STILLWATER – It doesn’t matter now because fate is what it is and football seasons, success, failure, injuries, and circumstances related to COVID-19 are what they are. Oklahoma State was originally scheduled to pull into Waco on the weekend of Oct. 17 and play the Bears, who at the time had stumbled through the first part of the season. Impacted by replacing a large number of starters from a Big 12 runner-up season and doing it under a new head coach in Dave Aranda and almost all new coaching staff, the Bears had lost both of their attempts at a non conference game to COVID issues, beat Kansas at home, and lost in two overtimes at West Virginia. Not exactly a crippled team, but as the season has gone on the Bears haven’t picked up many wins.
Baylor has picked up some steam and other than a collapse loss at Texas Tech the Bears have improved especially on defense, where they are now ranked fourth in the conference in total defense.
Oklahoma State head coach Mike Gundy knows his team needs the momentum of a win in the final regular season game. Oklahoma State has not won a game in McLane Stadium, but most of those meetings have come against Baylor teams with a better season pedigree. These Bears are somwhat deceiving and the 27-14 loss to Oklahoma last Saturday in Norman is a prime example.
"People are going to get an idea of who Baylor is based on their record, but if you go back and look at their games and their scores, Baylor's been in pretty much every game that they've played, Gundy said of the Bears and the Cowboys opponent for 6 p.m. this coming Saturday. “They've been right there, they've had a few things happen to them and in the end not been able to win those games. They've been right there and they're competing. Obviously, they played well Saturday night.
“This is like every game for us, with where we're at now as we're starting to get a little bit better up front with some guys, and as we start to continue defensively and try to make up for a few guys not being in there,” continued Gundy on the Oklahoma State side of the game. “Every game will be challenging for us. We have to have great practices and really be committed in order to give ourselves the best chance to have success."
The Cowboys have the knowledge going into Saturday that Baylor is very challenged in establishing a running attack. Against Oklahoma they threw the ball 56 times. On the season they are the only Big 12 team with more pass attempts than rushing attempts with 267 carries running the ball and 297 pass attempts. The yardage is also extreme with 743-yards rushing and just over 92-yards a game (last in the Big 12) and 1,893-yards passing.
That mixture on offense is not what former North Carolina and Southern Miss head coach Larry Fedora and a former Oklahoma State offensive coordinator for Gundy at OSU really wants.
"Well they had a couple backs that were out, so they threw the ball pretty much every snap. I think 56 times against Oklahoma. I don't know if that's maybe the direction he wants to go, or if they felt they needed to do that without their backs,” Gundy said of his former coordinator and a coach he was on staff with when both were assistants in 1996 at Baylor. “[Charlie Brewer] is a savvy player. He gets the ball out, he's a tough runner. If you don't watch your lanes when you're rushing him, he'll pull the ball down and take off and run. He's really good at that. They've done some different things based on I guess where they were out maybe with COVID and injuries and different things like that, I'm not sure."
The Cowboys will need Rodarius Williams on the corner or better play from the back-ups. Baylor wants to throw and has good receivers. Stop and limit the throwing game and you have them where you want them. Meanwhile, offensively the Cowboys need to strive for balance. Make Baylor cover the entire field. I believe there are playmakers beyond Tylan Wallace. I believe the offense has more explosive athletes to make explosive plays. It is time to trust them.
“We just need a little bit of maturity and we need a little bit of growth and those guys will be just fine. That's my job,” Gundy said. Unlike what some fans may believe, he has thrown himself more into working to get the offense back in gear. “My job is to be very critical of our game plans after every game in all three phases and be very critical of myself and our coaches. And then on Sunday, I'm real detailed with them about everything I thought. We don't always agree. Sometimes those meetings don't go as planned and coaches don't like it, but that's my job. I don't have any issues ... I think what you're asking is whether I like what Kasey Dunn's doing? I like what our philosophy is. Is that what you're asking me?
What fans are asking is when can they expect to see the team they were hoping to see this season? The team they saw early in the year against Iowa State.
They many not this season, but it won’t be from a lack of trying to get the answers right.
I still believe the best answer is to sign that class next week and keep working and hope that the right guys want to come back for next season following a year where eligibility didn’t count.
