Baylor's TJ Franklin, Bears Defense Aiming to Halt Oklahoma State's Rushing Game

Key emphasis has been on stopping the run and keeping opponents under 100 rushing yards

Baylor senior TJ Franklin has had four years donning green and gold and four games under his belt in 2022, as the 6-5, 265-pound defensive lineman knows a real test awaits this weekend when the No. 16 Bears host the No. 9 Oklahoma State Cowboys on Saturday, Oct. 1 at 2:30 p.m. Central Time on FOX.

A repeat of last year's Big 12 title game this weekend in Waco pits two of the best in the conference in a matchup sure to come down to the wire.

"I see a bunch of greedy guys," Franklin said when asked about Oklahoma State's offense. "Guys that know that they’re coming to handle business. So our focus this week will just be to match their intensity, hopefully, overcome it, and then just do what we do. Hold them under 100 yards rushing and try to get to the quarterback as much as we can."

For Franklin and the Bears' defense, last week's goal of stopping opponents from rushing against Baylor is a yearly goal -- and is something the line truly takes to heart.

"For us, we want to keep teams under 100 [rushing yards] no matter who it is," Franklin said. "It’s really gut-wrenching for us and embarrassing for us whenever people even get close to 100, so that's how much of an emphasis we've made on it this year. We just want to not give them that opportunity to be a two-sided offense. You want to make them one-sided."

Last year, Baylor lost at Oklahoma State by 10 in the regular season before the Bears won 21-16 in the Big 12 title game. In the first contest, Cowboys quarterback Spencer Sanders threw three interceptions before throwing four more in the conference championship.

"We just had a lot of veterans in the backfield, people that knew what they were going to see, watched film and applied it to the game-like situations," Franklin said when asked about how the team was so effective against Sanders in 2021. "So everything they see, it wasn't the first time they saw it, so they knew it was going to come to them."

Franklin expects to see a different Sanders when the teams collide on Saturday at McLane Stadium.

"He's a good quarterback," Franklin said. "He's an all-around quarterback. He could scramble, or he could throw the ball. He's going to be one of those players that we have to keep a good eye on this week."

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