Early Look: What to Expect from Baylor When the Bears Come to Boone Pickens Stadium

As to not to have to look at Oklahoma State stats on this fine Sunday, I decided to take a deeper look into the Cowboys’ next opponent: Baylor.

Baylor at a Glance

Record: 2-2
Points per game: 34.5
Opponent points per game: 29.3
Rush yards per game: 138.8
Opponent rush yards per game: 186
Pass yards per game: 338.5
Opponent pass yards per game: 181

Schedule:
vs. Auburn — L, 38-24
at No. 16 SMU — W, 48-45 (2OT)
vs. Samford — W, 42-7
vs. Arizona State — L, 27-24

What Vegas Thinks

OSU opens as a 19.5-point underdog, according to FanDuel.

The Cowboys are 1-2 against the spread this season, covering a 19.5-point spread in their win against UT-Martin before failing to stay within 29 of Oregon and losing outright to underdog Tulsa.

FanDuel’s over-under for OSU’s game against the Bears is at 58.5, meaning the sportsbook is protecting this thing to finish something close to 39-20 in the Bears’ favor.

Baylor QB Sawyer Robertson Is Slinging the Pill

In his third year with the Bears after spending 2022 at Mississippi State, Sawyer Robertson enters the upcoming week as the nation’s leader in pass attempts, completions and passing yards.

He’s completed 63% of his 174 attempts this season for 1,320 yards, 13 touchdowns and three interceptions.

Playing in two tight games against Auburn and SMU to start the season, Robertson threw 98 times for 850 yards, seven touchdowns and no picks. That production has dipped the past two weeks, as in games against Samford and Arizona State, Robertson threw for 461 yards, six touchdowns and three picks.

He’s spread it around, too. Five different Bears have caught at least 15 passes (no Cowboy has caught 10, for reference).

Josh Cameron is the Bears’ leading receiver with 21 catches for 309 yards and three touchdowns.

At 6-foot-4, 240 pounds, Michael Trigg is a tight end who spent time at USC and Ole Miss. He’s in his second year with the Bears and has caught 18 passes for 222 yards and three touchdowns through Baylor’s first four games this season.

Alabama transfer Kobe Prentice ranks fifth on the team in receiving yards through four games, but he leads Baylor with five touchdown catches.

Oh, and Running Back Bryson Washington Leads the Big 12 in Rushing

But if the Cowboys spent too much time game planning for the nation’s leading passer, he’ll just hand it off to the Big 12’s leading rusher.

A redshirt sophomore who has been in Waco all three seasons, Bryson Washington is up to 415 rushing yards and four touchdowns on 83 carries through four games. He’s had 10 rushes of at least 10 yards and has gained 270 of his rush yards after contact.

He’s just about been Baylor’s entire rushing attack to this point, though, as the Bears’ 138.8 rush yards a game rank 15th in the Big 12.

But the Bears’ Defense Has Given Up Some Points

Baylor has had a tough schedule to this point, no doubt, but the Bears’ defense has given up 29.3 points per game. That’s second-worst in the Big 12 behind only … well, OSU.

Baylor’s rush defense, allowing 186 yards a game, ranks 14th in the conference, ahead of only Colorado and OSU.

The final scores might not show it, but the Cowboys have been running the ball better their past two games. OSU ran for 5.6 yards a carry against Tulsa, with redshirt freshman running back Rodney Fields Jr. rattling off 113 rushing yards on 17 carries (6.6 per).

That’s probably the Cowboys’ path to victory, but it’s hard to put too much faith in an offense that mustered just 12 points against Tulsa.