Baylor looking to bounce back against Cowboys
A week ago, bowl-minded Baylor fans could see a pretty reasonable path to at least six wins this season.
Whatever happened on the road at West Virginia, the Bears looked like they had good chances of defeating Oklahoma State and TCU down the stretch and who knows, maybe one or two more.
Now that path seems to have narrowed, and not just because West Virginia flattened Baylor, 58-14.
Oklahoma State rebounded from back-to-back losses to Iowa State and Kansas State by edging Texas, 38-35, on Saturday.
The Cowboys rank No. 11 nationally in total offense, but they couldn’t move the ball at key moments in losses against Texas Tech, Iowa State and Kansas State.
Baylor coach Matt Rhule could see on film what helped Oklahoma State get right versus the Longhorns.
“I thought they got the run game going early,” Rhule said. “They found a couple runs that they could execute versus all the different looks. They hit some big plays, and once they got that run game going they were able to go tempo and get themselves in a rhythm.”
The Bears, meanwhile, are tasked with picking themselves up off the mat following the loss at West Virginia. The team held a players-only meeting on Friday and Rhule said the players and coaches would take stock of themselves again on Monday.
“We are going to focus on us and make sure we come out and play our best game and put our players in a position to be successful,” Rhule said.
One more thing clouding Baylor’s chance to get bowl eligible will be the availability of sophomore quarterback Charlie Brewer, who was in the concussion protocol after the West Virginia game.
The Bears have moved the ball at times this season with both Brewer and grad transfer Jalan McClendon at quarterback. But it’s clear that Baylor prefers to have Brewer in the lineup in the critical moments of Big 12 games.