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Why Baylor can win the Big 12 with Jarrett Stidham replacing Seth Russell

By Patrick Schmidt

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The Baylor Bears will be without starting quarterback Seth Russell for the rest of the season, but as we learned from the Ohio State Buckeyes last year, it would be foolish to count them out for the national title.

Baylor quarterback Seth Russell will miss the rest of the season after breaking a bone in his neck in the fourth quarter against Iowa State and will require six months to recover. However, don’t expect the Bears to need that long to recover from the loss of the Heisman candidate.

Replacing Russell in the starting lineup for the nation’s top offense is former five-star recruit Jarrett Stidham who was the nation’s No. 2 dual-threat quarterback, according to the 247Sports Composite Rankings and has fared well in limited playing time this year.

Stidham won’t have to be Russell for this team to remain undefeated and win the Big 12 and get to the College Football Playoff, but he does have a better completion percentage, passer rating and averages more yards per attempt than Russell. Yes, it is on a smaller scale and replacing the nation’s leader in touchdown passes and passer rating is a significant question facing Art Briles’ team, but it’s one very similar to what Urban Meyer faced last year with Ohio State.

Less than two weeks before the start of last year, the Buckeyes lost Braxton Miller to a season-ending shoulder injury and had to replace the Heisman candidate with the untested and unproven J.T. Barrett.

Stidham may be more polished as a true freshman than Barrett was last year as a redshirt freshman and that should encourage Baylor fans who think the season is over. Many immediately eliminated Ohio State from the Big Ten conversation and handed the conference to Michigan State after Miller’s injury, but Barrett came in and looked like a Heisman candidate himself and led the Buckeyes to the Big Ten Championship Game.

Compounding matters even worse was Barrett’s injury that forced third-string quarterback Cardale Jones into the starting lineup but it didn’t stop the juggernaut as the Buckeyes continued to roll en route to the national championship.

Baylor only needs to rely on their second-string option who may be the second best freshman quarterback in the country behind UCLA’s Josh Rosen who is playing like a fifth-year senior.

Much like Ohio State last year had a strong offensive line, elite run game and receivers capable of making big plays downfield, Baylor features all of that as well, as they have averaged 61.1 points per game this year.

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Wide receiver Corey Coleman has 18 touchdowns and may be the best player in college football not named Leonard Fournette and running back Shock Linwood is sixth in the nation in rushing yards per game, one spot behind Ohio State’s Ezekiel Elliott coincidently enough.

The offense may take a small step back from the heights Russell took this offense, so instead of scoring 61 points per game, maybe the Bears are only averaging 54 points per game. Hardly, anything that would signal the season is over for Baylor.

However, the pressure will be on the defense to elevate their play despite ranking third in the Big 12 in total and scoring defense, it’s also a unit that hasn’t played anyone yet and their five toughest opponents all remain.

Baylor has a bye week this week which is another benefit for Stidham to use that buffer week to get used to his new role as the starter, which also comes with stepping up as a leader in the huddle, and in practice. But he should be just fine at Kansas State next game before the gauntlet happens that is the rest of the November schedule.

The Bears host Oklahoma then are at Oklahoma State and TCU before hosting Texas in the regular season finale.

If you didn’t believe Baylor could run the table with Russell, then you don’t think they will with Stidham. However, if you believed in Russell to lead the Bears through that gauntlet, then you should believe in Stidham and think he can be this year’s version of Barrett.

The system is in place at Baylor where they’ve replaced Robert Griffin III, Nick Florence, Bryce Petty and now Seth Russell. Baylor was supposed to fall off the map after losing the Heisman winner in RG3, but they’ve actually been better with each successive quarterback.

There’s no reason to believe Stidham won’t continue the pipeline of stud quarterbacks in Waco and lead Baylor to the Big 12 title.

Next: 30 Best College Football Quarterbacks of All-Time

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