Baylor football at Duke: Preview, predictions, and live stream
Baylor football will look to avoid going 0-3 when they visit the Duke Blue Devils in week three. Can they pick up win number one away from home?
The Baylor Bears are off to a dreadful start to the 2017 season, losing their first two games to sub-par opponents and teams they were heavily favored against.
Week one was a bit more surprising as the Bears fell to a FBS-transition school in the Liberty Flames. The Flames will not be FBS bowl eligible until the 2019 season, but took down the Bears after being huge underdogs. That marked it as just the second time ever the Bears lost to a lower-division team.
Related Story: Liberty upsets Baylor in season opener
In week two, Baylor proved their struggles were not a fluke as the Bears mustered just ten points at home to the UTSA Roadrunners, losing 17-10. That made it eight straight regular season losses after starting the season 6-0 a year ago. UTSA secured their first ever win over a Power Five school, while Baylor is now 0-2 to start a season for the first time since 2003.
The Bears will visit Duke this weekend before opening the Big 12 season against three straight ranked opponents. The Duke Blue Devils are on the polar opposite end of the Bears to start the season, averaging over 50 points per game to start the year after blowing out NC Central and Northwestern to begin the year. This will be the two school’s first meeting since 1958.
Date: Saturday, Sept. 16
Time: 12:30 p.m. ET
Location: Durham, NC
Venue: Wallace Wade Stadium
TV: ACC Network
Live Stream: WatchESPN
Keys to Victory
In game number one, Baylor showed all signs of their old self with their prolific offense and questionable defense, a recipe that has been working for them in recent history. Following their 48-45 loss to Liberty, the Bears scored just ten points against the Roadrunners as their offense was nonexistent.
Baylor must return to form and capitalize on offense. The defense is not quite there to shut down Duke’s offense for four quarters, so the offense must do its job and keep them off the field as much as possible. Baylor was 2-12 on third down against UTSA and lost the time of possession against the Roadrunners by 17 minutes. If that happens against Duke, it could get ugly.
For Duke, the key to their blowout victory over Northwestern was their quarterback play in Daniel Jones. In order for the Blue Devils to have a repeat performance out of him against the Bears, they are going to need to protect him and give him time to throw downfield. The Blue Devils’ offensive line allowed just one sack last week, allowing Jones to throw for four touchdowns and over 300 yards. Duke could run away with this one with that type of effort in week three.
Prediction
It is clearly a transitional year with Baylor and their new head coach and that is more than evident in their first two games. The Bears will begin their stretch versus power conference teams the rest of the way and after falling to two gimmicks in the opening weeks, it could be awhile before the Bears notch a one in the win column.
Next: Playoff predictions after week 2
Duke’s offense will not skip a beat against Baylor and Jones and company will find a repeat outing again this week. Baylor’s offense finds their rhythm a bit, but it is not enough to keep up with Duke on the road as the Blue Devils will win this one easily.
Final score: Duke 37, Baylor 20