By Kevin Lonnquist

Publisher

Baylor (1-1, 1-1) at Texas (2-2, 1-2)

Site: Darrell K. Royal-Texas Memorial Stadium, Austin

Time/Day: 2:30 p.m. Saturday

TV/Radio: ESPN/ESPN Central Texas

Betting Line: Texas -10

Series: Texas leads, 78-27-4

A three-week break between games during the college football season is really not conducive toward building consistency and truly finding out the personality of a football team.

Welcome to 2020 where the bizarre has become the norm because of a little germ that’s turning everything on its head globally. Postponements coupled with pausing operations to making sure there are enough players to play a game are part and parcel to the way of doing business.

No one knows this better than the Baylor Bears. They were supposed to start their season on Sept. 12 and by the time the calendar reached Oct. 23 for them to play in Austin against Texas, they were going to be playing their fifth game.

The Bears are playing their third.

“Everybody was waiting for us to be back, and it was good to see the excitement on everyone’s face,’’ Baylor head coach Dave Aranda said. “Player-wise even more so really, and so they were really excited. There was great energy, and I think it was the start of some momentum. You felt it, so it was pretty cool to be a part of that.”

Baylor returned to practice this past Sunday after a 10-day pause starting on Oct. 8. That caused everything to be turned upside down. In between players and coaches essentially were left on their own.

With that behind them now, it’s been time to get ready for the Longhorns, a team facing its own issues on and off the field.

It’s really hard to gauge where Aranda’s program is. The Bears played arguably the worst team in P5 ball not named Vanderbilt (Kansas) and lost in double overtime at West Virginia.

Facing the Longhorns, a team Baylor thumped 24-10 in 2019 in Waco in which Texas scored a touchdown in the final seconds to save face, this 2020 game should be a better barometer of where the Bears are at and how the rest of the season unfolds.

“It’s doing all the ordinary things at an extraordinary level. We call that the Baylor standard performance,’’ Aranda said. “So, it’s being early to things, it’s dressing the right way to things. It’s when you’re in meetings, and you’re taking notes, you’re sitting straight up, you’ve got a pen or pencil and a pad of paper and you’re on it.

“When we’re in the indoor and we’re having our meetings and you leave to go from a team meeting to a unit meeting, you pick up after yourself so there’s nothing on the ground. You throw stuff away. When we’re on the practice field, you run on and off the practice field. When we’re having walk-throughs, you’re communicating, you own it.”

Here are some key elements to look for Saturday

>Two-deeps can be considered punch lines in today’s world of football. However, Baylor’s offensive line released this week is the one the coaches had been hoping for throughout fall camp with Connor Galvin at left tackle, Khalil Keith at left guard, Xavier Newman-Johnson at center, Blake Bedier at right guard and Jake Burton at right tackle. There was a lot of work done in August with these five. But this will be the first time for it to appear this season.

>If Baylor has to line up an attempt a field goal inside of 40 yards, that would be the first time a PK has done that. Baylor is 1-4 on attempts. And you can say 0-3 on field goal attempts of 46 yards or longer. When it comes to those distances, it’s a coin flip regardless of how reliable your kicker is.

>Pay attention to the sharpness or lack thereof at the beginning of this game. Without playing game for three weeks mixed in with a 10-day pause, there could be some rust. You won’t doubt the excitement to play. You just have to execute. If Baylor comes out looking sharp, then that will tell you this team prepared diligently all weekend.

>While this is the 110th meeting and the series is lopsided, this past decade should reveal that Baylor is “over it” with this blue blood. There is no doubt that the Bears can play with the Longhorns. They have split the last 10 meetings. Really, Baylor probably could have won seven of those – thinking 2015 and 2018 – if a couple of things broke their way. Still, the Texas mystique has no bearing in this game.

Notable

QB Charlie Brewer has completed 63.9 percent of his passes (525-of-821) in 27 career games against Big 12 opponents. The Lake Travis native (8,113 passing yards) needs just 85 to surpass Bryce Petty (8,195) into second place on Baylor’s all-time passing yardage list. Robert Griffin III is the leader (10,366).

Keys to the Game

>Take a shot, a lot of them – It’s no secret that Baylor’s passing game needs a change in a major way. Averaging 6.1 yards per attempt is not a good number. It must be more aggressive. The longest pass Brewer has completed thus far is 35 yards. Sooner or later this offense has to find a way to stretch the defense. And that takes the likes of the OL protecting Brewer, Brewer feeling confident to do it and wide receivers to creating separation. Tyquan Thornton has had a really poor start.

>A Puncher’s chance – Baylor’s defense has your attention with the way it rallies to the ball. It could have a chance to be even better than last year if the defensive line is credible. So far, this unit has created four turnovers (2 INT, 2 FR) and is +2 in turnover margin. Look further. Baylor opponents have already coughed it up seven times. While Baylor has covered only two, it still gives itself a chance because drives can die quickly. If Baylor gets turnovers – it really doesn’t matter where – it has to get points off of them.

>Fence him in – It’s usually the first step an opponent faces with Texas dual-threat QB Sam Ehlinger. You have to make him one dimensional. That means keeping him in the pocket. Ehlinger isn’t a happy feet decision maker, but Baylor has to force him read the field and be patient longer. If he breaks into the open field, that’s going to be a problem.

>Hunt for Red October – So far, Baylor’s red zone offense has been iffy to this point. It’s just 4-7. That’s not a great number of opportunities. However, it can lead to a season long trend. Indeed, the field compresses in those final 20 yards. This is where the execution has to be at a high level.

Prediction

I’ve said it throughout the week starting on Sunday that I don’t know what Baylor team we’re going to see simply because I don’t know what this team is yet. It looks to be pretty solid on defense yet concerning on offense. The other part of the equation is what kind of Texas team will Baylor see. Texas has the better talent. As we know over these years, that hasn’t meant very much. If the Longhorns are engaged, then Baylor will have to be more intense. If the off-the-field distractions invade that UT sideline, then Baylor can steal this.

I like Baylor’s chances here if it can get the running game going between the A gaps to the point where Texas must respect it and the defense can create some turnovers. Ehlinger can make a killer play for and against his team. Baylor just hopes a few come its way.

Baylor sneaks out of Austin with its first win in the state capital since 2014.

Baylor 26, Texas 21