Big 12 Schedule: Looking at Baylor

It’s amazing what happens when a gifted athlete comes into town, completely transforming a football program that not too long ago won their first Big 12 road game in this city of Ames, Iowa.

Seven years ago, the Baylor Bears defeated Iowa State 23-13, shutting out the Cyclones in the second half 13-0. Back then, it was just another reason to point and laugh at how horrible that Big 12 north division was.

Now they come off a season defeating Oklahoma for the first time, and have plenty of expectations to live up to – even if it’s insurmountable without their Heisman quarterback, Robert Griffin III.

Last Season

Baylor looked vulnerable early in the game against Iowa State, but they quickly cruised to a 49-26 domination. RG3 wasn’t able to do as much damage with his arm, but the Bears tallied up 391 rushing yards to dominate time of possession and get three touchdowns in the second quarter.

There was a little bit of life late in the third quarter when James White had a 76-yard touchdown run to cut the deficit to a 15-point Baylor lead, but senior running back Terrance Ganaway scored two of his three touchdown runs in the fourth quarter. He led the team in rushing all season with 1,547 yards on 250 attempts, scoring 21 touchdowns total. If there’s anyone to point to besides Baylor fans missing RG3, it’s Ganaway.

Offense

It goes without saying that the explosive offense will be nowhere near the high level it was at a year ago. 45.3 points a game, 7,632 yards of offense, and 377 first downs is on pace as one of the big boys in Big 12. The only thing that wasn’t a huge success was only completing 3rd downs 45 percent of the time and a near 78 percent red zone efficiency – their opponents collectively fared better in those categories.

Now enters senior quarterback Nick Florence to lead the team, his only experience coming from an appearance in a blowout victory against Texas Tech. Missing leading rusher Ganaway and leading receiver Kendall Wright, it’s going to be critical for Florence to get comfortable early and find his reliable guys. Otherwise, that turnover margin of plus-5 could move in the negative direction in a hurry.

Defense

No, this defense doesn’t generate much pass rush – over 2,500 yards and 28 touchdowns doesn’t generate into an extremely successful season. Remember, before winning the last six games of the year, this team lost to the top three teams in the conference (Kansas State, then Texas A&M and Oklahoma State in back-to-back blowouts). They were only as successful as RG3 was on the field, and if he couldn’t get any offense going, the defense got tired fast.

Comparatively, the Bears actually had the overall defense ranked 116th. There will be nine players returning on the defensive side – fans hope they’ve picked up some hard lessons last year.

Schedule

It’s a pretty light non-conference schedule playing three lower-tier southern teams. Then – at West Virginia, TCU at home, then consecutive road trips to Texas and Iowa State. Kansas at home should be their easiest matchup, and then it’s back to work with Oklahoma on the road and then Kansas State at home. Conference season rounds out with Texas Tech at Jerry World and senior night against Oklahoma State.

To put it simple, the set-up is brutal especially if Texas rebounds this season. Facing three tough road trips and a bye week early on between the Mountaineers and Horned Frogs, this team could be too tired to even beat the potentially easier part of their schedule at the end of the year.

With so many questions on the offensive side of the ball, and an already questionable defense, probably a seven or eight win season should be the highest of expectations for fans. If they can grab an upset along the way, then a Cotton Bowl invite could be there – and that would be a better result than last season.

Brian Spaen is the lead editor for Clones Confidential, follow the site on Twitter and Facebook. Read his other work on the Oregon Ducks blog, Autzen Zoo, and Lacrosse the Web.