Baylor leaves Saturday’s 17-6 loss to TCU behind quickly, because Kansas is next and Dave Aranda knows the Jayhawks can stress a defense in a bunch of different ways.
Speaking Monday at his weekly press conference, Aranda broke down what Baylor is walking into in Lawrence, where the Bears open a stretch of two straight road games. Kansas has dropped two in a row, including a 35-24 loss at Kansas State, but Aranda spent plenty of time on the matchup problem it presents, especially in the run game.
“Kansas, run game-wise, gives you a whole bunch of different looks. The quarterback is a runner.
They have the transfer from Kansas State back there that is a threat out of the backfield, but can really get lost in zone blocking schemes. They’re a stretch team and can stick his foot down in the ground and create big gains.”
That dual-threat element starts with Isaiah Marshall, who powered Kansas on the ground against the Wildcats. He ran for 117 yards on 14 carries and also went 12 of 26 through the air for 151 yards, one touchdown and one interception. Dylan Edwards added 57 rushing yards and a touchdown on 16 carries, along with 28 receiving yards.
Baylor’s defense has handled the run well for most of the season, and Aranda pointed to that strength as the Bears prepare for a different kind of test. Through six games, Baylor has given up 520 rushing yards, which works out to 86.7 per game, and opponents are averaging about 2.6 yards per carry.
Aranda also said Kansas is tricky on passing downs because the Jayhawks shift their approach depending on who is lining up across from them.
“Pass wise, I think they very much look at what hurt people in the past, and they’re a gameplan outfit in that way. And so a lot of the film is kind of mixed in terms of concepts and variations off of things.”
Baylor’s own offense is the other piece of the story after the TCU game. The Bears managed only 310 total yards, never found the end zone and came away with just six points despite running 87 offensive plays and piling up 23 first downs.
DJ Lagway finished 22 of 53 for 256 yards and an interception, and TCU got to him for four sacks while disrupting the passing game throughout the afternoon. Aranda said Lagway had opportunities to do more early, but the protection got worse as the game wore on.
“There’s times when he was in the pocket, especially early in the game, he could’ve gotten to a second or third read. I thought later in the game, once you got past the second quarter on, there really wasn’t much of a pocket to speak of.
And so at that point, he was doing what he could. It’s hard to criticize when there’s someone in his face the entire time.
And so a cleaner line of scrimmage is gonna be cleaner decisions.”
The ground game never gave Baylor much help either. The Bears finished with 54 rushing yards on 34 attempts, just 1.6 yards per carry, a sharp drop from the 244 yards they put up on the ground against Arizona State.
Aranda said the mood around the program has stayed steady, even after the first Big 12 loss. He cited the effort Baylor showed against TCU and the energy he feels around the team heading into the road trip.
“You’d like to have a lot more points after all those plays, but the guys are battling and really working. You know, you go in the weight room right now where a lot of guys are at, and there’s just, you feel it, you feel like it’s about to explode in there, just energy and they wanna go out and play again.”
He also praised the leadership in the locker room, saying the players have bought into his message of being “tough, smart, dependable” and are holding each other accountable.
“They’ve got a really good edge about them. If we could play today, they’d wanna play today, and so I think everyone feels that way,” Aranda said, adding that the players are “chomping at the bit” for their next opportunity.
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