Baylor Bear Insider
Dave Aranda had hoped his Baylor football team would "take that next step" and find a way to win a road game in a tough environment.
While the Bears "made some strides there," it wasn't enough. TCU snapped Baylor's three-game winning streak, riding the hot hand of redshirt freshman quarterback Chandler Morris in a 30-28 upset Saturday afternoon in Fort Worth.
"I'm proud of the team, and I told them that," said Aranda, whose team fell to 7-2 overall and tied for third in the Big 12 at 4-2. "There's a whole lot to improve on, and all of it is correctable. I told the team inside, I take responsibility for all of it."
The two specific areas that Aranda pointed out were a pass rush that was "severely lacking" at times and an inconsistent rushing attack that netted just 26 yards on 11 carries in the second quarter.
After a first-quarter sack by Gabe Hall on TCU's first series, an elusive Morris was able to somehow wiggle out of pressure time and time again, completing 29-of-41 passes for 461 yards and two touchdowns and adding 70 yards rushing on 11 attempts.
Other than a QB draw on the Frogs' first touchdown, most of Morris' rushing yards came on scrambles when he was flushed out of the pocket.
"These are things that have kind of plagued us from Week 1," Aranda said. "Looking back, this has been coming. I think you can go throughout our season so far and pull examples. While we have improved some, clearly not enough. The quarterback having a bunch of time to find an open receiver and/or scramble to move the chains. It's been a broken record from the start."
Baylor's run defense has made dramatic strides over the last four games, holding teams to 89.8 yards rushing per game and 2.8 per carry. Other than Morris' runs, the Horned Frogs had just 24 yards on 24 attempts.
"We've worked really hard to get people that can get both hands on an O-lineman, square them up and knock them back," Aranda said. "Our improvement in that area has been very strong. I think, almost in correspondence with that, our pass rush has lessened."
Aranda compared Baylor's search for a pass-rushing specialist to a baseball relief pitcher that comes into the game to get one out. TCU was 7-of-14 on third down, converting on third-and-10 or longer three times on one drive.
"You've got a third down, or whatever it is, to get a pass rush going," he said. "We've got to be better with that mindset and that attitude in terms of our special ops people. I feel like there's been improvement, just not enough."
With Baylor's defense playing predominantly zone coverage, the lack of a pass rush also affects the coverage in the back end, Aranda said.
"Coverage-wise, all that's tied in," he said. "When you're playing zone coverage with a bunch of eyes on the ball, there are open areas of the zone. So, the count is that the rush is going to affect the QB to get his eyes hurriedly locked on one receiver or the other so we can break. When there is no rush, obviously you don't have that."
Senior linebacker Terrel Bernard said there were also some communication issues, where all 11 players weren't on the same page.
"Just communication, everybody being on the same page 100% of the time," he said. "Obviously, working on our tackling. I felt like that was a big part. But, there were a couple of times where we were in a couple of different calls. We had to make some checks, and everybody wasn't there. If we get that stuff cleaned up, it's a different ballgame."
Other than Abram Smith's 48-yard run on the Bears' first play from scrimmage, TCU kept the running game in check in the first half, holding them to just 44 yards on the next 16 attempts. In the second half, Baylor was much more consistent, averaging 4.6 per pop.
"Offensively, our ability to run the ball for four quarters is an asset that we can improve on," Aranda said. "We've been running the ball sporadically in the first and second quarters at times, (then) finding angles and finding leverages to be able to run it in the third and fourth. Our ability to run it from the start, versus good fronts and good people, is going to separate us."
Smith, who finished with 125 yards on 18 carries to post the 15th 1,000-yard season in program history (1,055 yards), said there was a lack of execution in Baylor's offensive lull in the first two quarters.
"Whenever the drives started to get better for (TCU's) offense, I guess you could say we got a little cold," Smith said. "The momentum was on their side. We've got to execute a little more, and that's something we didn't do at the beginning."
Even with those issues, as well as some early struggles with penalties, Baylor still had a chance to win the game in the fourth quarter. After TCU's Griffin Kell missed a 33-yard field, the Bears drove from their own 20 down to the Frogs' 34 with 1:10 left in the game.
But, TCU linebacker Shadrach Banks read quarterback Gerry Bohanon's eyes and picked off a pass intended for tight end Ben Sims that would have moved the Bears into range for an Isaiah Hankins field goal.
Aranda said his "heart breaks for Gerry" after the junior quarterback threw two interceptions, the first one coming on a tipped-ball pass to Tyquan Thornton in the end zone.
"I think right now, he's hurt, and so are a lot of our guys," he said. "They've got emotion inside of them that they've got to get out, and they've got to be backed up by their teammates and their coaches. So, that's happening right now. I think when we get back (to practice) on Monday, he will have both feet in the ground, look you in the eye and go to work."
After falling to 18th in both the Associated Press and AFCA coaches' polls, Baylor will return home to host No. 4 Oklahoma (9-0, 6-0) at 11 a.m. Saturday in a game that will be televised nationally as the "Big Noon" game on FOX. The Sooners had a bye after a 52-21 over Texas Tech.
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