Baylor Bear Insider
AMES, Iowa – While calling it a "gut punch" not to finish what the team started, Baylor coach Dave Aranda said the Bears showed character Saturday night by getting off to their best start of the season and then making a late run that came up just short in a 38-31 loss at 17th-ranked Iowa State.
"One of the things I talked about with the team at the end of the game was that anything we've asked them to do in terms of an individual or specific part of the game, we've been able to accomplish," said Aranda, whose team fell to 1-4. "To have the guys come out and start fast on all sides and just be locked-in was a real positive. Just to see the fight throughout the game, I think there's a lot of guys that cut wide open and didn't have anything left to give."
The first half was a perfect picture of the complementary football that Aranda has preached. Not only did the defense get three interceptions, including a pick-six by Jalen Pitre, the offense capitalized by scoring touchdowns on the other two turnovers in taking a 21-10 lead.
"There are instances in the past where that has not taken place," Aranda said, "where the offense is hot and the defense needs to get a stop, and we don't. Or, the defense gets the ball back for the offense to capitalize on the moment and score, and we don't. To do that in the first half – the sidelines, there was energy, there was enthusiasm – that's what we want this to be."
Through the first six games of the season, Iowa State quarterback Brock Purdy had been intercepted just three times in 193 pass attempts. Baylor's defense picked off three of his first 10 passes.
"I feel it was a lot of film study, to fly around to the ball and run to the ball and catching it when he throws to us," said Pitre, who had his first career interception.
Seeing tight end Charlie Kolar run the same route that he had seen in watching game tape, Pitre said he "played it a little bit harder."
"WBK (JACK linebacker William Bradley-King) put a lot of pressure on the quarterback, so it helped me out and I picked it off," Pitre said.
After scoring just 17 first-half points combined in the previous three games, the Bears got it rolling early on their first series when Charlie Brewer connected with Jared Atkinson for a 62-yard pass and then hooked up with R.J. Sneed for a nine-yard TD toss.
"That was great, because we had been struggling since Week 1," said Sneed, who hauled in six passes for 93 yards. "On offense, all 11 positions came together and we clicked. I feel like it was a good week for us, and we clicked very well today. But, we didn't finish the job."
Another key to the offense's fast start was the improvement up front, where the same five starters were in place in back-to-back games for the first time this season. Center Jason Moore anchored a line that had Connor Galvin and Blake Bedier at the tackles and Xavier Newman-Johnson and UCLA transfer Jake Burton at guard.
"Throughout the week, I thought there was a lot of confidence there," Aranda said. "The drill work and the cohesion of having the majority of the guys for two weeks in a row is paying off. And then, I think the identification and communication up front has gotten better and better and better. We're not there. We need to be, but we're not there yet, so we will continue to fight the fight."
After allowing five sacks the week before in a 33-23 loss to TCU, Baylor's offensive line kept Brewer clean most of the night and gave up just one sack.
The offense's only struggle came in the third quarter, when the Bears netted just 22 yards on 13 plays and failed to pick up a first down on four series. Iowa State got momentum on its side with a 67-yard kickoff return by Kene Nwangwu as the Cyclones reeled off 28 unanswered points and went up, 38-24.
"I did feel like we let the outside affect the inside in terms of one side of the ball affecting the next," Aranda said. "To come out of it at the end was a positive, but we need to come out of that sooner.
"There were runs in the previous half where we were playing the edges and forcing the ball inside for a three- or four-yard gain. (In the second half), we were having guys on the edges that were coming inside and the ball was bouncing out. . . . It's disappointing to struggle like we did in the second half."
Suddenly trailing by 14, the Bears were able to make a game of it when Brewer hit Trestan Ebner for a 58-yard touchdown on a 4th-and-8. Catching a short pass over the middle, Ebner simply outran everyone in taking it to the house.
"There was a time in the third and early fourth quarters when pressure was an issue," Aranda said. "Our answer was to get the back out in multiple ways. More or less, we were releasing as if it was empty and getting our five guys out."
Baylor's final series included the No. 1 play on ESPN SportsCenter's Top 10, a 24-yard catch by Sneed, who leaped up to make a one-handed grab. Initially, it was called an incompletion, but the replay review showed that Sneed actually came down in-bounds.
"It's just stuff I've done all my life," Sneed said. "To me, that's a routine catch."
Two plays later, on a second-down play from the Cyclones' 14-yard line, Brewer tried to go back to Sneed on a crossing route in the end zone for the potential game-tying touchdown. But, linebacker Mike Rose dropped in coverage and came up with the interception that sealed it with 57 seconds left.
"It's hard to lose any of them," Pitre said. "We let it slip out of our hands. We just need to go to the film room and fix what needs to be fixed and move on to the next game."
Baylor will go back on the road to face Texas Tech (2-5, 1-5) at 3 p.m. next Saturday, Nov. 14, in its first game in Lubbock in 12 years. The Red Raiders and second-year coach Matt Wells are coming off a 34-18 loss on the road at TCU.
"There's more than enough to improve to get where we need to be," Aranda said. "Embracing the process and attacking the process is what will take us to the next game."
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