Baylor Bears look for respect on defense
By Stu White
At a staggering 69.7 yards per game, the Baylor Bears lead the nation in scoring. The team is rushing for 307.0 yards per game (good for seventh in the country) and is throwing for 444.3 yards per game (the best in the country). With ridiculous numbers like that, it’s easy for fans and pundits to spend all their time discussing the deadly Baylor offense, but the defensive players for the Bears want it to be known that they deserve some attention, too.
While Wofford, Buffalo, and Louisiana Monroe aren’t exactly powerhouse offenses, the fact remains that the Baylor defense is only allowing 7.7 points per game, a vast improvement over the 37.2 points per game they gave up last season. The Bears have scored four defensive touchdowns already this season and are allowing just under 300 yards of offense per game. While it remains to be seen if the defense can maintain that performance when conference play begins, the upward trend certainly has to have Baylor fans excited.
Safety Terrell Burt, who returned an interception for a touchdown against Louisiana Monroe, had this to say to the Waco Tribune-Herald about the Baylor defense:
"Everybody talks about the offense, but we want them to talk about the defense as well. We try to make a turnover or get a touchdown and do whatever we can to help the team out. Every game we come in hungry because we know last year we didn’t do the best."
A similar sentiment was shared by fellow safety Ahmad Dixon:
"We weren’t very mature last year and we didn’t really understand what he wanted, didn’t understand the scheme as a whole. It wasn’t just one particular person, but as a whole we didn’t understand the scheme. So now that we have the scheme, we know what we need to know, and we’re just showcasing what we’re doing now."
The Bears have about a month of conference play before facing their toughest stretch of the season: three consecutive weeks in which they play, respectively, Oklahoma, Texas Tech, and Oklahoma State. If the defense continues to improve and is able to shut down some of the Big XII’s other dangerous offenses, expect to see the Bears claw their way into the championship conversation.
[Source: Waco Tribune-Herald]