Friday, September 15, 2006

Prediction Time

I've been dreading this all week, because I don't think I can predict a Baylor victory here.

I know a lot of reason the Bears CAN win this weekend, but I don't have those reasons why they WILL win. Washington State is the more established team, both in terms of scheme and experience.

Baylor COULD see its offense come together, and if that happened, then I think Baylor would surely win. But to predict that is going to happen on the road, after a 10 hour plane ride, in a strange field, against a team of about equal talent seems like a stretch. I think it's more likely that we see some good things from the team, and that we see a lot of struggles as well.

Washington State versus our defense is another interesting call. I love our secondary and I think we are going to be ok against the pass. I'll put CJ Wilson up against any receiver in the nation and feel ok about it. And Anthony Arline is a #1 CB playing in a #2 position. And the guys on the bench are pretty good, too.

I think our defensive line has a lot to prove, though. They have to show the ability to shut down the running attack (they looked good against TCU, with 2.9 yards per rush, but lackluster against NSU), and probably more importantly, the ability to pressure the QB.

I'm hoping that Bradley has got some tricks up his sleeve to get after WSUs QB in this game and maybe get him rattled. If we can get him to throw up some ducks, and we can turn them into turnovers, then we'll be giving our offense a much better chance to help us win the game.

Right now, I see WSU getting a couple long drives together and making key plays on offense to put some points on the board.

I see our offense struggling to do the same, although we might get a couple long plays sporadically.

I'm calling it (and I really, really hope I'm wrong):

Washington State - 27
Baylor - 16

6 comments:

VillageIdiot said...

Hey Jerk,

Why don't you back off the team!? Why pick them to lose the game when it's possible that they win it? Are you really a Baylor fan? I bet you cheer for UT, don't you?

lpret said...

Judge, you voiced a lot of the concerns I've been facing all week. Usually I'll be cautiously optimistic, but at this point I can't say I have much hope. It's all about our D-line for me. Our lack of ability to get to the QB is killing me. While you mention a good showing against TCU's running game, I'm not impressed with our abilities to continue to do so.

Second group I'm most worried about is our recruits. Yes, our potential bears that are watching every game to see if this really is a program they want to be a part of. I'm nervous that a poor showing against WSU (and the rest of the season) will send a couple of our higher-ranked recruits away.

We need this offense to click if we're going to get anywhere. I know it's early and I know they're young, but at some point, we need to just nail it. Absolutely control the field.

I dunno Judge, I'm getting more worried the more I think about it. Think I'm going to go play some NCAA 2007 and see what I can do to take my mind off this topic.

Unknown said...

Definitely an educated prediction. My green shaded glasses just got polished, so I'll have to disagree with the outcome.

BU 21
WSU 14

Chris Yount said...

lpret,

I am also truly worried about the defensive line. The reason I think the pressure will be better is that Bradley hasn't shown nearly the breadth and depth of our blitz package. I wouldn't think we'd go all-out, but if he doesn't respond well to pressure I wouldn't be surprised to see a lot of blitzes.

Thanks for the comment.

Anonymous said...

You basically nailed our score. Too bad we couldn't put up 18+.

We still have the potential for the best BU season in over a decade...

Chris Yount said...

I wish I couldn't be so accurate about how pathetic our offense was going to be in this game. I just had a sick feeling we were going to suck it up, and we did. Less than 90 yards in the entire second half!!

I'm going to bed.