By Jeffrey Cohen | Sports Writer
In legendary head coach Grant Teaff’s final game, Baylor faced off against the Arizona Wildcats in the 1992 John Hancock Bowl. Overwhelmed by the Wilcats’ “Desert Storm” defense in the first half, two forced fumbles helped the Bears rally back and defeat Arizona 20-15.
The two squads will meet for the first time in 33 years on Saturday, as Baylor (5-5, 3-4 Big 12) hopes to secure a crucial road win against Arizona (7-3, 4-3 Big 12).
Baylor players praised the Wildcats this week for their cohesiveness, crediting it as one of the reasons for their success this season.
“If you just throw on the tape … you can tell when 11 guys are playing together [and] when they’re not,” redshirt junior outside linebacker Kyler Jordan said. “Watching Arizona, you can see that, so we got to go out there as a unit.”
Baylor will have to match up with a team that doesn’t make many mistakes and holds onto the football well, posting a plus-10 turnover margin, while the Bears have struggled to play “complementary football” throughout the season.
Baylor’s offense was effective on the ground and through the air last week. Redshirt senior quarterback Sawyer Robertson threw for 430 yards while connecting with redshirt senior receiver Josh Cameron and sixth-year receiver Ashtyn Hawkins for over 100 yards each.
“We clearly have the weapons to do great things,” junior tight end Matthew Klopfenstein said of the offense. “We’re off the charts in a lot of areas, but there’s also places where we struggled — red zone being one of them.”
The Bears will be competing against an Arizona pass defense that ranks 7th in the FBS in pass yards allowed per game, with 154 and 14 interceptions.
“They’re super talented; they’re big in the back end, they got some good linebackers,” Klopfenstein said. “They’ve been playing really well these past couple weeks.”
The Wildcats are running on a three-game winning streak, outscoring opponents by 45 points in that stretch, including a road win over No. 22 Cincinnati.
Baylor has struggled at times offensively this season, but the running game found some traction throughout the first half against the Utes.
Head coach Dave Aranda said redshirt sophomore Bryson Washington was “the best he’s looked” heading into the game against Utah. Washington led the way for the Baylor rushing game with 97 yards on 14 carries. The Bears will hope to attack the Wildcats’ 66th-ranked run defense on the ground.
“When you got guys like Bryson, and you got the youngsters out there churning butter, it’s pretty cool to see them give full effort and see the O-line surge forward,” Klopfenstein said. “Those extra couple yards is what really gives the offense the push.”
On the other side of the ball, the Wildcats’ offense will be a different look for the Bears’ defense, which allowed 380 yards on the ground to the Utes.
Quarterback Noah Fifita is averaging over 249 yards passing per game while only rushing for 9.8 yards. He is coming off a 294-yard performance against Cincinnati — his third-highest mark of the season.
“This is probably the first time, maybe since Arizona State, that a team’s going to dropback pass on first or second down,” Aranda said. “Most teams’ quarterbacks are going to run, or they’re going to be some type of RPO play-action.”
The Bears are coming off a 55-28 loss to No. 13 Utah, where the defense allowed three touchdown runs of over 60 yards. After giving up 166 yards rushing and two touchdowns to Utah backup quarterback Byrd Ficklin, they’ll have to shift gears to defend a more pass-heavy attack from Arizona.
“There are a lot of hard conversations,” Jordan said. “It was probably one of the most intense defensive unit meetings I’ve been in since I’ve been here, and honestly, it was necessary.”
Players and coaches say the team’s expectations have not shifted despite falling to 5-5, in large part due to Aranda’s philosophy that everything his team does is a reflection of their whole body of work.
“Since Coach Aranda has been here, he’s preached, ‘How you do anything is how you do everything,’” Jordan said. “Whenever things don’t go as you expect, what are you going to get out of yourself and what are you going to get out of your teammates?”
The Bears’ confidence remains high as they aim to win their final two games of the season to become bowl-eligible.
“We know we have two games left,” Klopfenstein said. “We’re going to go 2-0. We’re going to give ourselves the best shot to getting up a good ballgame.”
The Bears face off against the Wildcats at noon Saturday at Arizona Stadium in Tucson, Ariz. The game will be broadcast on TNT.
