Baylor 66, Lamar 31: What We Learned

[caption id="attachment_18563" align="alignleft" width="300"]Photo by Mike Williamson Photo by Mike Williamson[/caption] Baylor made short work of FCS Lamar in its home opener on Saturday. What did we learn about the Bears? DCTF's Max Thompson breaks it down.Baylor ultimately took care of business. If you're going to schedule early season cupcakes, you better smoke them. There were plenty of stat lines Baylor fans want to see at this point in the year, like Seth Russell throwing for 432 yards and 4 TDs, Shock Linwood running for 130 yards and 3 TDs (with Johnny Jefferson and Terence Williams grabbing 121 yards each), and Corey Coleman pulling in 4 TDs from the air. The big names all performed their tasks in the Bears' attack, another positive sign on the path to a College Football Playoff berth. But it was far from seamless. A few things need to get cleaned up, especially early in games. Let's start with Seth Russell's three interceptions and fumble. Those don't add up when you can outpace an FCS opponent (to the tune of 785 total yards) that's outclassed at every position, but they sure cause problems when you play someone in your weight class. Being tied up at 21-21 midway through the second quarter was also a strange look, especially after basically doing the same thing against SMU. Going blow for blow early in a season opener against an FBS team inspired to turn things around is understandable. Doing the same against a lesser FCS opponent a week later is slightly troubling. Surrendering more points to Lamar than SMU also felt like regression. Baylor is going to unload the entire arsenal every game and it will overwhelm most opponents. So why toy around with these early hiccups and make it more complicated than it needs to be? For instance: Getting stuffed on 4th and 3 by a team ranked 48th in the FCS in total defense in 2014 – it's one play, but don't do that. (Baylor did manage to snag a first down on three other fourth down attempts.) Going 3-for-11 on third downs against that same defense – don't do that, either. These criticisms may seem unduly harsh for any team two games into its season, but the stakes are higher than ever for the Bears, and these are areas that need cleaning up, especially if the defense isn't showing any signs of tightening up just yet (and Baylor fans are hoping "yet" is the appropriate word there). Corey Coleman, though. What a show the junior receiver put on for the fans in Waco. It's hard to get more bang for your viewing buck from one wideout than Coleman's six catches for 182 yards and 4 TDs.  Baylor has got a ridiculous set of offensive weapons, one that rivals anything any other Big 12 offense can muster. Each week, we're going to see some staggering displays of firepower. It will be a blast for everyone at McLane Stadium as long as the mistakes fade away and the defense finds ways to improve. Opportunism will serve Lamar well. The Cardinals gathered just 340 total yards and turned the ball over twice, yet scored 31 against a Big 12 title favorite. That's either a heinous indictment on Baylor's defensive issues, or a silver lining for a small school happy to find one after getting blown out.