By Jerry Hill
Baylor Bear Foundation

Matt Rhule understands all about the process. He went through it in his first year at Temple, losing to an FCS Fordham program en route to a 2-12 finish.

But, just knowing that didn't help him sleep any better Saturday night after Baylor's 48-45 season-opening loss to Liberty.

"No one likes to lose, and don't sit here thinking I'm sleeping well right now," Rhule said Tuesday at his weekly press conference. "I'm not sleeping well, and I'm furious, but I'm furious at myself. What I do know is that every obstacle has a chance to be an opportunity if you learn from it, and I do think they're trying to learn from it. That's the positive. The negative is we shouldn't have had to do that. We've got a long way to go, but at least we know where we are."

The Bears (0-1), coming off their first season-opening loss in nine years, will host UTSA (0-0) at 7 p.m. Saturday in a game that will be televised by FSN. Like Liberty, this is the first-ever meeting between the Bears and Roadrunners. UTSA was scheduled to open at home against Houston last week, but the game had to be postponed because of Hurricane Harvey.

"They're a tough, hard-nosed, physical program. They'll challenge you. They won't back down from you," Rhule said of UTSA, which went to a bowl game last season. "Coming out of the last game, that's the one thing that I think bothers all of us. Liberty was a team that challenged us, and I think a lot of us thought it was going to be easy, and that's why it rests on me. We didn't really respond to the physical challenge that they presented, and that was unfortunate. So, we have to move forward and we can't allow that to happen again this week.

"(UTSA is) tough, they're physical and they play the game the way that I like to watch it be played, so it will be a heck of a challenge. But, I do think our team is ready to bounce back and respond."

Particularly on the defensive side, where the Bears started three freshmen overall and four defensive backs with zero starting experience, Rhule said there was a "little bit of panic starting to set in" as the game against Liberty remained tight from start to finish.

"Football is not a game you can play panicked," he said. "There are two issues on defense we have to deal with. Number one is the secondary and the bodies, but we're starting to get those back. The other one is a mindset. When you're not used to playing great defense, you go out there and kind of wait for something bad to happen. . . . We're trying to move forward and be a little more aggressive. When you blitz, go blitz."

Unable to get off the field, the defense allowed Liberty to convert on 15 of 24 third-down plays and roll up 585 yards total offense.

"All that panic that set in during the game, we just need to calm down and go play," Rhule said. "They know how to play, so I think you'll see a much better football team this week."

Depleted by injuries, the secondary will get some big pieces back this week with sophomore cornerback Jameson Houston and safeties Davion Hall, Rajah Preciado and freshman Timarcus Davis, who is coming off an ACL injury.

Rhule also said that younger players like freshman cornerback Harrison Hand, redshirt freshman safety Jairon McVea and particularly converted receiver Blake Lynch will benefit from having a game under their belts.

"I think he's going to be way better," Rhule said of the 6-3, 205-pound Lynch, who had four tackles and two pass breakups after getting in only a handful of practices at corner following the injury to starter Grayland Arnold in a scrimmage the week before. "He did a lot of good things, too. He was right there in position with a great receiver, but just wasn't quite able to make the play on the ball a couple times. . . . We don't have to make wholesale changes, we just have to get everyone that much better."

That starts with the defensive line, which produced just one sack, one other pressure and two pass deflections against Liberty quarterback Stephen "Buckshot" Calvert.

"We've just got to get off on the ball, working on our first step," said junior defensive tackle Ira Lewis, who had the lone sack.

Sophomore nose tackle Bravvion Roy put it more bluntly, saying the defensive line "lost the battle."

"We've got to out-physical guys, and I know we can do that," Roy said. "I feel like we came into the game taking them too lightly, and you saw the outcome. . . . Just stop sitting at the line. You've got to get in the backfield, that's money back there. You've got to go get it."

The defensive line will likely be without senior tackle/end K.J. Smith, who is listed as doubtful with shin splints, "and we don't know if he'll be able to play through the shin splints," Rhule said. "If that's the case, we're going to have to continue to play with some of the younger d-linemen."

If Smith can't go, Rhule said the Bears will use an inside rotation of Lewis, Roy, sophomores Michael Johnson and Tyrone Hunt, junior Greg Roberts and possibly true freshman James Lynch.

Baylor used 11 true freshmen in Saturday's opener ÃÆ'Æ'à € ' ¢ÃƒÆ'Æ' ¢' ¬" tied for the sixth-most nationally ÃÆ'Æ'à € ' ¢ÃƒÆ'Æ' ¢' ¬" and could use as many as five more this week. In addition to Davis and Lynch, Rhule said receiver Gavin Holmes and tight end Rob Saulin are both expected to play this week.

"I don't want to come in here and start over and play all the young kids, because I respect Taylor Young, I respect Anu (Solomon), I respect (Jordan) Feuerbacher," Rhule said. "I respect all the older guys, so I want to play with those guys and give them a chance to go out and compete.

"I've been through this process before. And at Temple, I could always hear Coach (Joe) Paterno's voice talking about his first year, and he just kept playing more and more freshmen. We just have to play freshmen right now, not because we don't want to play with the older guys, but because of the injuries and because of the lack of depth."

With sophomore running back JaMycal Hasty expected to miss a "minimum of four weeks" with a strained right knee, John Lovett gets the start this week and will be backed up by fellow true freshmen Trestan Ebner and Dru Dixon. Lovett played the second half against Liberty and finished with 89 yards and two touchdowns on 14 carries.

"I was proud of Lovett," Rhule said. "He got in the game and makes a tackle on the opening kickoff; he's playing on the punt team. He's not too good to do all that stuff. And then he gets a chance to carry the football, and he's ready. I think the one thing you see is that you have the big-play potential. I think we had five huge plays, but we were also able to put Lovett in the (I-formation) as a downhill running back. Terence (Williams) is close, too, he's sort of chomping at the bit to play, but this is Lovett's time."

Limited season and single-game tickets are still available. Call the Baylor Athletics Ticket Office at 254-710-1000 or go online at www.baylorbears.com/footballtickets.