Healthier Bears Trying to Pick Up First Win at OSU
10/10/2017 12:00:00 AM | Football
By Jerry Hill
Baylor Bear Foundation
Getting running back JaMycal Hasty and tight end Ishmail Wainright back healthy, and tight end Jordan Feuerbacher out of a cast, Baylor goes into Saturday's game at No. 14 Oklahoma State "about as healthy as we've been since the start of the year."
"This is a man's game, and it's about who can play through the bumps and bruises when they don't feel 100 percent," coach Matt Rhule said Tuesday during his weekly press conference.
"It's nice to have some of those guys back. We'll see what kind of role Ish will play after being out for a while. Jordan has been playing with that cast, which isn't talked about enough, the sacrifice he's made playing with that broken hand in a cast. But now, he can go out and we can start throwing the ball to the tight end again."
The Bears are still dealing with more than their share of bumps and bruises, particularly in the secondary, where safeties Davion Hall, Chris Miller and Taion Sells are all questionable for Saturday's 2:30 p.m. game in Stillwater, Okla. Sophomore Rajah Preciado and junior Verkedric Vaughns are listed as the starters in the updated depth chart.
"We've been playing a committee of four or five guys at safety anyway, so I'm hopeful that some of those guys can go," Rhule said. "Verkedric has played really well, and he's practiced really well. And Rajah has been playing in our dime package. . . . (Hall, Miller and Sells), all those guys, are questionable physically this week coming out of the Oklahoma and Kansas State games, not after anything that happened last week."
Freshman tight end Rob Saulin was a bye-week casualty, though, and will undergo season-ending shoulder surgery this week.
"Thankfully, the rule in the NCAA is that if you play in no more than four of the first six games, you can apply for a redshirt for that season," Rhule said. "Rob played in four games and will have surgery, so he'll have that experience of playing this year, but he'll have a chance to play next year as well after the surgery."
Saulin is one of 16 true freshmen that have played this season for the Bears (0-5, 0-2) and one of 21 first-time starters, the second-most in FBS. Center Ryan Miller, running back John Lovett, offensive guard Xavier Newman, wide receiver R.J. Sneed, defensive end B.J. Thompson, linebacker Jalen Pitre and cornerback Harrison Hand are the other true freshmen that have started at least one game.
"Everything is the first time, in a lot of ways," Rhule said. "When they go on the road to Kansas State, and the atmosphere is electrifying, that's the first time. So, we'll do it this week, but it's the second time. You just don't have the wisdom. We tell our guys that you can learn from wisdom or experience. Wisdom is when you learn from the mistakes of others, and experience is when you learn from your own mistakes.
"We're making a lot of mistakes that are causing us to lose. The nice thing is, they're young, so they learn from them and you teach them and you don't pan just keep teaching and hope that when they're sophomores and juniors and seniors, they win a lot of games."
With Hasty back for the first time since the first half of the season opener, and junior Terence Williams "getting healthier now," the Bears now have "four backs that are up and ready." Freshmen John Lovett and Trestan Ebner are listed 1-2 on the two-deep.
"Once we get into the game, we'll try to go with the hot hand if there's somebody playing at a high, high level," Rhule said. "We'll get into the game and see who's feeling it, who's seeing it, and we have to do a good job as coaches of trying to get those guys into a rhythm by giving them the ball a little bit more than what we have."
Coming off its only bye week of the season, the Bears face an explosive Oklahoma State team (4-1, 1-1) that ranks second nationally in total offense (583.4), passing yardage (369.6) and scoring (46.8).
Quarterback Mason Rudolph is second nationally in passing yards per game (381.8) and third in passing efficiency (186.2), James Washington is one of the top receivers in the country and sophomore running back Justice Hill is second in the Big 12 with 516 yards rushing.
"Our defensive kids sometimes think we're playing better defense than we have in the past, but the way we're playing defense still isn't good enough," Rhule said. "We want to be a top-25 defense. We're certainly not anywhere close to that right now, and that's only going to happen if we stop the run . . . which is no easy challenge this week. We've got to limit the explosive plays, which Oklahoma State is dynamic at."
Against Oklahoma State's defense, the Bears have to find a way to run the ball better. They've totaled just 201 yards on 89 carries over the last three games.
"While we've been explosive and made the big plays . . . we've got to find a way to generate some sort of consistency on the ground. And that includes eliminating the penalties," Rhule said. "I showed our team that when we don't have a penalty on offense, we're scoring a touchdown about 46 percent of the time. When we do have a penalty, we're scoring a touchdown about 24 percent of the time. So, it's the discipline on offense to go into enemy territory and not have penalties that will allow us to score about twice as much. It seems simple when you think about it, but it's hard to do."
Baylor returns home to face West Virginia (3-2, 1-1) for the annual Homecoming game at 7 p.m. next Saturday, Oct. 21, at McLane Stadium, in a game that will be televised by FS2.
