Bryce Petty's Quiet Struggles Continue as Baylor Is Upset by West Virginia
In his first 15 meaningful college football games, Bryce Petty completed at least half of his pass attempts. If you want to get frisky and include the 12 meaningless appearances he made spelling Robert Griffin III as a freshman and sophomore, the message still applies.
Over his last three college football games—all very much meaningful—Petty has dropped below the 50 percent market twice. The second of those contests came Saturday, as the Heisman contender completed 16 of 36 passes for 223 yards and looked sloppy throughout Baylor's upset loss to West Virginia.
The Mountaineers put pressure on Petty throughout the contest, sacking him four times and hurrying a number of other throws. The outcome looked nothing like the last two meetings between these Big 12 teams, where Baylor scored a combined 133 points, including 73 in last year's 73-42 shellacking in Waco.
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Instead, West Virginia did exactly what it said it'd do coming in: It took college football's highest-powered offense and rendered it fangless. Outside a 63-yard touchdown to Antwan Goodley and a 42-yard completion to Corey Coleman, Baylor's aerial attack never cleared for liftoff.
No other Petty pass went for longer than 14 yards, and the Bears went 3-of-16 on third-down conversions as West Virginia turned them into a dink-and-dunk attack.
"They loaded the box and pressed our receivers," Petty said after the game, per John Raby of The Associated Press. "I've got to get better at it. The (Baylor) defense put us in a lot of good chances to score touchdowns, and on the road you've got to score touchdowns."
It wasn't that sloppiness or uncharacteristic mistakes were confined to the passing game. Running back Shock Linwood had one run of 24 yards in the second quarter and 20 others for 45. With the officials calling the game as closely as I've ever seen, Baylor was whistled for pass interference seven times and committed 18 fouls overall for a Big 12-record 215 yards.
But the buck on any Art Briles-led team stops with the quarterback—especially a fringe first-round pick who was considered a Heisman favorite heading into the season.
We're now at three straight weeks with Petty turning in disconcerting performances. Last week's final line of 510 yards, six touchdowns and a statue-worthy comeback over TCU looks great in retrospect, but it was anything but as the game was ongoing.
Petty's performance fluctuated wildly against the Horned Frogs, ranging from nearly perfect, as the Bears came from 21 down, to cringe-worthy as he misfired wildly and gave the ball up twice.
The game that some were calling Petty's "Heisman moment" was much more uneven watching it on film.(Also uneven is a defense that's giving up 58 points and still expecting to win. But, hey, that's a conversation for another day.)
Over the last three weeks, Petty has completed 51 of his 113 passes (45.13 percent), averaging 7.47 yards per attempt. In his previous 15 starts, Petty completed nearly 63 percent of his passes and was averaging an otherworldly 10.14 yards per attempt. He was averaging an interception roughly once every 100 times he threw the ball.
So...what gives? Did Petty suddenly become terrible at football overnight? Is Briles' up-tempo system getting "exposed," as so many talking heads will tell you over the next 48 hours? Am I asking rhetorical questions simply to answer them all with a resounding "no"?
Yes, yes, I am.
There are a number of relatively simple explanations here, starting with Petty himself. The senior sat out Baylor's second game, a 70-6 romp over Northwestern State, while dealing with two cracks in his transverse processes (bones in the back area).
Petty was back in the lineup a week later and looked fine in wins over Buffalo and Iowa State, but it'd be naive to think he's playing without pain. A simple Google search shows that a typical healing time would be 4-6 weeks for this type of injury—and that is for people who are not getting drilled by 300-pound defensive linemen on a weekly basis.
And therein may lie the root cause of Baylor's problems. Petty wasn't getting drilled by opposing defensive linemen before his injury or the two weeks after he came back. Baylor's offensive line did not allow a sack the first four weeks of the season due to a combination of talent, a weak schedule and Briles' systematic reliance on quick passes.
In the last three weeks, Petty has been sacked 11 times. For a team that runs as many screens, quick outs and simple throws into the flat, that's an astounding number. Petty was sacked 17 times all of last season. Briles' entire run with the Bears has been defined by his ability to keep his quarterbacks upright, despite a preponderance of passing plays.
Of course, where there are offensive line struggles there are usually offensive line injuries. Such is the case with Baylor. Offensive guard Desmine Hilliard will miss the remainder of the season due to a wrist injury, while David Smoak of ESPN Central Texas reported senior right tackle Troy Baker will be out the rest of the season with a torn ACL.
Although those injuries are recent, they're instructive that perhaps Baylor's offensive inconsistency is here to stay. Petty has not looked good at all with defenders in his face over this recent stretch, which might be of concern to NFL evaluators when they get a chance to look at this tape.
Maybe the back injury is still tender, leading to Petty overcompensating and losing his mechanics. Maybe he's just bad under pressure. Or maybe this is a momentary blip we'll forget about in a couple of weeks.
The Bears have what amounts to a bye against Kansas on Nov. 1 after their actual bye next week, so Briles has time to figure it out.
But Baylor closes its conference slate with a tough run of Oklahoma, Oklahoma State, Texas Tech and Kansas State. If Briles can't find an offensive line that can protect Petty—or if his quarterback can't be better against pressure—Saturday's upset will not be Baylor's last loss.
Follow Tyler Conway (@tylerconway22) on Twitter.
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