Four Downs: OU football needs strong performance from defensive line against Baylor front

NORMAN — Coming off back-to-back wins, OU looks to continue its momentum when it hosts Baylor at 2 p.m. Saturday.

The game will be streamed on ESPN+.

Both the Sooners and Bears have been disappointing overall this season, but both have turned things around of late.

One team’s season will take another step forward Saturday, while the other will take a step back.

Here’s this week’s edition of Four Downs, taking a closer looking inside the game:

More:Tramel's ScissorTales: Beware Baylor, since OU football's run defense is last in Big 12

First down: Matchup that matters

Baylor OL vs. OU DL: OU’s defensive line has struggled to have a significant impact after having plenty of success in non-conference play.

The Sooners have allowed 1,163 rushing yards in Big 12 play — nearly 300 more than any other team in the league.

OU has just three sacks since league play began. No other team has fewer than six.

Baylor has rushed for 181.6 yards per game in conference play, fifth in the league. In their current two-game winning streak, the Bears are averaging 252 yards on the ground in wins over Kansas and Texas Tech.

While freshman Richard Reese, who has 791 rushing yards this season, has been the one to post the big stats, it’s Baylor’s offensive line that has fueled the recent surge.

Center Jacob Gall and left tackle Connor Galvin have anchored the line while Micah Mazzccua has been a pleasant surprise at left guard.

On paper, the Bears’ unit has the edge. If the Sooners are to escape with a win, there’s a good chance the defensive line is going to have to come through both to slow Baylor’s running game and put pressure on Bears’ quarterback Blake Shapen.

More:OU football: Sooners washing away any bad blood from 2021 Baylor game

Second down: Sooner in the crosshairs

Offensive coordinator Jeff Lebby: Lebby’s coaching career started at OU as a student assistant way back in 2002, but it really took off when he arrived at Baylor.

In Waco, he went from offensive quality control to running backs coach to passing game coordinator.

“I think probably just from a philosophical standpoint,” Lebby said of his growth as a coach while at Baylor. “The tempo piece of it. The spacing piece of it. The attack mindset. Those are the things I think that stand out that will be a part of who I am for a long, long time.”

Lebby’s Baylor stint wasn’t just about his football education, though.

He married the daughter of then-Bears coach Art Briles and sold t-shirts supporting Briles after his father-in-law was fired as Baylor’s coach in the midst of a sexual-assault scandal at the school.

Also, in 2015, Lebby was spotted on Tulsa’s sideline for part of the Sooners’ 52-38 win over the Golden Hurricane — violating an NCAA rule for “off-campus, in-person scouting of future opponents.” Lebby was eventually suspended for the first half of Baylor’s game against OU that year.

It won’t be Lebby’s first matchup against the Bears.

After accepting the job on Brent Venables’ staff, Lebby remained with Ole Miss as the offensive coordinator for the Sugar Bowl against Baylor.

The Bears won that game 21-7, though Rebels’ star quarterback Matt Corral was injured early in that game.

Lebby has shown a willingness to be creative in recent weeks, with the Sooners’ heavy use of the wildcat while Dillon Gabriel was injured, and plenty of other tweaks to his typical offensive looks.

But against Dave Aranda’s defense, Lebby’s creativity figures to be challenged in a new way, making the Sooners’ offensive coordinator one of the central figures in Saturday’s game.

More:Tramel: OU football season could go either way for Sooners, starting with Baylor

Third down: Number to know

122: OU’s ranking, of 131 Football Bowl Subdivision teams, in average time of possession.

The Sooners have only held the time-of-possession advantage once this season — 30:19-29:41 against Kansas.

Baylor is ninth with an averaged TOP of 33:16.

In the last two games, the Bears have been even more dominant in that category — 40:10 vs. Kansas and 40:17 vs. Texas Tech.

More:OU vs. Baylor football: How legit are surging Sooners? Win over Bears would speak volumes

Fourth down: This day in Sooners history

Nov. 5, 1988: It was OSU, not OU, which entered the 1988 edition of Bedlam with the eyebrow-raising offense.

With Mike Gundy at quarterback, Hart Lee Dykes at wide receiver, and Barry Sanders at running back, the Cowboys had plenty of pop.

Sanders had been excellent to that point, but was relatively unknown.

He wasn’t unknown after OSU’s first nationally broadcast game of the season.

Sanders had a pair of 1-yard touchdown runs in the fourth quarter to help the Cowboys take a 28-24 lead.

The future hall of famer rushed for 215 yards in what became the biggest piece on his Heisman Trophy resume.

But the Sooners prevailed.

After Sanders’ second touchdown, OU ripped off a 13-play, 80-yard drive to regain the lead.

Charles Thompson finished off the scoring with an 18-yard touchdown run with 2:33 remaining for the Sooners’ only points of the second half.

As OSU was driving in the final minute, fullback Garrett Limbrick was flagged for a personal foul, giving the Cowboys a fourth-and-16 at the Sooners’ 34 instead of fourth-and-1 from the 19.

On the next play, Brent Parker couldn’t handle Gundy’s pass in the end zone, and the Sooners escaped for a 31-28 victory in one of the most memorable Bedlam games ever played.

OU freshman running back Mike Gaddis didn’t quite equal Sanders’ output, but still rushed for 213 yards on 18 carries. Gaddis rushed for 180 yards in the first half.

This article originally appeared on Oklahoman: OU football: Sooners' DL needs strong performance against Baylor front