By Jeffrey Cohen | Sports Editor
Baylor aims to be a team that dominates or is difficult to dominate.
The Bears fought for 60 minutes against Auburn after losing by 14 a year prior. They also took care of Prairie View A&M in Week 2.
While the scoreboard shows that they have reached those goals to start the season, they are still holding themselves back.
“We’ve talked about quite a bit is being hard to kill,” Aranda said. “Right now, it’s too easy to beat us, with the penalties and the turnovers, and we have to clean that up.”
Baylor (1-1) looks to clean up its play as the competition picks back up against Louisiana Tech (1-1).
The Bears were able to cruise past Prairie View A&M despite its nine penalties and three interceptions, but they understand that being disciplined is key to winning down the line.
“We’re going to have to execute at a higher level to get in these games to where there are 15 and 16-play drives,” Aranda said. “[When] we’re getting into the fourth quarter with a chance to win the game, there’s no room for any of these errors that we’re making.”
Five of Baylor’s nine penalties came from junior offensive lineman Asher Hale, who committed four false starts and a holding penalty. His teammates on the offensive line made sure he left those mistakes in the past.
“Each play has its life of its own, but once it’s gone, it’s gone; you can’t change it,” fifth-year offensive lineman Kaden Sieracki said. “You’re going to have to live with this play forever, but you’re just going to learn from it and move on.”
The Bears’ penalties have also slowed the run game. They have averaged 161 rushing yards per game, which ranks 76th in the FBS.
“That’s the low-hanging fruit right there; way too many penalties,” Aranda said. “If we take those away … the efficiency numbers are higher, and there’s a lot of positive.”
Turnovers have also plagued Baylor to start the season, and all of them have come at the hands of the quarterbacks. Junior DJ Lagway threw an interception and lost a fumble against Auburn, while junior Nate Bennett and sophomore Edward Griffin combined for three picks versus Prairie View A&M.
“You look at the interceptions, and some of them are on quarterback progressions and reads,” Aranda said. “And there’s a miscommunication or a misjudgment, and it ends up being that.”
The Bears are set to face a strong pass rush from Louisiana Tech. The Bulldogs have sacked opposing quarterbacks seven times, including five against LSU. The defense has also forced three fumbles and recorded four picks, with three coming from LSU quarterback Sam Leavitt.
“They’ve got a really good defensive line,” Aranda said. “A defensive end, in particular, is really talented. A good linebacker corps. A linebacker, in particular, there is really talented, too. And they really fly around, and they create takeaways.”
The Baylor offense is preparing to fire off early against a Louisiana Tech team that only trailed 10-7 at halftime in Baton Rouge, Louisiana.
“We need to come out just like we did in the Auburn game,” Sieracki said. “We just need to come out thinking with a really strong mindset that we’re just going to attack.”
That mentality has been at the forefront on both sides of the ball heading into the Week 3 matchup.
“We got to start fast,” fifth-year defensive end Kyler Jordan said. “We don’t need to be sitting around waiting for them to throw a punch, we need to throw ours first.”
Baylor faces off against Louisiana Tech at 3 p.m. Saturday at McLane Stadium.
