Five Keys to Saturday's Game
9/23/2022 9:19:00 PM | Football
Bears Need to Run the Ball, Not Turn it Over
FIVE KEYS: #17 BAYLOR at IOWA STATE
- WHO CAN RUN?: This game features two of the nation's best run defenses. Iowa State is first in the Big 12 and fifth nationally, allowing just 60 yards per game and 2.61 per rush. Baylor's just a hair behind at third in the Big 12 and No. 23 nationally, holding teams to just 84 yards rushing per game and 2.60 per attempt. Freshman Richard Reese gave the Bears a spark last week, rushing for 156 yards and three touchdowns on 19 carries. "He's fast, he's physical. He makes our life a little bit easier, breaking some tackles," said senior offensive tackle Connor Galvin. "He's going to score a lot of touchdowns here, so I have high hopes for him.
- DON'T HELP THEM: Until the second half of last week's 42-7 win over Texas State, Baylor hadn't turned it over once. Blake Shapen threw his first-career interception (after 154 passes), and the Bears lost two fumbles. Iowa State's defense thrives on turnovers, picking off four passes and recovering four fumbles. If you don't help them, the Cyclones struggle to move the ball consistently.
- LEARN FROM BYU: You don't know what you don't know. A lot of Baylor's younger players had never been on the road in an environment like what they experienced two weeks ago in that double-overtime game at LaVell Edwards Stadium, playing in front of a sellout crowd of 63,470. The "big eyes" from that game shouldn't be as big, even though it will be a very similar at 61,500-seat Jake Trice Stadium. "It's one of those things that you can't mock it. You just have go through it to learn from it," Galvin said.
- GET OFF TO A GOOD START: The Bears have struggled out of the gate each of the last two weeks, falling behind 10-6 at BYU and needing a last-second TD to open up a 21-7 halftime lead on Texas State. Shapen needs to settle in early, maybe hit some quick passes to get his confidence going, and run the ball when it's there. "Blake was taking a lot on himself," sixth-year senior receiver Gavin Holmes said. "We just rallied around him, telling him we got you. We know the work that we have put in, the time we have put in. And we know what kind of player Blake is."
- STOP X: Maybe not fair to ask Baylor's defense to do something nobody's been able to do. Iowa State senior receiver Xavier Hutchinson is a two-time first-team All-Big 12 pick who has caught passes in all 28 games of his Cyclone career. He's hauled in 28 passes for 319 yards and five touchdowns this season and has caught 175 passes since the start of the 2020 season. Not sure if anyone can stop him one-on-one, but the secondary will need to get some help from the defensive line and keep the pressure on quarterback Hunter Dekkers.
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