Baylor's Richard Reese Can Run All Over Oklahoma
Brent Venables was hired at Oklahoma to bring his defensive prowess from Clemson to Norman, and the transfer has been... bad. Cue running back Richard Reese, Baylor football's surprise of the season, and cue him for a big day.
The Oklahoma rush defense allows 189.8 rush yards per game. 131 FBS football teams currently exist. That is 107th among those 131.
The Sooners' rush defense is worse than Akron, Vanderbilt, Old Dominion, and New Mexico State. These numbers are also plenty dismal within the Big 12, pitting Venables's defense as the worst against the run in the league.
The bad news gets worse for Oklahoma: Richard Reese exists.
A semifinalist for the Shaun Alexander Freshman of the Year Award, Reese exploded from fourth-string running back to the crown jewel of Baylor's offense.
The true freshman has 791 rushing yards and 12 touchdowns on a heavy 152 carries this season. Reese has compiled 334 yards and five touchdowns in the last two weeks alone on 67 carries.
Is that workload sustainable for a true freshman? Probably not. But as long as Baylor sticks to the run game, there shouldn't be an issue getting past the Oklahoma defense.
Baylor ran for 231 yards against Texas Tech and held the ball for 40:17 of game clock. Expect the exact same game plan against a Venables defense that was torched to the tune of 275 rush yards against Kansas State at home.
The Bears and Sooners square off in Norman at 2 p.m. CT on ESPN+ on Saturday.
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