Baylor Line Report: Week 5

The Bears suffered their first defeat this past Saturday at the hands of the West Virginia Mountaineers. It was an 11 am game for Baylor as they traveled to West Virginia, and I’ve heard multiple stories of people not getting up in time to watch part or all of the game. Well, it sucks for them that they missed one heck of a game. Unless they like defense, then they were definitely better off sleeping through it, and should continue to sleep through Baylor’s football season. I’m a little worried that people weren’t glued to their TVs at least at the start of the game to see how the Bears shaped up against a top 10 talent. Those who did were impressed. Honestly, I wasn’t even that upset after this loss. Sure, the defense was awful, but I come to expect that now. The offense remained to be exceptional, and Baylor showed a lot of heart in their game against the Mountaineers. The thing I enjoyed the most was watching them not give up down 21 points in Morgantown, and fight their way back to put a scare into all of the Mountaineer faithful.

Positive Outlook on the Game:

Just to put things into perspective, how awesome is it that the Baylor Bears football team just scared the hell out of a national top ten team, with a potential Heisman winner, in a hostile environment, with key injuries to a few players, and a negative turnover margin on national television? That tells me Baylor football has come a long way. I used to be lucky to catch a Baylor football game on Fox Sports Southwest on a replay, and that’s only because they were playing Oklahoma or Texas, and those games were never too fun to watch. Can you imagine how good this Bears team would be if the defense served any more purpose than to just give the offense a breather for a few plays? Despite having a defense ranked 123 out of 120 teams, Baylor still hung tight with West Virginia. (Yes, three sub-division teams are in fact better than Baylor in defense. That, or they are just so dreadful that last place wasn’t bad enough) Baylor has proven that their offense can keep them in games. Sadly though, as much I love Nick Florence, the play of the game was probably the interception he threw in the first series. Why? It gave West Virginia one extra possession. Baylor only lost by one touchdown. I have a lot of faith in this team going forward. And to be honest, that interception wasn’t even Florence’s fault. It’s a bad break when a ball goes off your receiver’s hands and into a defender’s.

Feeling Around Campus:

I know it’s not just me, but I am very excited for the TCU game in two weeks. I am going to go ahead and make a bold statement and say that the Baylor Line for the TCU game will be just as big, if not bigger than it was against SMU. For those of you that witnessed how big the line was for that game, it was, in my biased opinion, the biggest in school history. Add the fact that its Parent’s weekend that weekend, and the stands should be full of fans ready to back this rejuvenated program. Baylor fans and parents haven’t had much to cheer for in recent history, but this is a team that I think anyone can get behind. (And has a defense I know anyone can get behind) I expect the stands at Floyd Casey Stadium to be full of Baylor faithful to cheer on their Bears against what should still be a top 15 TCU squad. A win against TCU would more than likely be enough to boost the Bears back up into the top 25 rankings. It can only help the Bears that the Big XII is arguably one of the toughest conferences in college football. I can’t wait for the TCU game, because I know Floyd Casey will be rocking. That, and I just don’t like TCU. Apparently they have an all girls dorm named Colby. I’m really not too sure what to think of that.