Baylor Offense Sputters To A Low Point In Loss to No. 11 Utah In Salt Lake City! | Baylor Football

this Baylor offense is not ready for prime time and they sure as heck showed it in a loss to number 11 Utah this is lockon Baylor football postgame you are locked on Baylor your daily podcast on the Baylor Bears part of the locked on podcast Network your team every day welcome to another episode of lockon bayor It's the football postgame show part of the lockon podcast Network where it is your team every day thank you so much for making it your first listen today and every day even here on the weekends I am your host cam Stewart of ESPN Central Texas and the cam show on Rogue Media Sports Network Bears dropped this one 23 to2 in what is probably their most difficult game on the schedule at number 11 Utah to drop their record to one and one I'm going to get something out of the way first a positive note because there's going to be a whole lot of negative in this and the positive is if you're looking for a silver lining here this bayor team is absolutely absolutely unequivocally better than last year's team is it mostly on the defense yes Yep this is not going to be a last place defense in the Big 12 no chance they showed some fight that's not good enough enough but there is absolutely reason to believe after watching that game when they were down 23 to nothing in the first half and did not lose by seven touchdowns that this is a better team than last year there are tangible things that you can look at mostly in the defensive side of the ball that shows this is a better team than the three and9 team in 2023 that said today's performance was nowhere near good enough and that first half was an absolute disaster disaster and this offense somehow looked worse than it did at any point in 2023 I mean just look no further than the stats the Bears had 223 yards of total offense 223 you want to know how bad that is they didn't get under 250 in any game last year not a single one and they went three and nine that sputtering offensive performance against Utah last year 300s 38-6 lost to UT with sawy at quarterback 300s they didn't even get close to 250 this today was 223 they don't have an offense it doesn't exist it's fugazi and there were so many questionable calls in that first half that I stopped losing count stopped keeping count that's a better way to say it at the end of the first quarter they were stuck at negative 10 yards how do you expect to win a football game I know it's four quarters but for a quarter of the game you can't even get into positive territory give me a break man and if they had any semblance of an offense they should have been right in this game in the second half but they don't they don't the red flags were there last week for dcoin Finn they were on full display today I mean you got to go back into the archives even as lean as it's been some of these last few years you got to dig dig dig to find a bayor quarterback performance worse than the one that dcoin Finn put out there today 9 to 21 115 yards somehow had a touchdown pass which put his rating over 100 nine of 21 completed 43% of his passes and a lot of that was on that last drive and some soft Utah defense because he had no idea where it was going the first three quarters it was a brain dead offensive performance and I will get one thing off from like a specifics in the first half because I think this set the tone for so much of this bayor offensive performance two things for me set the tone it was of course the fumble that put Utah in a go too situation right off the bat they had just taken a seven nothing lead One play later Baylor puts them right inside the Baylor 10 yard line and then the other one is the last play of the first quarter and I still I'm not over this so much happened in this game after this and I can't get over this play it's like a third and five third and four they run an option play Finn pitches it out to I I think it was Richardson I don't remember who the running back was they cut it up field it's a first down easily they just got the snap off before the end of the first quarter but then there's a flag on the play because they didn't stop it quick enough because bayor called the timeout for what reason I have no idea is there anyone smarter than me out there I'm sure there are plenty who can give me a good reason why they call the time out there to save a second on the clock in the first quarter did they think it was the second what is going on and then and then they just they had just gotten their first first down of the game called back from their own timeout they run the same option play to the other side and do not convert so what the hell was that for it was completely brain dead I I I did not understand it at all there were two calls from this coaching staff that absolutely blew my mind over anything else it was that one and then it was after the lone touchdown of the game by the way a beautiful play from Josh Cameron a kid who absolutely deserves it a walk- on finally earns a scholarship been doing a lot of dirty work for the Bears the last few years when things have not been going well for bayor he has been out there giving it his all and making plays gets his first career touchdown awesome play Bor to that point in the third quarter had dominated because they kept the ball in the ground they were wearing out this Utah defense they get one big hitter on a slant route basically to Josh Cameron intermediate route that he takes himself to the end zone and then we go for two not really sure why um extra point gets you to a 10-point game touchdown field goal instead they go for two which I I I'm not I'm not getting the arandom math on that one we're right back to 2023 there not getting the Aranda math and why they're going for two and worse yet they they try to throw a fade route an option fade route for a two-point conversion play after you just wore them out two straight drives running the ball for what for what of course of course it's not only incomplete but Finn and his receiver are not even on the same page they didn't even take the same option this was a putrid putrid offensive performance today and it didn't help some of the calls that went with it the other big play in the game that I need to go over before we get into defense and some of the other mistakes Bay were made because this is the one that will stick in the craw of Utah fans and will probably end up being the story depending on the health of Cam Rising but it is the play where ryzen goes out of bounds and he ends up going into the water coolers on the bayor bench I'm going to get to the comments in a minute I know you guys going to start commenting in on this I I think that's a penalty to be totally honest with you I think that was a penalty I know a lot of bayor fans don't um but it looks like Trevon mayi is still hitting him in bounds and then I think Dean blandino is the guy for Fox he comes on and says it I think there is a push in there I don't know from the angle we see I don't know if Trevon is trying to like kind of sachche out of the way and gets his hand on him but that's a penalty in college football that is called a penalty nine times out of 10 bayward just got the one I think it was a push I don't I don't think it was trying to get out of the way I think it was a push it's a minor push but he's right in front of the water cooler he's obviously not trying to hurt the guy but that's a penalty and so Utah fans I think have a right to be mad at that one and and of course Rising doesn't come back in the game that opens the door for beor who played really well defensively really well Utah had one touchdown drive then it's the short field the go tog go situation after the fumble that's a touchdown and then it's a touchdown on special teams blocked kick taken all the way back for the score so really the defense gave up one touchdown and I know that doesn't count on the scoreboard but if you're looking for something going forward for Baylor the defense was not the problem not the problem in this game in fact it was a a big time positive and by the way that defense was cooking even before Zack Wilson's brother went in the game it wasn't just cuz Rising was out so I think you can take some positives from this defense but it is much outweighed by the negatives of this offense I was trying to temp expectations before this season saying hey don't expect the offense to score 60 points right away right but I did not expect anything near this bad and Monday I think we're going to dive deeper into this but two games into the season I think we can start to have the conversation about who should be the quarterback of this team I didn't think we would get a to toan Finn performance like that at any point this season let alone this early in the season that's not Russ that's not a new offense that's that's a really bad day from a very indecisive passer who was not accurate whatsoever today and took probably three quarters of the playbook out of Jake spit all's hands and then yet still they went to passing plays when they had momentum running the football I think there are a couple plays that you can point to for dquan Finn there's the fumble there's a fourth down in the first half that he rolls to his left and throws about 20 yards down the field 15 20 yards down the field and he's about halfway between whichever receiver he was looking for and about seven yards away from anybody it was nowhere close I don't know what that play was there was no one even even remotely in the area for Bor it didn't make any sense and then the other play is the final drive it's an uphill battle for Baylor to come in and score twice but you certainly you're going for it and on what was it it was second down he's got room to run they don't have any timeouts they're trying to to retain some clock here but he's got room to run instead he throws it in the flat throws it backwards in the flat and throws it out of bounds which is a technically a fumble out of bound B so they lost four yards there like what was that so you're not you're not trying to run the ball because you're trying to retain clock but you're also throwing a pass into into the flat when was that going to work and when are you going to complete a pass in the flat I just I said in the preseason that if Sawyer Robertson won the job for Baylor it would be because he won the job because I didn't think there was any way dcoin Finn would lose the job but this might have been a glimpse into why this decision came so close to kickoff in week one on who the starting quarterback was going to be because that was that was just not at all in any way a good enough performance by the quarterback to win the game you're lucky to be even be close to winning the game with that uh he he does get banged up at some point that's not the excuse for a bad game he comes back in the game not sure what that was how Presley was the one that got lit up uh again absolute Hospital Ball by his quarterback and he gets sandwiched clear targeting call um big time they threw out whoever that corner was that was a scary look he gets hit in the head twice on that play from both angles and so really hoping he's okay but that that was that was a scary hit right there more scary than the cam Rising one I'll tell you that but we don't need to get an orifice measuring contest there um yeah I loved the Josh Cameron play couldn't understand the pass on on um on the two-point conversion after that I'm just looking at my notes here so the Finn backwards pass goes out of balance makes it third and 14 they get to Fourth and 14 and he throws a quick pass out the flat fourth and 14 that was the play that's going to get you 14 yards if it's Fourth and 14 why with the game on the line why are you throwing anything short of the sticks let alone the backfield why are you throwing anything short of the line to gain this is the game this the game is right there I was I was delightfully wrong about the defense I was skeptical whether that defense would travel I thought hey you just saw it against a backup quarterback for Charlton State that's it I like this defense I really do I was also wrong about the offense I thought you had a stable of four running backs you could throw out there you don't you don't I know Bryson Washington still banged up but the other three running backs you had had 22 total carries for 95 yards Dawson Pendergrass is your running back let's let's let's stop with the games here Dawson Pendergrass is your running back Richard Reese nine carries for 15 yards Dominic Richardson four carries for 11 yards less than two yards a carry for Richard Reese Pendergrass gets almost eight yards a carry most of it from that 46 yard run in the second half that's your running back I thought they were going to have more versatility from their receivers in terms of jet sweeps and handoffs they don't have that either they tried it a few times in this game Austin hackins Ashton Hawkins there we go three attempts for four yards Montery Baldwin had one one yard Jamal Bell had won one yard when when when your quarterback is that inaccurate how can you expect to have a versatile offense I mean that's where it starts it's not the only thing but that's absolutely where it starts less than four yards a play for the bayor offense which is more than he are to play worse than Utah who again bayor defense did a good job against 122 passing yards for Utah only seven more than bayor on the day they didn't even get to 300 yards that's a performance where you should be winning the game I don't care if you're facing a top 15 team on the road if you're holding them under 300 yards of total offense you should be winning that game am I wrong like there's no reason for that anyway before I get into the comments I'm going to go over the things that I said Baylor needed to do to win this game on Friday's episode needed to have 40% on third down which I admitted was an elite number not even close 25% needed 175 yards rushing not even close 108 yards somehow less than what you had for passing yards six penalties or less check only five and won the penalty battle three plus sacks no not there I thought they got decent pressure but I said three plus sacks they didn't get it I think they only had two is that right yeah two uh win the turnover battle they did that's a check one to nothing interesting uh wait no that's not right that's not right don't don't call me out that's not right they did lose it one to nothing sorry sorry win the Red Zone battle they didn't do that either so one thing and it was penalties you had less penalties than the other guy that's the only thing oh oh man all right let's see what we got in the comments because I want to know what you guys think about this one yeah a lot of dcoin Finn lot of dquan Finn there Utah covers if Cam plays maybe but they didn't and he didn't Baylor lost anyway so it doesn't help me sleep at night but they didn't cover and again this defense was starting to cook when when cam rying was out there on the field one drive one touchdown drive so Chuck my my good pal Chuck I'll highlight you here Chuck why is it that bayor is 100% committed to the wrong quarterback it's an interesting question Chuck I'm not saying it's outright wrong but I will say I I think we would need to see something from soya Robertson in a game like this in order to have it be a real quarterback controversy but what your Crux of what you're going for is completely right this is this is not this was a terrible quarterback performance that needs to be evaluated in terms of bringing in the backup absolutely um I I think I think what's what's kind of damning Chuck is that they I think a lot of it is tquan Finn's experience that they like but the plays I saw today were completely contradictory to someone with with experience who has as many starts as dcoin Finn did those three plays I mentioned in particular the fumble the fourth down and uh the one where he's throwing behind the line of scrimmage to try and save clock that they weren't going to save anyway um yeah I don't know I don't know and I think it I think there was absolutely points in that game where you could have said this is time to give Sawyer a look it couldn't have been worse most of the game I'm telling you like they they I think they probably should have trotted out Sawyer there at some point of course they did for one play which would have been a complete mistake Mercy penalty fourth and four at their own what 20 25 yard line and they're going to put a a cold quarterback out there I think he should have got a look just probably not there um yeah Will that's a good point will says Pender grass's line doesn't look much better if he doesn't have that one play that's right he did have that one play he did have that one play is what I'll say um I I still I don't know exactly how to feel about this offensive line they clearly can't pass protect very well and it's not like their run blocking was really good but couple of those drives in the second half they were they were running the ball in between the tackles and moving it down the field so I'm I'm trying to figure out what exactly that means as well Scotty B Kaden Jenkins made some mistakes in this game he he definitely did a couple of pass interference calls in the first half I thought he bounced back really well in the second half um I thought he played well in the second half I thought my guy Jackie Marshall played well in the second half as well um Garmin Randolph I thought had a had a pretty decent game but you saw it in the first half too and some on that drive where Utah took enough clock to kind of put the game away in the fourth quarter they were breaking contain and freelancing a little bit in terms of their blitzes um that that happened a lot last year a lot and you saw it happen a few guy a few times in this game um but yeah Chris truck stop team truck stop conference I'll take a truck stop that's what America's built on brother if you don't like that you're a commi you're unamerican so yeah sure Gary would have been closer if wasn't for the block kick return for a touchdown defense played a good game offense shuttered I think that meant to be sputtered you're absolutely right but the block Ki was returned for a touchdown they did fumble inside the 10 so yeah that would have been that would have been true um Bobby says Monteray if only we able to get the ball to him I said that a lot last year I'm a big Montery Baldwin fan I think there's more ways for him to get the ball but there was that one screen or I don't remember if it was a jet sweeper screen but he's running to that right side and he just runs right into the defender and it was the fullback there who was who was blocking out ahead of him and immediately monay goes and yells at his blocker um it he probably didn't quite get the block there but he did run right right into him Nick says it's still I still think it's a blowout win with camn I don't I don't I think it's a little bit better so well yeah I guess because if it's one more touchdown it's 30 to n 30 to 12 and it looks like a blowout I I just I think this defense is somewhat legit I don't think they're the best in the conference but they're much better than last year so um sorry trying to read this one for my man Boston straw Utah had 10 points on offensive drive that started further than five yards from The End Zone that's a good stat Boston my Boston guys they're smart um that that is that is the way to put it this defense showed up today um and it almost this offense almost made Whittingham take the training wheels off of off of Wilson very close um strik says would have been closer if we had a good head coach maybe I mean probably if you had if you had a good coach it probably is closer yeah um and and Dave Ren is getting a lot of flak for not paying attention on to the offense when it's third and seven because he's going over his defense maybe I'm naive about this I personally don't care the way he's dialed up this defense I I'm okay that's why you wanted a guy like Jake spavital there and if Jake spavital can't do it and can't and can't run third down plays then that's one thing uh but he's given the keys to this offense to Jake spav all and I'm fine with that um there was a play that I tweeted about I I can't remember when it was was it was in the third quarter it was in the third quarter it's when they kicked the field goal to make it 23-6 and they were faced with a third and nine or a third and 10 right before that and it was just a real bummer because uh they they missed they had an incomplete pass they put it to Fourth and n fourth and 10 whatever it was and they had to kick when you could tell they really wanted to stay on the field but they did not have a play for this offense and this quarterback they did not have a pass play that was going to get them 10 yards that they could actually depend on and and and uh and waste the opportunity to get some points will says at what point does it go from only if only we can get the ball to bonter to bonter never seems to be in positions to make plays that's a good question because again I've been saying that for two years but at some point it if the offense if the offensive staff doesn't trust him to make a play then then those are two different things two different things uh why didn't we test Utah's secondary quarterback couldn't get the ball there that's why quarterback couldn't get the ball down there they didn't have any plays for it that they could trust we thought they were just keeping the Playbook small last week Mone talk about that this week do I think Utah's defense is legit Utah's defense is good don't get me wrong it's I I it's another one that I'm not saying is in like the top tier of this conference it's good enough if Cam rising's healthy and the tight ends that they got and the weapons they got on offense it's good enough a defense to win them the Big 12 Championship I wouldn't say it's like Elite um but it it's it's good it's absolutely good before the Utah fans come at me it's good um I've seen a lot about Palmer Williams shout out to Palmer Williams man what a game from the punter it's like Daniel sapola all over again man not just the altitude he was killing those footballs man and his family listed to lockon Baylor so I'm a big Palmer Williams fan no he was great today he was great today and again I'll go back to it I loved I loved the play from Josh Cameron man um he that touchdown play he I was surprised to see it was his first touchdown he absolutely deserved it um he is a guy who's been doing a lot of Dirty Work and putting up with a lot of crap over the last few years on this bayor football team so I was happy to see him do that cam what adjustments beside the quarterback situation do we need to make from here that that's a big that's a big part of it that is a huge part of it um so in terms of other things I I do I still really like Jake spall's resume so I'm thinking he he needs to find a playbook for these guys because apparently they didn't use all of it last week and it was cut in half at least this week like they didn't have anything they could run so uh that that's I think a big one I don't know how much you fix to the offensive line but um yeah we'll see do you think we're going to see any of Sawyer this season or you think we're GNA try and keep banging our head against the wall with Finn if it's another game like that next week you you gotta go to Sawyer you gotta go to Sawyer I know coaching staffs put a lot in their starting quarterback especially one that they just brought in in the transfer portal but you've also got to you've also got to remember this is a head coach coaching for his job so yeah if it's another one like this next week it's Sawyer it might even be Sawyer this week I'm telling you um glad to see Mrs Cameron in the chat glad you got to go today and go see that that was that was so awesome Dr Cameron sorry sorry thank you LT on the on the correction there uh so glad you guys are out there to get to see that that was that was such a a fun fun play um so I'm GNA talk about it more on Monday gonna wrap things up here I wouldn't be surprised if you you gave some of the some of the keys to Sawyer this week but certainly it's one that um tquan Finn can't have another performance like that he just can't especially at home against Air Force no way which by the way as bad as this was most of the game right now my hot pick is to pick bayor to beat Air Force air force needed the fourth quarter to pull away from Marram College you've never heard of it it's in North Anover Massachusetts and Marram lost by like 50 points to Yukon today makes you wonder about Air Force but bayor needs to bounce back there because if they can figure this crap out on offense and get a competent offense out there there are games on the table early in the Big 12 schedule for them if their defense is going to play like this they figure out something on offense there are games there Colorado BYU who just came off a big win against SMU like those there are winnable games for this team because I think this defense is ahead of schedule but you've got to see what you got at quarterback you've got to you can't hype up all these weapons then use half of them and have a quarterback that can't really get the ball to him that's just that's the that's the start and end of it um I know most of you guys don't care but I did like the fight at the end it doesn't count for anything except for the fact that it makes them look better than last year guys if you're if you're catching up now or you're watching or listening afterwards be sure to drop some comments down in the comment section it'll certainly be ones we'll we'll look over and see if we can take some themes for Monday's show um drop that down in the comments on YouTube or tweeted us at lockon bayor if you're listening wherever you get your podcast guys thank you so much for making it your first listen today and every day great turnout for this for this postgame show they're my favorite to do because I'm not measured I'm not I'm not levelheaded and I know you guys aren't too so I love that we're doing that together uh anyway be sure to let me know what you think about this game what you want to see going forward what you think about quarterback it's I that's that's got to be the big question in this game is what you think about quarterback but if it's something else drop that down in the comments below we're going to see you on Monday where we break this down even more on your favorite show lock on Baylor