soonercastor
10/28/2010, 02:21 PM
Could * lose three straight at home? I sure hope they do and the CFN crew has Baylor "upsetting" * on Saturday. :pop: :pop:
Baylor (6-2) at Texas (4-3) Oct. 30, 7:00, FSN
Here’s The Deal … Going into the final weekend of October, Baylor is on top of the Big 12 South standings and is eligible for a bowl game. Yes, that Baylor. But for all the huge, extraordinary strides made this year, with the first six-win season since the program was in the Southwest Conference and with four wins in the last five games, the real icing on the cake would be a win over Texas. Losing 12 straight in the series, going back to a 23-21 1997 win, and 16 of the last 17, Baylor has been stomped on by the Longhorns time and again, while not coming within ten miles of being competitive in most seasons. This is a year when this might finally change as the Bears have the talent and the running game to blow past a UT team coming off a shocking home loss to Iowa State.
The Longhorns have lost three of their last four games, with the win over Nebraska seeming more and more like a fluke. Even in victory, the offense was miserable and the defense had to save the day, but there’s still hope. It’ll take two more Oklahoma losses to have a shot at the Big 12 title, but with four home games in the final five, counting the Sun Belt date against Florida Atlantic, there’s a chance to go on a run to close strong. Of course, beating Iowa State was supposed to kick things off with a bang. How ugly has the last month been? Texas has lost more games in the last four weeks than it had in the previous 37 games, and just going by regular season games, Texas lost two from October 13, 2007, until the UCLA gaffe this season.
Why Baylor Might Win: The Texas run defense ranked 30th in the nation and the defense overall ranked sixth in the country and first in the Big 12, but Iowa State got 120 rushing yards from Alexander Robinson and the team ran for 199 yards and two scores, and UCLA ran for 264 yards and three scores with 118 yards from Johnathan Franklin. Baylor’s rushing offense has been unstoppable and the offense ranked fifth in the nation with 200 rushing yards or more in four games. But the Bears aren’t just running it with the passing game rolling for 400 yards or more in three of the last four games. The Texas offense hasn’t shown any semblance of offensive consistency to keep up if BU gets rolling.
Why Texas Might Win: Texas is 3-1 this year when running for 100 yards or more, and it’s 1-2 when under (the one win coming against Texas Tech). Baylor has given up 100 rushing yards or more against everyone but Sam Houston State, Rice, and Kansas. Even Buffalo, Texas Tech, and Colorado ran without a problem on the Baylor defensive front. Texas, as the Nebraska game showed, might have a type of fed-up streak. Just when it seems like Texas is about to go in the tank, it could come rolling back with an angry defensive effort where everything actually works, like the Nebraska game. For all the problems last week against Iowa State, the silver lining was how Garrett Gilbert finally got the passing game going, throwing for 344 yards and two touchdowns. If that was the moment when the light turned on, the mediocre Baylor secondary could be in trouble.
What To Watch Out For: Robert Griffin isn’t in the Heisman hunt, but he deserves to be after throwing for 404 yards and four touchdowns in last week’s win over Kansas State, but it was hard to get too much of the credit for the win when Jay Finley was so dominant. The senior became a workhorse for the first time in his career, turning his second 20+ carry game into 250 yards and two touchdowns after rushing for 132 yards and two scores against Colorado the week before. He’s not being used as a receiver, strictly carrying the ground game as a ying to Griffin’s yang. Texas could only wish it could get that sort of production out of any of its backs, or any of its offensive playmakers. Former defensive back Marcus Davis started out the season with some decent games, catching seven passes for 104 yards and a score against Wyoming, but he didn’t play against Oklahoma and he didn’t make any grabs against Nebraska. Used as a short-range target, he caught eight passes for 50 yards in last week’s loss. Despite his limited role, he’s UT’s top receiver so far.
What Will Happen: No, Texas can’t lose to Baylor, too … can it? Why not? The Baylor offense hasn’t been stopped by anyone other than TCU, and Texas isn’t TCU, and the UT offense just isn’t good enough to take advantage of the porous Bear D. Griffin won’t be held in check like Taylor Martinez was and he’ll throw even better than he’ll run. This won’t be rock bottom for the Longhorns, that was last week, but this won’t make life fun around the program. Long-suffering BU alumni will be deafening.
CFN Prediction: Baylor 27 … Texas 24 … Line: Texas -7.5
Baylor (6-2) at Texas (4-3) Oct. 30, 7:00, FSN
Here’s The Deal … Going into the final weekend of October, Baylor is on top of the Big 12 South standings and is eligible for a bowl game. Yes, that Baylor. But for all the huge, extraordinary strides made this year, with the first six-win season since the program was in the Southwest Conference and with four wins in the last five games, the real icing on the cake would be a win over Texas. Losing 12 straight in the series, going back to a 23-21 1997 win, and 16 of the last 17, Baylor has been stomped on by the Longhorns time and again, while not coming within ten miles of being competitive in most seasons. This is a year when this might finally change as the Bears have the talent and the running game to blow past a UT team coming off a shocking home loss to Iowa State.
The Longhorns have lost three of their last four games, with the win over Nebraska seeming more and more like a fluke. Even in victory, the offense was miserable and the defense had to save the day, but there’s still hope. It’ll take two more Oklahoma losses to have a shot at the Big 12 title, but with four home games in the final five, counting the Sun Belt date against Florida Atlantic, there’s a chance to go on a run to close strong. Of course, beating Iowa State was supposed to kick things off with a bang. How ugly has the last month been? Texas has lost more games in the last four weeks than it had in the previous 37 games, and just going by regular season games, Texas lost two from October 13, 2007, until the UCLA gaffe this season.
Why Baylor Might Win: The Texas run defense ranked 30th in the nation and the defense overall ranked sixth in the country and first in the Big 12, but Iowa State got 120 rushing yards from Alexander Robinson and the team ran for 199 yards and two scores, and UCLA ran for 264 yards and three scores with 118 yards from Johnathan Franklin. Baylor’s rushing offense has been unstoppable and the offense ranked fifth in the nation with 200 rushing yards or more in four games. But the Bears aren’t just running it with the passing game rolling for 400 yards or more in three of the last four games. The Texas offense hasn’t shown any semblance of offensive consistency to keep up if BU gets rolling.
Why Texas Might Win: Texas is 3-1 this year when running for 100 yards or more, and it’s 1-2 when under (the one win coming against Texas Tech). Baylor has given up 100 rushing yards or more against everyone but Sam Houston State, Rice, and Kansas. Even Buffalo, Texas Tech, and Colorado ran without a problem on the Baylor defensive front. Texas, as the Nebraska game showed, might have a type of fed-up streak. Just when it seems like Texas is about to go in the tank, it could come rolling back with an angry defensive effort where everything actually works, like the Nebraska game. For all the problems last week against Iowa State, the silver lining was how Garrett Gilbert finally got the passing game going, throwing for 344 yards and two touchdowns. If that was the moment when the light turned on, the mediocre Baylor secondary could be in trouble.
What To Watch Out For: Robert Griffin isn’t in the Heisman hunt, but he deserves to be after throwing for 404 yards and four touchdowns in last week’s win over Kansas State, but it was hard to get too much of the credit for the win when Jay Finley was so dominant. The senior became a workhorse for the first time in his career, turning his second 20+ carry game into 250 yards and two touchdowns after rushing for 132 yards and two scores against Colorado the week before. He’s not being used as a receiver, strictly carrying the ground game as a ying to Griffin’s yang. Texas could only wish it could get that sort of production out of any of its backs, or any of its offensive playmakers. Former defensive back Marcus Davis started out the season with some decent games, catching seven passes for 104 yards and a score against Wyoming, but he didn’t play against Oklahoma and he didn’t make any grabs against Nebraska. Used as a short-range target, he caught eight passes for 50 yards in last week’s loss. Despite his limited role, he’s UT’s top receiver so far.
What Will Happen: No, Texas can’t lose to Baylor, too … can it? Why not? The Baylor offense hasn’t been stopped by anyone other than TCU, and Texas isn’t TCU, and the UT offense just isn’t good enough to take advantage of the porous Bear D. Griffin won’t be held in check like Taylor Martinez was and he’ll throw even better than he’ll run. This won’t be rock bottom for the Longhorns, that was last week, but this won’t make life fun around the program. Long-suffering BU alumni will be deafening.
CFN Prediction: Baylor 27 … Texas 24 … Line: Texas -7.5