I was lucky enough to cover two college football bowl games last year in the lone star state. One of which was the Baylor Bears who got throttled by alma mater, the Illinois Fighting Illini in the Texas Bowl. The home field advantage wasn’t enough as the Baylor Bears were dominated 38-14. But that game could have been much closer than it seems; at least for the first two periods. QB Robert Griffin III consistently had receivers open, he just couldn’t connect with them. They were open, but bad timing. It could have been due to: him, his WRs routes, the Illini pressure generated by Corey Liuget (the San Diego Chargers 1st round pick) and company; or a combination of all these things.
Had they made a few of these plays early, they would have stayed with Illinois for the first half and changed the entire complexion of the game. Something to think about in 2011 moving forward. If they fix it, it’ll further balance the O and take the pressure off the D.
Either way, one thing’s for sure- they have some scorching hot cheerleaders (here’s some video proof). Any time these nice Baptist girls want to act on those impure thoughts, get sinful and debauched, shoot me a sext!
2010 was: very successful; the first bowl appearance since 1993. However, they were quite one-sided: terrible on D (104th nationally in total defense, 114th against the pass, 89th in scoring) but pretty explosive on O (13th overall, 24th in rushing and 19th in passing)
BMOCs: QB Robert Griffin is an ideal student-athlete, he gets it done in the classroom too. He’s also the most dual threat QB in school history. Look at the numbers. RBs Terrance Ganaway and Jarred Salubi will look to fill the large shoes of Jay Finley, who set a school record with 1,218 yards rushing last season. And don’t confuse Griffin with Robert T. Griffin who leads the OL from the right guard position. WR Kendall Wright will go down as one of the most prolific pass-catchers in school history.
2011 will be fruitful if: the defense comes together, in a very big way, under first year coordinator Phil Bennett. There’s lots of room for improvement, and they’ll have to do it without Phil Taylor, the big NT who might just eat himself out of the NFL. Or not, maybe he’ll be really disciplined. They only have 5 starters returning on this side of the ball so maybe it’s good that they have a clean slate. All my “Xs” may live in Texas, but Bennett needs to provide the Os to go with them.
2011 will be awful if: the OL struggles to replace Danny Watkins, a high round NFL draft pick. This will be key to the Bears finding off 2010’s success. And they’ll need the front four to be leaders on D while they break in new starters at LB and DB.
Bottom Line: Getting to 6-6 or better in the Big 12 can be tough, But if BU’s passing game is for real, to help ease the pressure in establishing a feature back, they should go back to a bowl, possibly 7-5 or 8-4?
BU Rankings: #47 Athlon, #34 Lindy’s, #58 Phil Steele
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Paul M. Banks is CEO of The Sports Bank.net. He’s also a regular contributor to Chicago Now, Walter Football.com, Yardbarker, and Fox Sports You can follow him on Twitter