By Bennett Parker | Sports Writer
Baylor’s second home game of the season raised some question marks about the defense that has so far been dominant. The Bears gave up a season-high 19 points against Louisiana Tech with a backup quarterback.
The Bears’ (2-1) win over Louisiana Tech (1-2) is leaving questions about whether it’s a good time to sell the hype around defensive coordinator Joe Klanderman’s unit or if fans should be unbothered going into Big 12 play.
“I was really hoping for a much cleaner game,” head coach Dave Aranda said. “A dominating win is something that we are working to do.”
That domination didn’t happen against the Bulldogs, in part due to the defense struggling to get off the field.
The Baylor defense logged just one sack and allowed up 25 first downs to Louisiana Tech, who was led by backup quarterback Trey Kukuk. The defensive line failed to put much pressure on Kukuk, who was either tucking and running the ball or getting a pass off before the lineman could get home.
“He was hard to corral for sure,” fifth-year defensive end Kyler Jordan said. “We’re going to play a lot of that this fall. It’s something we need to improve on.”
Louisiana Tech also had 32:18 minutes of possession compared to Baylor’s 27:42. Seven third-down conversions and five defensive penalties kept the Bulldogs on the field and wore the defense down.
“By the time the end of the third quarter came, we were worn out [on defense],” Aranda said.
The Bears were not able to push the Bulldog offense backwards. One sack and five tackles for loss producing minus 10 yards are not the numbers fans are used to seeing this far into the season.
“We could have done a better job about getting to the quarterback,” Jordan said. “We are going to play more of that in the fall; it’s something we need to improve on.”
It wasn’t the best showing from the defense, but it still gave up less than 20 points, had three red zone stops and caused a pair of turnovers.
The defense allowed some explosive plays, but there were a lot of strong individual performances, especially from the secondary. The Bears allowed some lengthy possessions partly because they didn’t know what offense to expect from the Bulldogs.
“There was a feeling-out period [for the defense],” Aranda said.
The defense played lockdown football in the second and third quarters, not allowing a scoring drive from the Bulldogs before wearing down in the final 15:00 minutes. The safeties displayed excellent coverage and tackling; sophomore Bo Onu Jr. and senior Micah Gifford combined for 12 tackles with a pair of TFLs.
“Micah is an absolute warrior,” Jordan said. “You’re never going to hear that guy complaining. He’s going to go out there, and he’s going to leave everything that he has up there.”
There isn’t much reason to sell on this defense yet. LA Tech is a pesky team, and there have been multiple flashes showing what this squad can be; they just haven’t totally put it together yet.
Baylor finishes its three-game home stand against Colorado at 11 a.m. Saturday at McLane Stadium.
