Baylor
BYU
Football Downs BYU on Homecoming, 38-24
10/16/2021 6:57:00 PM | Football
By Jerry Hill
Baylor Bear Insider
If this was truly a "standard game," as Baylor head coach Dave Aranda put it, the bar is really high for a Bears' team that welcomed future Big 12 rival BYU into town on Saturday.
On a day when offensive coordinator Jeff Grimes seemed to dig deep into his playbook facing the team that he coached for the previous three years, Abram Smith rushed for a career-high 188 yards and three touchdowns and linebacker Dillon Doyle scored TDs on his two offensive touches as the Bears (6-1) knocked off 19th-ranked BYU, 38-24, Saturday afternoon before a sellout crowd at McLane Stadium.
"The ability to intrinsically push yourself and hold your teammates accountable and really bring your best daily, the best will be what we would call our standard," said Aranda, whose team became bowl eligible for the 10th time in 12 years, "and this was a standard game. I think that's a big step in the right direction."
Baylor handed BYU (5-2) a rare second-straight loss and will likely replace the Cougars in the Top 25 polls after grinding out 303 yards on the ground and posting its second-straight and fourth 500-yard game of the season with 534 yards.
"We went in today knowing that was going to be a fight," Smith said. "They run wide zone, we run wide zone. . . . We wanted to be the better team running wide zone, so when we went into the game, that's exactly what we wanted to do. And I think we did it."
The Bears left little doubt about who was best at the wide-zone running game, averaging a whopping 6.4 yards per carry, while holding BYU to just 67 yards on 24 attempts (2.8-yard average). Take away quarterback Jaren Hall's 56-yard touchdown run at the start of the third quarter, and the Cougars netted just 11 yards on their other 23 carries.
"We say on the sideline, 'Stop the run, have some fun,''' said Doyle, who added four tackles and a sack from his traditional linebacker position, "because the pass game is fun. You get to rush the passer, you get to kind of run around and have fun. Stopping the run was big."
That was something BYU struggled with all day. Smith already had 97 yards by halftime, scoring on a nine-yard run that gave the Bears the lead for good at the 8:54 mark in the second quarter.
After both teams went 3-and-out on their first series of the game, Baylor used the feet of Smith and arm of quarterback Gerry Bohanon to get its offense going. Bohanon hit tight end Ben Sims for 27 yards and wide receiver R.J. Sneed for 20, while Smith picked up 27 yards on his first five carries to get the Bears in scoring position.
Consistently aggressive all year, Grimes didn't change on Saturday, opting to go for it on 4th-and-4 from the Cougars' 6-yard line at the end of an 11-play, 75-yard drive. But, linebacker Payton Wilgar picked off a pass in the end zone by Bohanon, who had thrown 152 passes this season and 190 in his career without an interception.
"I think the ability to put defenses on edge . . . those things pay off," Aranda said. "And to be honest, those things are often needed to get going offensively. I go back to games where we take field goals in those (instead), and it becomes a field goal game and you're fighting for it at the end."
Baylor did get on board late in the first quarter, when freshman Isaiah Hankins booted a 31-yard field goal at the end of an eight-play, 53-yard drive. Hankins has hit seven-straight field goal attempts after missing his first try in the season opener.
Hall, who was 22-of-31 for 342 yards, connected with Puka Nacua on a 52-yard pass and Neil Pau'u for 12, setting up a one-yard TD run by Tyler Allgeier. Jacob Oldroyd's extra point gave BYU a 7-3 lead.
Keeping the ball on the ground for all but one play, Baylor answered with a seven-play, 75-yard drive and regained the lead with the first of three touchdown runs by Smith, going up 10-7.
"I think for me, it just gets me going, knowing that there's a good chance I'm not getting stopped and I can be the hammer to the nail," Smith said of running over defenders.
Aranda said Smith is the type of runner that if he has the choice, "I think he would run into staff. And I think he's probably been doing that for a long time."
"There's just a difference from dudes that will look for openings and look for maybe doors," Aranda said, "and there's guys who will just run through walls. When you have someone that wants to run through a wall and the ability to do it, that can transform your offense."
Nacua, who finished with a career-high 168 yards on five catches, got BYU back in scoring position when he hauled in a 45-yarder down to Baylor's 30. But, four plays later, Oldroyd missed a 50-yard field goal attempt wide left.
Mixing in runs and passes, and even an end-around by Josh Fleeks, the Bears came right back with an eight-play, 67-yard drive and capped it off with a two-yard run by Doyle, who was lined up at fullback.
"I hadn't gotten the ball very much when I was going in, so (BYU's defense) was probably like, 'All right, (No. 5) is in, he's not going to get it.' I was just lucky to get it."
Baylor caught BYU off-guard with an onside kick and recovery by Noah Rauschenberg, but the Bears weren't rewarded for the risk, with Bohanon getting stopped on a sneak on 4th-and-1 from the BYU 24.
The second half turned into a little more of a shootout, with a combined 21 points scored in the first 10 ½ minutes of the third quarter. After Hall's 56-yard TD scamper, Bohanon finished off a nine-play, 78-yard drive with a two-yard TD toss to Doyle that stretched it back to a two-score lead, 24-14.
Nacua had another big-gainer with a 47-yard reception down to Baylor's 28, but the defense came up with another big play when T.J. Franklin sacked Hall and forced a fumble that safety Jalen Pitre recovered.
Bohanon hit Tyquan Thornton for a 45-yard pass, then Smith bullied into the end zone from seven yards out to push the lead to 31-14 with 4:32 left in the third quarter.
Oldroyd drilled a 48-yard field goal after an impressive 12-play, 82-yard drive, but the Bears all but clinched it with a one-yard TD run by Smith that made it 38-17 with 3:55 remaining in the game.
While Baylor had five sacks, Aranda said the Bears need to get better pressure from the defensive line.
"We have to be able to (rush the passer) without creepers and all that," he said. "We're going to be tested here in a couple weeks with some good throw games, and we're going to have to be able to rush four."
Bohanon overcame his first interception to complete 18-of-28 for 231 yards. Sneed hauled in six passes for 72 yards, while Trestan Ebner complemented Smith, rushing for 95 yards on 11 carries.
Pitre led the defense with a game-high 10 tackles, one sack, a fumble recovery and 2.5 tackles for losses. Terrel Bernard and Bryson Jackson also had sacks.
For the first time in program history, the Bears had zero penalties.
"I think it's a good step," Aranda said. "I think looking at sport as a way to master yourself. . . . You can look at it like, 'I'm mad at life, I'm taking it all out when I'm playing football,' it's more of an outlet. To flip it around is difficult. I appreciate their understanding and they're listening and all that, because it means a lot to me."
Heading into a bye week, the Bears will finish off a three-game home stand with a matchup against No. 25 Texas (4-3, 2-2) on Oct. 30. The Longhorns lost a fourth-quarter lead for the second-straight week and fell to 12th-ranked Oklahoma State, 34-26, in Austin.
