the schedule. [Read more 🡒]
Baylor Heads To BYU With New Uncertainty Around A Crucial Big 12 Test
Baylors trip to BYU picked up an extra layer of uncertainty Friday night when a nationwide FAA ground stop forced the Big 12 to shuffle kickoff times for several games on Saturday. The conference announced updated start times for four matchups, including the Bears road test in Provo, as travel disruptions rippled through the league on the eve of a key November slate.
The timing change adds another wrinkle to a matchup Baylor already needed to navigate carefully in a Big 12 race that leaves little margin for error. Kansas at West Virginia, Arizona State at UCF and Utah at Arizona were also affected, while Kansas State at TCU remained set for 1 p.m. CT pending further updates. [Read more 🡒]
Baylor Is About To Give Texas An Early Reality Check
Sean Miller knows exactly why this one matters. Before Big 12 play even settles in, Texas is getting a nonconference test against Baylor, a game that should tell a lot about where the Longhorns stand and what kind of team they are becoming. Early-season matchups like this are where identities start to harden, and Baylor brings the kind of profile that can expose a team quickly, with Scott Drews group built around rebounding and pressure defense.
For Texas, the stakes go beyond the usual November measuring stick. Davis Punch pointed to the game as a chance to answer for the preseason scrimmage loss to St. Johns, and that makes this trip feel like more than just another step in the schedule. Baylor has a way of making opponents work for every possession, and if Texas wants to leave with momentum, it will have to show it can handle that physical edge from the opening tip. [Read more 🡒]