Keys To The Game: Baylor

Take Advantage of a Wounded Baylor:

Baylor is both physically and morally wounded. Pouring some salt on these wounds will be crucial to pulling off the upset in Fort Worth.

Beginning with…

Shutting Down Cyril Richardson and Baylor’s Offensive Line:

The Bears will be without lineman Spencer Drango, but they’ll still have the deadly Cyril Richardson. Chucky Hunter will have his work cut out for him. Beating Richardson will be crucial to...

Stopping the Run Game:

Even though they scored a season-low 17 points last week against Oklahoma State, Baylor is still averaging over 56 points a game. So yes, Baylor is still dangerous. The Bears will rely mostly on Shock Linwood, as Lache Seastrunk and Glasco Martin are both still listed as day-to-day. The word on the street is that we will see a little bit of Seastrunk and none of Martin.

This is great news. Linwood is a terrific back, but he’s not as gifted as Martin or Seastrunk. The Frogs’ defense can establish a dominant presence early with Baylor using Linwood as their primary back.

Establishing a dominant run-defense early will free up LB Paul Dawson and TCU’s secondary, which will also get a leg up as Baylor will be without receiver Tevin Reese. The most intriguing match-up on the secondary will be Baylor receiver Antwan Goodley against Jason Verrett. Goodley is arguably one of the best receivers in the conference and it’s pretty widely known how good Verrett is. If anyone can shut down Goodley, it’s Verrett.

Win Time of Possession:

As I said above, Baylor is still deadly on offense. Keeping the ball out of their hands as much as possible will be key for an upset. TCU gets a huge advantage with Baylor linebacker Bryce Hager out, as it gives running backs Aaron Green and Jordan Moore a huge opportunity to (gasp) get some first downs and slowly wear down the Baylor defense.

Jason Verrett and Casey Pachall:

It’s hard to believe Verrett and Pachall both got their first career starts against Baylor in 2011. For my money, Verrett is the most important defense player we’ve had under Patterson and it’d be amazing to see him and Pachall end their TCU careers with a home win.