By Larry Little
Baylor Bear Insider

In recent years, Baylor's secondary has not always done its best against the Big 12 Conference's top receivers.

Last season, Oklahoma's Sterling Shepard had 177 yards on 14 catches, including two touchdowns. In 2014, West Virginia's Kevin White caught eight passes for 132 yards and two touchdowns. And all Baylor fans have tried to forget what West Virginia's tandem of Tavon Austin (14 catches, 215 yards, two touchdowns) and Stedman Bailey (13 catches, 303 yards, five touchdowns) did to the Bears in 2012.

All four of those receivers went on to earn first-team All-Big 12 honors following their dominant performances against Baylor.

Saturday night, the Bears faced another of the league's premier receivers in Oklahoma State's James Washington, who one week earlier torched Pittsburgh for 296 yards and two touchdowns on nine receptions.

This time, Baylor's secondary was up to the challenge, holding Washington, who FOX Sports considered the nation's eighth-best receiver entering the season, to 89 yards on six catches with no touchdowns en route to a 35-24 victory over the Cowboys at McLane Stadium.

"He's a really good athlete," Baylor linebacker Travon Blanchard said of Washington. "He's a very big part of their offense, so we as a defense wanted to make them prove that someone else was going to beat us."

In the end, no other Cowboy could beat the Bears. Quarterback Mason Rudolph was 27-of-45 for 279 yards and completed passes to eight players other than Washington. But none of the completions resulted in a score, marking Rudolph's first game this season without a touchdown pass.

"A lot of our coverages kind of took Washington out of it," Blanchard said. "We were able to go out there and execute against a really good team."

Oklahoma State tallied 492 yards but averaged more than three yards per play fewer than Baylor. The Bears held the Cowboys to 6.1 yards per pass attempt and only four total scores despite OSU running 101 offensive plays.

"The thing that saved us tonight is just guys playing as hard as they possibly could play," head coach Jim Grobe said after the game. "The first and second units, there's not a lot left in that locker room on the defensive side, especially. We forced some turnovers on defense that really helped us, but I was really proud of the way our defense bowed their necks when they had to make plays down the stretch."

One such instance was arguably the game's most decisive play. Having already put together drives of 16 plays, 11 plays and seven plays in the second half, Oklahoma State drove 76 yards on six plays midway through the fourth quarter. One more yard on the drive would have given the Cowboys a touchdown and their first lead of the game.

However, senior linebacker Aiavion Edwards halted Justice Hill's 12-yard run a yard shy of the goal line, giving Blanchard opportunity to force a fumble and recover the loose ball. The Bears' offense responded with a nine-play, 99-yard drive that culminated in a Seth Russell-to-Chris Platt touchdown pass and the game's final score.

"Take your opportunities," Blanchard said. "At the very last second, I was able to get a really good punch on the ball. That was a really big stop for our defense."

It came on Oklahoma State's 38th offensive snap of a second half in which the Cowboys did their best to keep the ball out of Russell's hands and the Bears' defense on the field.

"That's a lot of plays to be on the field," Blanchard said. "That just goes to show you our conditioning program; Coach Kaz (Kazadi) keeps us conditioned. He helps to get us to think right after a lot of plays like that. Thinking positive is a skill. You have to still be able to think positive, get the call, get lined up and execute the call."

Edwards admitted the defense was a bit gassed by the pivotal mid-fourth-quarter drive that resulted in Oklahoma State's goal-line fumble.

"But, we all stuck together," Edwards said. "We were trying to make the best opportunity we could and ended up with a turnover. It was exciting, and I'm glad that everybody stuck together, was on the same page and able to execute the game plan."

The main reason Oklahoma State was able to keep Baylor's defense on the field for such long stretches of time was third-down success. The Cowboys converted 12-of-20 third downs, including two of 20-plus yards in the second half.

In fact, Oklahoma State gained 204 yards on 25 third- and fourth-down plays (8.2 yards per play) but only 287 yards on 76 first- and second-down plays (3.7 yards per play).

"It's very important to get off the field," Blanchard said. "Rudolph, he's a smart quarterback. He has tremendous touch on his throws. He made a lot of really good, smart, safe throws. We have a lot of points that we can emphasize, things that we can get better on."

Nonetheless, the Bears' defense was at its best when it mattered most, holding Oklahoma State to three touchdowns in seven red-zone opportunities. And one of the three touchdowns came following a Baylor muffed punt when the Cowboys started at the Baylor 5.

Six different Bears made stops behind the line of scrimmage, resulting in 11 tackles for loss. Blanchard led the way with 4.5 tackles for loss in earning Big 12 Defensive Player of the Week honors.

"It seems like when our defense gets their backs against the wall, we play better," Grobe said. "We missed coverages, we missed some line stunts once in a while. But, when you stay out there as long as we did tonight and still have some juice left at the end of the game, that says a lot about the character of our defense."

After forcing the goal-line fumble, Baylor's defense held the Cowboys to 81 yards on 18 plays (4.5 yards per play) the rest of the way, ending one drive with an interception by safety Orion Stewart and then ending the game with a sack by Xavier Jones. Furthermore, the Cowboys were unsuccessful on their final four third-down conversion attempts.

"We are a very opportunistic defense," Blanchard said. "Whenever we have opportunity to get the ball back, we want to take our chances. We know that turnovers are a really big part of the game; it could change the complete outcome of a game. So, really proud of our defense tonight."

Through four games, Baylor's defense has allowed six total touchdowns and only one through the air. The Bears lead the nation in pass efficiency defense, allowing 570 yards on 136 passes with four interceptions.

Indeed, the league's scariest passing offenses remain further down the schedule, but Baylor's secondary certainly passed their first test Saturday night against Washington and Oklahoma State.