How Bad Is Baylor's Defense

Phil Bennett, Baylor's defensive coordinator

Usually when your offense scores more than 50 points, you're in pretty good shape to win the game.  However, that doesn't hold true for the Baylor Bears this year.  The Bears are 0-2 when scoring above 50 after falling to West Virginia earlier in the year and Texas this past week.

Simply put, Baylor's defense is dysfunctional.  Defensive coordinator Phil Bennett is struggling again in his second year in Waco.  The Bears are giving up on average 44.0 points per game.  That puts Baylor 124th in the FBS.  How many teams are in the FBS you ask?  124.

They also rank dead last in total defense, giving up a staggering 553.2 yards per game.  And they aren't really even all that close to not being dead last.  Louisiana Tech, who is 123rd in total defense, is still giving up almost 34 yards per game less which is a decent margin.

So what is the problem?  I'm not sure but it sounds like players aren't responding to Phil Bennett all that well.  I found this comment on OurDailyBears.com very interesting.  Click to enlarge.

Art Briles mentioned today that he will stick with Bennett despite the incredibly poor defense so far this year.  This seems like a bad decision, especially if the players aren't responding to him at all.

Okay, so if you've read this blog any you should know how bad Iowa State's offense has been in recent weeks.  Earlier today, I checked the new spreads from Vegas for this week's games and found that the Iowa State Cyclones are 2.5-point favorites against Baylor.  Even with Baylor's offense putting up great numbers, they are still underdogs. This is another testament to how poor Baylor's defense is.

Baylor's defense is living up to this blog's name; No Defense Allowed.

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