Dylan Fink | Sports Writer
“Did you ever think about a spy?”
The question, asked in Monday’s press conference, had echoed throughout McLane Stadium Friday night.
“The spy would have been — really, if we had to get him off the ball, he would have been sucked up in the run and been a non-spy, spy,” Baylor head coach Dave Aranda said. “There’s opportunities to make plays, and it’s just really frustrating that we didn’t make them.”
Baylor lost its home opener to Auburn Friday night, 38-24, allowing 307 yards rushing on 52 attempts (5.9 average). Following the early exit of redshirt senior defensive lineman Jackie Marshall, who sustained a high ankle sprain in the first half, the Bears’ defense looked helpless against the rush.
Every offensive touchdown the Tigers scored came on the ground — quarterback Jackson Arnold alone rushed for 137 yards and two touchdowns.
“There’d be run plays where it was, ‘Hey, anytime you see this coverage, pull up and run,’” Aranda said of the Tigers’ offense.
The inside eight on Baylor’s defense appeared lost Friday night. Anytime Auburn took to the ground, it was apparent that the first line of defense was outmatched.
“A lot of what we saw was, it was a run-action, [Arnold] pulls it out for a play-action pass, and he takes off and runs,” Aranda said. “It was a little unconventional that way.”
Two-thirds of Auburn’s carries went for at least four yards, and only two were stuffed for zero or fewer yards. That puts Baylor’s run stuff rate at 4%, squarely in the 0th percentile, per Game on Paper.
Despite the loss, the team still believes in the high ceiling they began the season with.
“We’re a good team and we’ve got a lot of talent and guys have sacrificed a bunch to get to this point,” Aranda said. “We can win a lot of games, and I believe that — I know wholeheartedly our team does. It sucks to lose, the negativity that comes with losing and just all of it. I told them to represent out in class, on campus, just be proud of it. We’re going to win here soon.”
After struggling with defending gaps against Auburn, Aranda has continued to put full confidence in his defense, pointing to talent as an indicator of future success.
“We have guys that are just born to do the addition and subtraction of gaps,” Aranda said. “If a play broke down or if something spilled out [to] the perimeter, say something wasn’t perfect, we would struggle to get the guy down. … I think we have a lot of guys right now where if the thing breaks down, we have guys who can run it down.”
Baylor has sought to make the most of an essential week of practice leading up to its matchup against No. 17 SMU Saturday.
Junior safety Carl Williams IV missed the game against Auburn due to injury, but returned to practice this week and is planning to play in the next game. Marshall has remained on the sidelines, recovering from his ankle injury.
Now in his sixth year as Baylor’s head coach, Aranda made it clear that he doesn’t find Week 1’s defensive struggles worth overreacting about. “A lot of season left” appears to be the mentality for the Bears as they seek to reach the high ceiling they entered the year with.
Baylor will play SMU at 11 a.m. Saturday at Gerald J. Ford Stadium in Dallas. The game will be broadcast on The CW.