Mortal After All: How Oklahoma State Stopped Baylor's Offense

There are two major defensive philosophies when it comes to playing Baylor. One is the bend-but-don't-break approach that was employed by Kansas State earlier this year. K-State was content to play two deep safeties with lots of Quarters and Palms coverage and rarely — if ever — blitzed. 

The Wildcats wanted to frustrate the up-tempo Bears' offense, forcing it to sustain slow and methodical drives. This was coupled with a strong run game — KSU average 5.6 yards per rush, a yard and a half more than any other team has averaged on the ground against Baylor. Baylor trailed 25-21 going into the fourth quarter and was held to 7.6 yards per play, its second-lowest average going into Saturday's game.

The second approach is to attack. Oklahoma showed a lot of two-deep shells but brought a safety into the box just before the snap, played a lot of Cover 3 and Man Free and blitzed frequently — even bringing some slow-developing safety blitzes.

Against OU, Baylor was kept out of the end zone until midway through the second quarter, quarterback Bryce Petty looked flustered early and the offense was held to only 5.7 yards per play — a figure that was bested only by Oklahoma State (5.6).

I expected — and based on the way the game went, I think Baylor expected — OK State, a Quarters-based defense, to employ the KSU strategy. Instead, OSU came after Baylor's offense from start to finish. OSU didn't blitz all that much, and they frequently dropped a lineman when they did. 

However, as you can see, they played a good deal of press coverage or simply tight man coverage with their corners. This took away the quick throws to the outside receivers. Then they used the alignment of linebackers to take away the quick inside-breaking routes to slot receivers. What was left for Baylor was contested throws into tight windows or low-percentage throws downfield, and OSU's secondary was excellent in coverage all night.

Baylor also killed themselves with mistakes. Their third-string running back, redshirt freshman Shock Linwood, lost two fumbles — one at the goal line and another at midfield. Petty was off target most of the night and never looked comfortable.

The above play might have gone for a touchdown, but the receiver had to go low to make the catch and lost his footing.

They also suffered from blown blocking assignments in critical moments. On their first drive of the second half, down 21-3, the Bears went for it on 4th & 4. They ran lead option to the boundary. It wasn't a bad call — the Cowboys came out in Cover 1 and Baylor had leverage to the outside.

The problem was in the execution. Two players, the right tackle and the H-back, had opportunities to seal the Will linebacker, Ryan Simmons, and both failed. He was able to stretch out the play and give the deep safety and Mike linebacker time to get over in pursuit.

There were other opportunities for Baylor that they just missed. Leading 14-0 late in the first half, OSU left a slot receiver to the field side nearly uncovered on 3rd & 10. 

Petty didn't notice; he looked to the boundary side, where two defenders dropped into coverage from the blitz front, and was sacked. I don't want to give OSU defensive coordinator Glenn Spencer too much credit, but his defense frequently seemed to know where Baylor was going to be looking to throw the ball, and Petty looked lost when his first read wasn't open.

In addition, OSU played most of the game with its 4-3 personnel, even when Baylor came out in four-wide or empty sets. Simmons and Shaun Lewis are good, athletic linebackers, but they shouldn't be able to cover wide receivers in the open field. 

Against trips, OSU has its corner lock up on the No. 1 receiver then plays a pattern-matching scheme with its Sam linebacker (Lewis), its Mike linebacker and the strong safety. You can see the cushion that Lewis gives the No. 2 receiver against these sets. There's no reason Baylor couldn't have No. 1 run a go route to clear out the corner and then throw a quick-out to No. 2, who would have at least a few yards of space to make a move on Lewis. The play above is another example of how Baylor could have attacked OSU. This is just a variation of Bullets (skinny post/wheel), with No. 1 running a skinny post and No. 2 running a wheel-stop. For whatever reason, Baylor rarely used trips sets and preferred to use quick-hitting, one-read pick concepts that weren't working instead of frequently targeting OSU's backers in space.

Ultimately, Baylor's offense wasn't prepared for what OSU threw at them and was unable to make the proper adjustments. In light of Petty's struggles, OSU quarterback Clint Chelf's ability to go through a progression really stood out. However, it wouldn't be accurate to say Spencer's unit created the template for stopping Briles' offense. For one, KSU showed that there is another way. Moreover, you have to keep in mind that Baylor was missing their two best running backs, one of their best receivers and a tackle. Finally, you can't consider OSU's strategy as a template without noting that it was OSU's tremendous play in the secondary that made the whole thing tick.