Baylor Football: Bears fall to 0-3 after losing to Duke on the road

The miserable start to the 2017 Baylor football the season continues. What can we take away from the Bears’ 34-20 loss to Duke in Week 3?

Here’s a sentence that we never thought we’d write in the offseason: Duke pulled away from Baylor this afternoon to keep their perfect record intact, while the Bears dropped to 0-3.

Go on, say it out loud. It’s weird, isn’t it?

I digress. Here are three takeaways from the Bears loss to the Blue Devils on Saturday.

1. Baylor hasn’t found a quarterback yet

Perhaps Anu Solomon wasn’t the issue. Solomon was dreadful against UTSA, yes, and a change was probably necessary, but Zach Smith didn’t look like the answer in his first start of 2017. Sure, the Bears’ offense had a bit more pop under Smith than it had in the previous two games, but the sophomore was dreadfully inconsistent, completing just 35.3 percent of his passes and throwing three interceptions (and, in fairness, three touchdowns). That’s not going to get it done against any opponent, much less anyone in the pass-happy Big 12.

The point is, the Bears’ issues extend far beyond quarterback right now. Starting Smith is a perfectly fine decision, especially since Matt Rhule might be looking towards the future, but he’s not a sizable upgrade over Solomon at the moment. No matter who is behind center, Baylor is going to struggle the move the ball until they can develop some sort of consistency in the running game.