Oklahoma State-Baylor: Clash of Philosophies and Clash of Big 12's Best?

STILLWATER – In the moments immediately after the Baylor Bears quarterback Blake Shapen took a knee and the Big 12 Championship Game had ended with Baylor winning 21-16 after Mike Gundy shook hands with Bears head coach Dave Aranda he looked up the Bears 6-4, 358-pound (listed weight) nose guard Siaki Ika and told him that he really should be playing in the NFL. I’ve said the same thing to the powerful Ika. His stats are modest, this season he has seven total tackles, two passes defended, and a quarterback hurry. It’s not his stats. It is the things he does that create stat opportunities for his teammates.

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Ika stares down a running back from Abany in Baylor’s season opener.

"He's an issue. He should be playing on Sundays right now,” repeated Gundy in his weekly press conference on Monday. “We definitely have to know where he is at on the field because when he come off the ball and goes straight back in our direction, whoever is in front of him is going that direction too. We have to be smart with how we handle him. He's a good player."

Asked what he has told his players, namely center Preston Wilson and guards Hunter Woodard and Taylor Miterko on what to do about Ika?

“Block him. I told them a Sunday ago,” Gundy answered. “Look, we all know that they have a good team. We’ll start with that. They have good team. They’re well coached. They play hard. And they have a good team. But when you’re dealing with a guy like that, you just have to have some concepts from your coaches to give the players to help at times. You don’t want to single him up a lot. You want some help on him.”

While blocking Ika and dealing with former Tulsa defensive tackle and Oklahoma State nemesis Jaxon Player, who transferred to Baylor, is one part of all this coming up Saturday, there is also a prize match-up going the other way. There will be some arguments on this. After Saturday Kansas State and their head coach Chris Klieman might beg to differ, but I think Baylor has the best offensive line in the Big 12 this season.

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The Oklahoma State defensive line is an intimidating group.

There may be some argument here too, but I believe that Oklahoma State has the best defensive line in the Big 12. The Cowboys have Brock Martin, Collin Oliver, Tyler Lacy, Brendon Evers, Sione Asi, and more. In fact, Baylor had better be ready for the return to Waco of Trace Ford. His back-to-back knee injuries started in 2020 in Waco, and he hasn’t forgot about it. I asked Mike Gundy about his thoughts on a match-up in the trenches of the Big 12’s best fronts.

“That’s going to be a good match-up and I go back to what I said about them on offense,” Gundy answered the question in a wide ranging manner. “They stay in their box on offense. They have good players, Baylor’s always had good players. They sit in the middle of 300 Division I offers within a four hour drive. It’s a good location to get good players and they develop them. They know what they want to get accomplished. One thing to watch is the match-up between those two groups that you just mentioned because those are two pretty good groups, and it should be interesting to see how it plays out throughout the game.”

You have to love Gundy, pushing the other side and staying reserved about his defenders. They will be there and playing hard, fast, and aggressive will be necessary for the Cowboys to get the win.