The Baylor Bears were the surprise team in the Big 12 Conference last season, and they were also the best. Baylor could have run the table and gone 13-0 had injuries not caught up with the team late in the season. As it was, the Bears still exceeded all expectations and made a major New Year’s Day bowl game. A Baylor team hadn’t done something like that since 1980, when the Bears and a player named Mike Singletary won the Southwest Conference and played in the 1981 Cotton Bowl against Alabama. Baylor has now put a bulls-eye on its back. Can the program withstand a lot of pressure and attention and still be as good as it was last season, if not better?
Strengths
The Bears motor up and down the field on offense. They’re fast, they’re balanced, they’re relentless, they’re aggressive, and they just don’t let opponents breathe. Everything about this offense is designed to make defenses feel that they have to cover every inch of the field and account for every single position. The Bears can run a lot of horizontal passes to wide receivers. They spread their flankers wide, and their horizontal passes force cornerbacks to play close to the line of scrimmage. Then, any kind of ball fake or pass fake by the quarterback can easily get the cornerback to bite, setting up an easy hitch-and-go touchdown along the sideline. The other option is simply that if a corner plays the receiver tightly in a man-to-man look, the concern in the back of the corner’s mind about the horizontal pass gives the Baylor receiver the ability to burst by the corner right after the snap.
Baylor is not just about the passing game, though. The Bears can run the ball effectively as well. They use pace and the threat of the pass to jam the ball up the gut between the tackles. Baylor has a strong north-south running game and can beat an opposing offense in so many different ways. There just isn’t much of a weakness in this offense.
Weaknesses
The Bears have so much on offense, but it’s on defense where they struggle. Baylor allowed a lot of points in a lot of games last season, but the offense was better in most cases. Against Oklahoma State and UCF, though, everything fell apart, as the Bears were gashed in every which way. The irony for Baylor’s defense is that it was cut open from all angles, much as the Bears’ offense did the very same thing to a whole list of opponents all season long. Baylor’s defensive front has to be the source of a renewal, and if the Bears, who must visit Oklahoma this season, do not improve in that part of their lineup, they’re not going to take the next step.
Schedule
The Bears, as said above, must visit Big 12 favorite Oklahoma. That’s the game which will likely determine whether the Bears win the Big 12 again or not. Baylor hosts Kansas State, the team that’s also expected to contend for the league title. The non-conference games are not difficult.
Outlook
The Bears probably won’t win at Oklahoma, but they’re going to win just about everywhere else, with the possible exception being Texas. Where will this team lose a third game? It’s just not likely. This team should win 10 in the regular season, maybe 11.
Pick: Over 9.5 at -168
