ODB MAILBAG - FOOTBALL WEEK ONE DONE: ANSWERED

CactusBear: Do you think the offensive line play is cause for concern? It seemed like we should’ve had better protection and bigger holes for our backs

Branden MacKinnon: Absolutely not a cause for concern. First game of the season with simple playbook. If it bleeds into the BYU game, then I will be concerned moving forward. But as of right now the panic button is in the desk drawer, haven’t even taking that thang out.

Cody Orr: You aren’t wrong that we should have had bigger running lanes in the first half, but I don’t think it’s cause for concern. The most recent OurDailyPodcast does a great job talking about this point with former OL Blake Blackmar. See what they have to say!

deppsrightsteps: Not a cause for concern. Last season’s opener against Tx State wasn’t the best as well and a lot of folks were freaking out. Like many have said, it’s game one, let’s breathe and let’s ride.

pbpope: Most kind, Cody. And I concur with my esteemed colleagues here. Not a cause for concern. Room for improvement, sure. But there’s room at every position for that.

BNT: No. Yeah, no is all that needs to be said.

PioneerSkies: What’s it gonna take to get a better hairstyle for Blake Shapen??

Branden MacKinnon: I think you’re confused. Mullet king.

Cody Orr:: https://giphy.com/gifs/boo-half-baked-this-man-iSxPmDWr97248

deppsrightsteps: Needs to dye it green in my opinion

BNT: Needs to dye it gold in my opinion.

bufb2007: Why does ESPN hate us?

mattisbear: It is far past time to let go of this. ESPN doesn’t hate anyone, they love whatever gets attention. We are a much smaller fan base than most other schools, not only in our conference, but the state / nation. We will get the attention that is “warranted” by the media, rightful or not. All we can do is enjoy and support our teams.PLUS, you could come to OurDailyBears for as much content as you can handle. Fling it afar. (edited)

pbpope: https://i.gifer.com/EPxI.gif

BNT: Head of ESPN when asked about Baylor at the most recent staff meeting:

Chilimac: Was it me, or did Kyron Drones look plenty capable during his time on the field?

Branden MacKinnon: Not just you, Kyron is that dude. I think it will be interesting to see what his future holds with Novasad coming in, but yes I trust Kyron if anything hits the fan with Shapen.

Cody Orr: Kyron looked very impressive. I agree with Branden — I trust Kyron to win a couple of games if need be.

deppsrightsteps: We are very solidified at the QB position. We hope that Blake can stay healthy (please slide Blake), but if something were to happen, I’d feel comfortable with Drones stepping in.

pbpope: By all accounts, Drones had a really strong fall camp and it showed on Saturday. Granted, he had enough time to take a nap, fire off some inspirational tweets, THEN find his receiver to make the throw, but his arm strength was impressive. Really glad to see it.

BNT: Drones is a baller that throws lasers and has good legs. He was impressive when he went into the game. I think we can still win conference with him at the helm if Blake goes down (knock on wood).

GraysonDupre: Why in the world is BYU 3.5 favorites for next week against the bears, I get it’s at BYU but do you guys have any idea why cause I just think there is no reasons we are underdogs in this game.

Cody Orr: The biggest reason is likely that BYU leads the country in returning production from last season, and we are 126th. And unlike some teams with a lot of returning production, they were really good.

David Hornbeak: In addition to Cody’s point, home field advantage is generally worth 4-5 points on a CFB line. So oddsmakers’ opening line likely had baylor by 1-2 on a neutral site. Also, BYU is just a flat out good team.

Branden MacKinnon: Don’t ask why just hammer the Bears +3 and the ML

BNT: Because Vegas wants to give us money? The line moves based upon how people bet and I guess there’s a lot of closet gamblers in Utah. Like Branden said, I’d hammer that line.

Me after the game:

Westjef: What did you most/least like that you saw from the Bears in the Albany game? How does Baylor sustain what you liked most? How does Baylor improve what you liked least?

Cody Orr: Like the most — wide receivers. They had only one drop, which was partially on Shapen, and ran some crisp routes. Like the least — defensive line. I expected our base pass rush to have reached the quarterback more reliably. Poffenbarger is not going to be the biggest rushing threat was face this season...

pbpope: Concur with Cody on what I liked the most. I was happy to see the young WR talent get reps and do a solid job with it. I think I least enjoyed the running game in the first half. The OL issues are coachable, I think, so they improve by staying focused in practice and working on improving week over week.

BNT: I liked it all. Shapen looked sharp, OL was solid on pass pro and our rushing averaged 6.3 yds per carry, WR’s stepped up, DL held Albany to 76 yds rushing, LB’s & DB’s to 150 yds passing, special teams scored.

We do need to improve on extra points.

Bowlinmonk13: I said in the preseason that Gavin Holmes was going to be the comeback player of the season. I know its early in the season but did I call it right?

Branden MacKinnon: If Holmes gets some impact on offense out of the slot there is a real chance. But it seems his niche is punt returns which seemingly will work out incredibly.

pbpope: Who else would even be in the running for that? Sqwirl? If he stays healthy, I’m going to put money on him winning that one. That said, I love Gavin and am on record as hoping for great things for him. Aranda said on Monday that he’s a leader in the WR room, and I love that. If he has a “comeback” year, this team is in tremendous shape.

BNT: Holmes won’t replace Ebner, but he does remind me of return great Jay Lee. I also think he’ll work his way into the receiver rotation. Very excited to see how the season unfolds for him.

BearPope: I watched a bit of the BYU game and I saw some familiar dominance from Nacua. How are we going to stop that guy?

Branden MacKinnon: USF’s defense is respectfully cheeks. We don’t have to stop him just contain him

mattisbear: Love and respect him, but Texada was completely incapable of handling a receiver of that size and speed. Walcott did a great job in the 3Q of last year’s game. Be not afraid.

pbpope: Also it’s a big question on whether he plays, and if he does, whether he’s 100%. Even so, it will be an interesting matchup to watch all game long if he’s in there.

BNT: Easy

dOols II: were there enough mistakes for motivation fuel this week, or too many mistakes against a team like Albany?

mattisbear: The mistakes that we saw were all fixable. Relaaaaaax everyone.

BNT: Oh trust me, this team is motivated and teachable. They are on a mission (no pun intended) and will be solid on Saturday.

Bearsalwayswin: why did the secondary look so exposed. How bad will we get beat next week if we don’t sure that up.

Cody Orr: I don’t think the secondary was exposed. Poffenbarger was held to 50% passing and had a high number of passes broken up by defenders. Most of the receivers were tackled within seconds of touching the ball far short of the first down marker. I can only remember two big instances where a defender was “beat” — the lone touchdown pass where Milton failed to successfully jam the receiver at the line and the third down conversion to the tight end when the QB was scrambling.

pbpope: LOL did we watch the same game? The secondary didn’t look exposed at all to me.

BNT: Secondary is fine. We ran very base packages. You’ll see much more complex schemes along with pressure packages up front this Saturday. Also many DB’s got snaps/game experience, which the coaches wanted.

Drop any comments or other questions below and Sic ‘em!

xoxo,

BNT