Why TCU and Baylor will both enter Saturday’s rivalry football game with confidence
The saying goes that you are what your record says you are and currently Baylor’s 4-4 record suggests the Bears are an average football team.
However, TCU head coach Sonny Dykes doesn’t see it that way. In his mind, the Horned Frogs are preparing to face a battle-tested team that is starting to play its best football at the right time.
“Continual improvement, I think that’s kind of been the story of their team when you look at it this year,” Dykes said on Tuesday. “They’ve gotten better every single week and they’re a completely different team now than they were early in the year.”
After a 2-4 start, the Bears have reeled off two straight wins including a road blowout win over Texas Tech and a double digit victory over Oklahoma State.
The Bears have scored nearly 100 points and rushed for nearly 600 yards in the last two weeks. The recent performances have changed the outlook of the season and maybe even the tenure of Dave Aranda, who entered this season on the hot seat.
While the recent success was probably a surprise to many Big 12 fans, it wasn’t to Dykes, who saw how hard the Bears competed against a tougher than expected Big 12 slate.
“They’ve played the top two teams in the league right now, BYU and Iowa State, both those games were competitive late in the second half,” Dykes said. “They had Colorado beat and gave up a Hail Mary. They’ve played really good football and the last two weeks against Texas Tech and Oklahoma State, they’ve dominated those football games. It’s an improving team playing with a lot of confidence.”
The same can be said about TCU as the Horned Frogs remained in good spirits after last Saturday’s dramatic comeback win over Texas Tech.
The Horned Frogs haven’t dominated a game like Baylor has in the last few weeks and while blowouts are less stressful for players and fans alike, it was an important step for TCU to be able to scrap out wins at Utah and Texas Tech despite not playing their best.
Players around the program continue to say that a mindset change has been the key to their own two-game winning streak.
“More than anything I think it’s been our mentality coming into the game,” receiver JP Richardson said. “Being more excited than the other team to play football. It’s very cliche, but it’s so true when you look at how we’ve come out at the beginning of the season when we were losing some games.
“It all goes back to being the more excited team to play and turnovers have also been a huge deal. We’ve been harping on that more than anything.”
The Horned Frogs built double digit leads against Utah and Texas Tech and then had to hold on with key defensive stops and conversions on first down to survive each game. Just like Baylor learned lessons from losses to Iowa State and BYU, TCU also has improved since the shocking defeats to Houston and UCF.
The key battle on Saturday will likely be TCU’s defense vs. a surging Baylor offense. The Horned Frogs have made gradual improvement, especially with its run defense, over the last two weeks while Baylor quarterback Sawyer Robertson is playing the best football of his career.
The Bears don’t have many household names on the offensive side of the ball, but the Horned Frogs know fully well how explosive Baylor can be on offense.
“Baylor’s a good squad, they have a great receiving core,” safety Abe Camara said. “The two outside receivers (Ashtyn Hawkins and Hal Presley), they’re two solid guys. The slot receiver (Monaray Baldwin), I’ve been going against him for three years, so I know he’s a solid player. They’ve got good backs and a quarterback that’s leading them.”
Camara will be one of the leaders on defense on Saturday and will play a pivotal role in slowing down Baylor’s stable of running backs and making plays against Baylor’s short passing game.
The safety is also one of the players that has helped reshape TCU’s mentality in the locker room when it comes to being the more excited team. TCU should have plenty of motivation against Baylor as there are quite a few players on the roster that don’t know what it feels like to lose to Baylor including Camara.
“I realized I’m 3-0 against Baylor and I want to keep it up, I want to be 4-0 so I’m pushing for that 4-0 spot,” Camara said.
Injury updates
The Horned Frogs will be without edge rusher Cooper McDonald for another week as Dykes ruled him out on Tuesday with a lingering sprained ankle. McDonald has missed the last two games and led TCU with 2.5 sacks at the time of his injury, but Devean Deal has stepped up in a big way with three sacks in the last two games.
Defensive end Paul Oyewale was also ruled out for the rest of the season after having surgery for an undisclosed injury. Dykes says the program is hopeful that Oyewale will be back for spring football.
