Sunday With Guy No. 10
11/4/2007 12:00:00 AM | Football
Nov. 4, 2007
After dropping a 38-7 decision to Texas Tech yesterday in Waco, the Baylor football team (3-7/0-6) hits the road for the final time in 2007 when it travels North on I-35 to tackle the fourth-ranked Oklahoma Sooners (8-1/4-1) in a nationally televised (Fox Sports Net) game that kicks off at 5:30 p.m. (Central) on Nov. 10 in Norman.
Here are Baylor head coach Guy Morriss' thoughts of the Bears' game against the Red Raiders:
Do you think that Blake Szymanski's fumble on the opening drive was just a mental letdown for the team? Morriss: "I don't know. It could have been. I didn't see anybody dropping their heads. I didn't see any finger pointing or anything like that. It was a nice long drive. It might have given us some confidence that we could sustain a drive. Obviously, we won't ever know. That's what it could have done for us."
What did you think of the effectiveness of the option play? Morriss: "It probably would have been a little better. We were pitching it too fast. You are supposed to run up on the toes of the defensive end, but you also risk taking a pretty good lick. I felt a couple of times we pitched it way too early. We weren't holding the end like we wanted to. Overall, I thought that was good play for us. I think we actually ran for a few yards. We have been running the option ever week, just not that much."
Why did Jacoby Jones get the start? Morriss: "Jacoby had a good week in practice, and we thought he deserved to go in and get a chance to show us what he can do and I think he responded pretty well. At least he's going to be positive. He's a north to south, positive type runner, and he doesn't fumble. That was a large part of it. He knows to cover it up when he gets into traffic. I wish he had more speed, but he is at least dependable and he can catch pretty well."
How did you feel the offensive line did? Morriss: "They did struggle some early. Once they settled down, we protected pretty well. Our zone play didn't work quite as well as we hoped. We didn't get a lot of push on the inside. We just got beat one on one. We had a hat on a hat. We just got beat one on one."
Did the secondary struggle with Dwain Crawford injured? Morriss: "We tried to play some zone on them, but we weren't disrupting their route running at all. When you aren't having success, then you start to get a little frustrated, and people start doing a little free lancing sort of thing. You won't have to send Graham Harrell's uniform to the cleaners tomorrow. That's for sure. We didn't put much pressure on him at all. That doesn't help either if you aren't disrupting his rhythm. He's going to stand back there and he's going to pick you apart.
How much of an emotional loss are Dwain Crawford and Brandon Stiggers? Morriss: "Well, it doesn't help things. But you know that's something you can't control so you've got to line up the next guy and go play."
Do you know who is starting at quarterback this week? Morriss: "We haven't talked about that. We've tossed around Tyler Beatty some, but it's a tough week to introduce him to Oklahoma."
How were the players in the locker room after the game? Morriss: "They were a little bit depressed. They were down. I think there is a little of that left over today. But I think they will bounce back in pretty good shape."
How important is it for the players to keep playing for something? Morriss: "Well it is important. It's kind of like the farmer comes home, and there are two crying babies waiting for him, and momma's run off with the milkman. You've got to do something. We better go out and play. We've got to do something. We've got to play. It is about personal pride and how you want to represent your football program and yourself. This is another game. Let's go have some fun and go play. When it comes right down to it after you settle in and start to play, it's all about self motivation and personal pride."
Baylor Sunday Notes: Sophomore quarterback Blake Szymanski's 427 total-offense attempts are a Baylor single-season record and he needs just 179 total-offense yards to break Cody Carlson's 1986 single-season record of 2,640 yards ... Szymanski has 2,462 total-offense yards, good for No. 2 on the Baylor single-season list ... Szymanski's 19 touchdowns responsible for rank T-No. 2 on Baylor's single-season list, three behind Don Trull's 1963 record of 22 ... Szymanski's 18 TD passes on the year rank No. 2 on Baylor's single-season list, just one shy of tying Shawn Bell's 2006 record of 19 ... Szymanski also stands No. 2 to Bell in single-season pass attempts (379), completions (210) and yards (2,338), needing five attempts, 32 completions and 245 yards to break all three marks ... Sophomore FS Jordan Lake ranks No. 1 in the Big 12 with 12.0 tackles per game in conference-games only statistics ... Overall, Lake is No. 3 in the Big 12 and No. 27 nationally with 10.2 tackles per game, while sophomore LB Joe Pawelek is No. 6 in the Big 12 and No. 56 nationally with 9.1 tackles per game ... Senior SS Brandon Stiggers broke his leg during the Texas Tech game and will miss the Bears' final two games at Oklahoma and vs. Oklahoma State, while junior ROV Dwain Crawford also broke his leg but has hopes of returning for the season finale Nov. 18 vs. Oklahoma State ... Junior FS Marlon Price, in his first career start, registered a career-high six tackles against Texas Tech ... Junior RB Jacoby Jones, in first career start against Texas Tech, registered career-highs in rushes (21), rushing yards (83), receptions (6) and receiving yards (36) ... Sophomore DE Jason Lamb has five sacks on the season and needs one to crack the Baylor single-season top 10 list ... Baylor will be looking to snap a six-game losing streak overall, a 10-game Big 12 losing streak and an 11-game losing string to ranked (AP) opponents when it steps on the field against Oklahoma, a team that is 29-1 at home since the start of the 2003 season.
