No. 22 BYU Seeking First-Ever Big 12 Road Win At Baylor
Sep 27, 2024, 8:00 AM
WACO, Texas – BYU football is running out of firsts as a member of the Big 12 Conference.
However, Saturday morning on the banks of the Brazos River against Baylor (2-2, 0-1 Big 12) poses an opportunity for a first.
No. 22 BYU (4-0, 1-0 Big 12) has a chance to win its first road game in Big 12 play.
No. 22 BYU is still searching for their first Big 12 road win
Last season, BYU was 0-5 in road Big 12 contests during its inaugural season in the league. It’s on the mind of a red-hot BYU squad that heads back on the road after an impressive 38-9 victory over nationally-ranked Kansas State last week in Provo.
“Well, we haven’t won a Big 12 road game yet, so that’s the challenge,” said BYU offensive coordinator Aaron Roderick. “Nobody feels like we’ve arrived by any means, and we need to go get our first Big 12 road win.”
Roderick’s offense, which is averaging 32.8 points per game and is 48th nationally, is still looking to prove more than what it has shown over the past third of the season.
“It’s just the nature of the world we live in now with social media and the media. When you lose, the sky is falling and everything is lost. When you win, it’s like, you’ve arrived and neither one is true. You just have to sort of stay level, prepare for every week the same way, and be ready to play on Saturday.”
Jake Retzlaff is playing with a chip on his shoulder
BYU QB Jake Retzlaff has experienced the roller coaster emotions that Roderick is referring to. The redshirt junior is now 4-4 as a starter at BYU.
“We also know that we’re not done. We beat a Top 13 team in the country at home in a big way and we put it to them. We’re still only 22 in the country. You’d think that, we beat a Top 13, we might be Top 20. But no, there’s still not enough respect. That’s why we play with that chip on our shoulder,” Retzlaff said this week on Keyshawn Johnson’s podcast, ‘All Facts No Brakes.‘
“We were picked to win 4 1/2 games this year, and we’ve won four,” Retzlaff added to the ‘All Facts No Brakes Podcast.’ “After this, we can already surpass that win total with seven more games on our plate.”
Retzlaff has passed for 990 yards and nine touchdowns with only three interceptions this season. He’s completing 62.6% of his passes, a significant increase from last year’s previous four starts, where he completed only 50% of his attempts.
Challenges the Baylor defense poses for BYU
The Baylor defense poses some challenges. Last week, in the Bears’ gut-wrenching loss to Colorado, they had eight sacks on Shedeur Sanders, with 12 tackles for loss. Senior linebacker Steve Linton had two sacks and two tackles for loss.
Fellow linebacker Keaton Thomas chipped in another two sacks and three tackles for loss.
Baylor has a strong pass defense as well. They are sixth nationally in pass success rate defense and are 20th nationally in passing yards allowed. It helped to play an Air Force squad that rarely passes two weeks ago to skew the numbers. But embattled head coach Dave Aranda can generate schemes to keep an offense on its heels.
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The same goes for BYU’s defense, which has shined through the first third of the season.
BYU’s defense is riding high
Last week, in the win over K-State, BYU generated turnovers that completely shifted the momentum in favor of the Cougars.
BYU’s defense has yet to give up a passing touchdown this season. In fact, in BYU’s first two games against Power Four opponents this year, they haven’t given up a touchdown.
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Junior linebacker Jack Kelly has already revived BYU’s pass rush with three sacks this season. Then senior defensive end Tyler Batty has been stout, recording 14 tackles and his first career interception a week ago against K-State.
There will be some intrigue about which Baylor quarterback BYU’s defense will face. For the past two weeks, Sawyer Robertson has been the starter in relief of an injured Dequan Finn, the heralded transfer from Toledo. But despite the loss to Colorado last week, Robertson has led Baylor’s offense to consecutive weeks of 30+ points.
BYU will be without star running back LJ Martin this week in Waco as he continues recovering from an ankle injury suffered three weeks ago at SMU. The good news for BYU is that they get Hinckley Ropati back from an injury.
BYU/Baylor is a big game for Dave Aranda
Baylor coach Dave Aranda, the former Utah State defensive coordinator under current BYU consultant Gary Andersen, is very familiar with Kalani Sitake and the coaches on the BYU staff.
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Aranda is in his fifth season at Baylor. After a 3-9 record a year ago, his Baylor squad is off to an underwhelming start this year, a season in which he is calling the defense again. For the people who want to put Aranda on the hot seat, a loss to BYU, a program that has yet to win on the road in Big 12 play, wouldn’t silence those critics.
The Saturday morning showdown will be the fifth all-time meeting between the two programs. It will be the first as Big 12 opponents.
BYU is 0-2 in Waco, with their last visit in 2021. However, BYU won the previous meeting, a Top 25 overtime thriller in Provo in 2022.
No. 22 BYU at Baylor
Date: Saturday, September 28, 2024
Kickoff: 10 a.m. (MDT)
TV: FS1
Radio: KSL NewsRadio (Extended pregame begins at 7 a.m.)
Mitch Harper is a BYU Insider for sports.ksl.com and hosts the Cougar Tracks Podcast (SUBSCRIBE) and Cougar Sports Saturday (12–3 p.m.) on KSL Newsradio. Follow Mitch’s coverage of BYU in the Big 12 Conference on X: @Mitch_Harper.
