Baylor-Wake Forest Thoughts

The short version is that what happened on Saturday was big time. Season opener on the road against a decent team with a ton of recent success. I know we won by 3 but anyone who saw that knows it wasn't that close. The defesne was nails only allowing one long scoring drive. The other two were 50 yards and 34 yards. Offensively we seemed to take our foot off the gas when we got up big but for the most part I was very please. The scary thing was that Griffin didn't even have a huge game, or a "good" game. He was just so/so.

The follwing are just some random thoughts about the game:

• Phil Taylor was as advertised. He absolutely makes a difference. Notice that now that we're good up front, on the line and the backers, Jordan Lake was nowhere to be seen on the stat sheet.
• We need to get Jay Finley the ball more. All the guy does is get yards. I know we have playmakers at various positions but he can control the game if you give him a chance.
• Kicking game is going to lose us a game this year. You just know it. Saturday's game would have been iced early in the 4th if we take care of business kicking field goals.
• The offensive line did an excellent job. The Wake defense was depleted but we didn't make them look better than they were.
• Points to Jason Lamb for beating a tackle and getting a big time sack. I honestly didn't think he had it in him after the past 3 seasons. Let's hope this year's version is here to stay.
• We can still improve the passing game. You can just tell that the passing game is servicable at this point but it hasn't come close to reaching its potential.

Here are some thoughts about our conference bretheren:

• Oklahoma's biggest problem is their offensive line. They'll lose 4 games (maybe one to us) if they don't get better up front. They have a first class defense but it won't take many points to beat them this year. We'll see.
• aggie fans are beating their chest about pounding a 4-7 team last year. I bet UAB exposes the ags in a couple of weeks.
• OSU looked good but I just know we'll see a "Poke Choke" sometime. Let's hope our number is up when that happens.
• Tech was also not impressive. As always, we'll see after a few more games. I think Texas destroys them at this point.
• We'll find out a little more about ISU after their game with equally horrible looking Iowa this weekend.
• We can't get Colorado and Kansas State on the schedule soon enough.

I'll post shortly after the UCONN game next Saturday. I'll be paying attention to how the fan base responds to the positive end of last season and the good start this season.

Coming Out of the Wilderness?

There has been a ton of talk this off season about us finally posting a non-losing record and making a bowl for the first time since I was in the 9th grade. No doubt we have enough talent to make this happen. We have an explosive offense and a serviceable defense that should be slightly improved from last year. I think (conservatively) we can expect a 3 point improvement on offense (again, conservative) and a 3 point improvement on scoring defense. Compared to last season that means we'd score 31 and give up 26 on average. The 6 point swing also tips two games our way from last year and gets us to 6 wins.

So who can we beat to get to that magic 6 win total? I like to break the schedule down into three sections: Must Wins, Coin Flip Games, and Gravy. If my math is right (double check it anyway), our must wins are: NW State, Kent State, UConn, and Iowa State. We cannot lose any of these. If we do, we are forced to win more than our share of 50/50 games or get an upset somewhere else. The gravy games are against Oklahoma, Texas, and OSU. Any win against these teams (however unlikely) will just be gravy on top of our main goal this year of getting to a bowl.

The coin flip games are ones in which the winner of the game will not be a surprised. The spreads in these games will be less than 10 points so each are winnable but very losable. Below, let's talk about these games. We need to win at least 2 and maybe 3 to guarantee us a bowl spot.

Wake Forest

This article was posted on baylorfans earlier today detailing the Deacon's depeleted defense. Their offense really struggled for most of the season but I still have reservations about this game. The fact that it is the opener on the road really bothers me. Coach Grobe's program is also pretty impressive. Despite thier losses from last season, scrubs won't exactly be taking their place. WF redshirts practically everyone so the guys coming up to take the reigns are most likely going to be 3rd year sophmores or 4th year juniors. They'll have a little experience and won't be fooled easily. Last year that team was so disciplined on defense it looked like they had 13 guys out there.

Nebraska

Lost their QB, and various other important positions from last season. I think their offense takes a small step back from last season but their defense will be better. I'm glad this one will be at home. I think this is going to be a close one just like last season. Hopefully, our kicking game will be better and we'll be able to get off the field on defense. Let's hope we can get some good Halloween mojo for this one.

Missouri

Again, the loss of Maclin, Daniel, Coffman, and some starters on defense have people wrongly thinking we can just walk into Columbia and win this one. Mizzou had the #25 rated recuiting class two years ago according to Rivals so it's not like they have no talent. That class included a 5-Star QB who has no had one year in the system. If you remember from last year, the Tigers shot ahead of us 14-0 early in the game. We faught back and finally tied the game late in the 2nd half but came up short. Another game I wish we had at home, Pinkle for all he's messed up in his tenure has been pretty solid in Columbia.

aggie

You don't get points for what was done before all of the players on the field were born but sometimes it seems like you do. We haven't won in College Station in forever. Everything on paper says we should be favored and win this game but I don't even come close to putting this one in ink yet. They'll be better on offense and marginally better on defense. This is one of those games that we need to prove that we can win where we traditionally haven't. A win at the big concrete tackle box will be a nice skin on the wall and will spare us from the "haven't won there in x years" talk every season.

Tech

There's been some speculation that we could very well be 5-6 heading into this game at Jerryworld. Like Mizzou, people are seeing the close loss last year, plus losses due to graduation/draft and assuming we will win easily. Not so fast my friend. This being game number 12 for the season for both teams means that Taylor Potts won't exactly be a new starter by the time we tee it up in late November. Also, remember that Crabtree was hurt early in our game and was a non-factor and they still beat us. Tech's defense will be a little better as well. I also have a feeling that since Tech's whole alumni base is in DFW, it will be like a home game for them.

So there you have it. We need at least 2 of these coin flip games and most likely 3 to guarantee a bowl berth. My order of these from most winnable to least is: aggie, WF, Tech, Nebraska, Mizzou. Ironically, the top three are away from Waco. Go figure. Let's hope Art and boys get it done this season. I'll throw this out there as well: If we win our opener at WF, it brings 8 wins into play.

That's all I got for this week kids. I'll be back with another off season topic next week.

Murph

...And We're Back: New Baylor Uniforms

With it being July and all, Baylor fans are chomping at the bit to see and discuss anything football related. With the Athletic Department debuting the new uniform combinations yesterday (Pics), a predictable eruption has come from message boarders.

The story on the Baylor Athletic site showcased five of the possible helmet/jersey/pant combinations. Among the more "radical" ideas was a white helmet and and all gold combination.

Before I give my thoughts on these, let me say this: I was a fan of the uniforms last year. They looked good. I liked the simple style and that we changed up the gold and white pants occasionally. That being said, generally speaking, I like what I see out of these new ones.

The only ones I'm not really a fan of is the all gold and the white jersey/gold pant combination. We had heard rumors about the all gold combo earlier and I was excited about it but the actual execution fell short. I think they should have either gone darker on the gold with lighter/brighter numbers and letters or outlined the numbers/letters with white instead of the solid forrest green with black outline. The white jersey/gold pant combo doesn't work for me because the gold is too light. Nothing pops. It would look better with last year's stripes.

I know the "purists" will hate the white helmets but I think they look awesome with the white jersey and pants. The all white look always looks good to me no matter what team is wearing them. I also like the white helmet with the green jersey/white pant combo. Again, it just pops.

There's been plenty of grumbling as I mentioned earlier and I'm seeing a ton of negative reaction to some of these with horrible facts/logic being used to support the reaction. Let's go over a few:

We're abandoning our "traditional" look.

We don't really have a traditional look. Check out this site. In the 80 years we've got documented photos of just our helmets, we've only had the interlocking BU for half of it. The helmet alone has been tweaked a dozen times. We've had numbers on the side of the helmet, nothing on the side of the helmet, three different colors of face masks, stripes/no stripes, outlined BU/non-outlined BU. The helmet that I have in my office has 6 "performance" stars on the front and 4 winged stickers on the back.

The jersey/pant combination is similar. True, we've had green and gold as part of our uniform forever and the tradition pretty much ends there. Wikipedia tells me that the color green has a wavelength of 520 to 570 nanometres. I don't even know what that means but I've bet we've used almost every shade of green in our jerseys since I started going to games in the 80's. We've also played with "Baylor" on the front/no "Baylor" on the front, bear paws on the shoulder, numbers on the sleeve, BU on the sleeve, fuzzy bear paw on the sleeve. Don't pretend that we've had a traditional look. It's always changed, and probably always will.

We are going the "Oregon" route.

Are you nuts? Unless you are defining "going Oregon" as having more than one home and away combination, you can't even come close to Oregon. They have 36 possible combinations. They have had diamond plating graphics in the past, they'll have wings on their shoulders this year. Please. The Oregon football department openly says that they tell recruits that they play with a different uniform combination every game. They will not wear the same combo twice in a season. Are we anywhere near that? Didn't think so.

Big time programs don't mess with their uniforms.

Really? Fist of all, we're not big time..yet. While there are programs like Texas, Alabama, Penn State, and Oklahoma that don't change at all, a little research shows that there are plenty of big time programs that tweak, change, and overhaul their look.

Is Joe Montana playing for Notre Dame or Green Bay?

The Wolverines appear to be updating their uniforms.

Even 5 time Champ and winners of 800 games Ohio State is not immune. From the late 1960's.

Is this what Spurrier wore when he played? Is Emmitt's look "traditional" or not?

As you can see, we're not alone in doing this. When it comes to uniforms, all that matters is that it looks good. If you're whining about this, you probably haven't experienced enough in your life to realize what is important and what's not. Just my $0.02 people.

I'll try to start posting again now that the season is creeping up on us. Until practice starts, I'll put together some good off season topics.

Later Kids,

Murph

Asleep At The Wheel

I know it's been a while since I last posted. Our Bears fell to Penn State last Thursday. We just didn't play our best game and that's all you can really say about it. Yes, the officiating was questionable in parts, but I don't think anyone can say that if we played the same with different referees, we'd win.

In the meantime, the blog is probably going to slow down a bit. I don't think I'm going to get to see a baseball game this season because my weekends are filling up fast. I'll still follow them and post occasionally but the days of seeing a post per day out of me will not be back until football reports in August. I'll be showing up about once a week to ponder a Baylor related topic or something completely random to keep you guessing.

If you want a topic discussed or a question answered, feel free to leave it in the comment section and I'll attend to it quickly.

Until then, have a good time kids.

Murph

Big Time!

It's hard to even explain how the guys are playing these days. One of my life motto's is: "Better late than never." That's about how I feel about this team. We've now won 7 of our last 8 including wins over Big East, ACC, SEC, and now a good Mountain West team.

Obviously Jerrells and Dunn had big games. That was as good as I've ever seen CJ play when you look at scoring, assists, rebounding, and defense. Dunn came out hot but I think he still tries to dribble through too much traffic at times.

Kevin Rodgers has played like a different person the past 3 weeks. I can't explain it. He went from being VERY soft to taking it strong to the rim when he gets an opportunity. It makes all the difference in the world for his game as well as opens up stuff for the guards.

The only concerning thing about last night's game was our bench. 0 points, 0 assists, 3 rebounds, 2 steals, 1 turnover. Ouch. Our bench guys played a total of 36 minutes and that was their production. This has to change to win on Thursday.

I've never seen Penn State play this season so again, no scouting report or keys to the game although one of my buddies insists that Dou's minutes is a direct correlation to our chances of winning. Being a Big 10 (11) team makes me think they are going to play super ugly and try to get us to come down to them. We'll see I guess. The reality is that if we're making our shots, we're not going to lose (how 'bout that analysis). I just think we're a team of destiny now. Maybe not the destiny we hoped for two months ago, but we'll take it now.

Murph

New York, New York!

Another solid outing from the Bears. I don't really have much to say about it that hasn't already been said. This has been a great run for us and takes a little sting off of the season. Let's just be real for a second here: A NIT Championship would be nice but no one will feel it outside of Baylor nation. Question: who won the NIT last year? No googling either. Answer below (I did have to check the old google machine on the interweb). Answer below. Now let's beat SDSU/St. Marys.





















Answer: Ohio State

They Did It Again

We'd never lose if we played like we did in the 1st half in every game. I've never seen a Baylor basketball team just come out on fire like that and simultaneously shut another team down. Some of that was VT not hitting shots. They had some open ones but for the most part we were playing with a ton of energy on defense.

Like many of you, I got a little nervous in the 2nd half. It would just seem so "Baylor" for us to find a way to choke that game away. Fortunately, we held on. In truth, I'm not that worried about the run the Hokies went on. We were up by 28 and you could tell the guys mentally let up. They just weren't the same after that.

Like Virginia Tech, I haven't the slightest idea what Auburn's team is like. I know that if we keep playing like we're capable, it's Hello NY.

Girls Beat UTSA in OT
Now that made me nervous. I don't even want to know what it did to Coach Mulkey. I pictured her in her hospital bed with a radio and going nuts jumping on the bed like Shooter from Hoosiers. Let's hope she's back on the sidelines for Tuesday.

Baseball Sweeps Tech
Elite teams sweep non-elite conference opponents. Good to see that we did that over the weekend. We now find ourselves in a 5 team logjam in 3rd place. The 1st and 2nd place teams (KU and OU) have only played one series. I like where we're at now considering we started conference on the bad end of a split with the aggies. We'll start covering baseball a little more when basketball winds down.

Edit: Baseball lost on Sunday so they didn't sweep afterall and now have an overall conference record of 3-3

Murph