Setting an edge: Texas preparing for Baylor's wide zone attack

When Baylor head coach Dave Aranda hired former BYU offensive coordinator Jeff Grimes to the same position, it sent a message to Big 12 defensive coordinators: get ready for a steady dose of wide zone.

Grimes is the third offensive coordinator for the Bears in three seasons and Aranda’s second, and wide (or outside) zone is the cornerstone play of his offense. Baylor can attribute a considerable amount of its 2021 success on the ground to that play.

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The No. 16 Bears are 6-1 and 3-1 in the Big 12, having topped West Virginia, Iowa State, and Kansas with the single setback courtesy of Oklahoma State. But no matter who they’ve played, the Bears have run the dang ball.

“They believe in the outside zone,” Sarkisian said. “They run it well. The whole idea behind that scheme is when you get out of your gap, that’s when the ball gets creased. It’s going to be really critical for us this weekend in the run game to play really disciplined in our run fits and then ultimately you’ve got to defeat the block and make the tackle.”

Grimes’ offense ranks ninth nationally in rushing yards per contest at 238 per game (two option teams, Air Force and Army, are No. 1 and No. 2). Carrying the load for the green and gold are Abram Smith and Trestan Ebner.

Smith, a senior from Abilene, is the Bears’ leading rusher with 785 yards and 10 touchdowns on 105 carries. Ebner, a fifth-year senior from Henderson, is a steady second back with 496 yards on 77 carries.

Texas has not been great against the run in 2021. In fact, most would say the Longhorns have been terrible at stopping opponents’ ground attacks. Texas allows 201 yards per game on the ground, bad enough to be No. 115 in the country in the metric.

The Longhorns know they’ll be pressured by Baylor’s wide zone attack and should utilize a familiar technique to defend it. Against an Oklahoma State team hellbent on running the football, Texas deployed a true 3-4 defense with Moro Ojomo, Keondre Coburn, and Alfred Collins with their hands in the dirt.

DeMarvion Overshown and Luke Brockermeyer manned their inside spots, with Jaylan Ford replacing Overshown following his injury. Ray Thornton, Ovie Oghoufo, and Ben Davis rotated at the two outside linebacker positions.

What will the responsibilities be for the trio of EDGE transfers?

“Stop the run, set the edge, and force it back inside,” Oghoufo said Monday. “If it tries to get outside, I go get it. It’s really that simple.”

The strategy had its spurts of effectiveness until exhaustion set in for the Longhorn defense after the offense’s continued struggles. Sarkisian implied Monday the Bears would see that same schematic approach from the Longhorns when toe meets leather in Waco.

“I think the key to the drill is setting an edge, right?” Sarkisian said. “Ideally, we never want the ball to get outside of us. When you play it that way, we’re able to set a little better edge with both outside backers. Then, we’re a pretty big physical front inside as long as we stay in our gap.”

Sarkisian mentioned fatigue played a key role in Oklahoma State’s ability to rack up 145 yards on 21 attempts in the fourth quarter versus the Longhorns. He said players came to the sideline knowing they had gotten out of their assigned gap, which is tough to excuse but attributable to the volume of plays they had to defend.

Against Baylor, Sarkisian emphasized that cannot happen again if the Longhorns want to successfully defend the scheme.

“The reality of it is the runs that spit on us late in the Oklahoma State game, they weren’t new runs,” Sarkisian said. “They weren’t new schemes. We got out of our gaps, and then the runs spit.”

The Bears run the ball 39 times per game. Most of those are variations of outside zone. If Texas isn’t effective at stopping the steady diet of Grimes’ signature scheme, the result in Waco could have Texas heading south on IH-35 with a .500 record.