By Jerry Hill
Baylor Bear Insider
 
STILLWATER, Okla. – As much as Sawyer Robertson throwing for 393 yards and four touchdowns is certainly what made the Baylor football engine go in Saturday's 45-27 win over Oklahoma State, Dave Aranda said the Bears' "identity" is a will-killing running game.
 
"Regardless of the circumstance or the box count or the coverage or the front or any of that," Aranda said, "when it's kind of a statement of will and an attitude and guys are getting pushed forward, that's Baylor football."
 
After getting glimpses of it in a 27-24 loss to Arizona State seven days earlier, "we saw much more of it this week," he said.
 
Even with sophomore Bryson Washington having to leave the game with an injury, the freshman trio of Caden Knighten, Michael Turner and Joseph Dodds combined to rush for 136 yards on 22 carries (6.2-yard average). With Washington netting 77 yards on 10 carries and his fifth touchdown of the season, Baylor totaled 219 yards on the ground and a healthy 5.6 yards per attempt.
 
"I thought there were times where you saw the line of scrimmage push and running backs kind of churn and get two, three yards. The identity of Baylor football is right there," Aranda said. "We want to be able to build off of that. For all the hits that you take, and let's call them lessons that you learned, a lot of positive things. That's one of them. We want to be able to highlight that and get even more of that."
 
The Bears' first five scoring drives totaled 23 plays and averaged just over 1 minute, 40 seconds per drive. Baylor's "identity" came through in the final two scoring drives in the third and fourth quarter, netting 145 yards on 21 plays and milking more than 11 minutes off the clock.
 
"Running back is not an easy position to play . . . you get banged up," said Robertson, who moved up to No. 7 on Baylor's career passing list with 5,648 yards. "For them to come in there, put their head down and just hit it in between the tackles was really cool to see. Obviously, it helps me out a lot."
 
Washington, who has the second-most rushing yards in the Big 12 (492), scored on a 19-yard TD run and had 69 yards on seven carries by halftime. But he was limited to just three carries in the second half and twice went back to the locker room to be examined.
 
Subbing in, the true freshman duo of Knighten and Turner both had career days. Knighten ripped off a 49-yard run and finished with a team-best 81 yards on just five totes, while Turner chipped in with 47 yards on 13 carries.
 
"We've got backs back there that we know we can trust," tight end Matthew Klopfenstein said. "And as long as we can fit up and get to the right guys that we're supposed to, we know they can make things happen. To see it all come together and work out, it feels good. And it's definitely a confidence builder going into these next few weeks."
 
The Bears produced a season-high 612 yards total offense and the most rushing yards (219) against an FBS opponent despite having to do some shuffling around in the offensive line. Redshirt freshman Koltin Sieracki, who had filled in for Coleton Price at center, came in at right guard when Omar Aigbedion got hurt early in the game.
 
"There's a couple penalties we've got to clean up, a couple plays we've got to clean up," Robertson said, "but I thought they handled it well when Omar went out and Stump, or Koltin, came in and took over for him."
 
Another part of Baylor's emerging "identity" is throwing to the tight end. Klopfenstein and starter Michael Trigg were each targeted four times and combined for six catches for 86 yards and a pair of touchdowns on "jump" passes from Robertson. On nearly identical goal-line plays, Robertson looks like he's going to run but jumps up and throws a pass over the defense to a wide-open tight end.
 
"It's a mismatch, man," Aranda said. "When you've got the talent we have on the outside, you have to put a safety over top of him; you can't single him. If anything, it would be a (pass interference), which there were multiples of those. So, you've got to put a guy over top of him. It's just a matter of math. Once you do that – you're only playing with 11 – there's a mismatch now in the middle."
 
Baylor (3-2, 1-1) returns to McLane Stadium to face Kansas State (2-3, 1-1) at 11 a.m. next Saturday in a "Go Gold" game that will be streamed by ESPN+. The Wildcats snapped a two-game losing streak with a 34-20 win at home over UCF on Saturday.