Baylor Bears Look to Improve on Last Season’s Success

The Baylor Bears have one of the most explosive offenses in college football, built around the unique rushing talents of Lache Seastrunk and Glasco Martin. However, they have some young talent at running back that could make the Bears backfield even more compelling this season. Still, despite all of the offensive skill, Baylor is only the fifth-most likely school to win the Big 12 conference this year, according to Bovada.lv lines.

Odds to win the 2013-2014 Big 12 Conference       

• Oklahoma State          5/2
• Texas                           5/2
• Oklahoma                    3/1
• TCU                            15/4
• Baylor                         12/1
• Kansas State               12/1
• Texas Tech                  25/1
• West Virginia              25/1
• Iowa State                   40/1
• Kansas                         100/1

Baylor carved up some of the best teams in the country last year with their relentless running attack, and look to do so again this year. Two young running backs on the Bears roster, Shock Linwood and Devin Chafin, look to help carry some of the load.

“We expect them to be heavy contributors,” Baylor coach Art Briles said. “Shock is a really good football player who understands the game and is intelligent on the field. Devin is 222 pounds and has power and a burst, and is physically gifted.”

“It was great to hear the crowd,” Chafin said after a recent scrimmage. “I can bring power and, if I can get any open space on the field, I’m pretty fast. I’m not very shifty, that’s one of my weaknesses, but I can break away.”

“I put on 15 to 20 pounds and it helped me a lot with my speed and agility,” Linwood said. “It’s a big league with big players, but I can carry my weight. I’m a versatile back and I like to catch the ball, and that gives the coaches more things to work with.”

However, it’s Seastrunk that’s going to carry the primary load for Baylor this season, and should be considered a legitimate Heisman Trophy candidate. The Oregon transfer had a slow start last year (he had never played college football before), but he slowly transformed into one of the most explosive running backs in all of college football.

“It’s a misconception of our offense that it’s an air attack,” said Bryce Petty, the new Baylor starting quarterback this year, to Grantland.com.  “In reality, everything we do is set up off the run.¹Lache came in and stole the show, and that was a big spark for our offense.”

“The thing nobody really understands is that he’d never played college football before,” Briles also told Grantland. “He sat out two years, basically, going to Oregon and not playing and then coming here and having to sit. It was a process for him, too, and once he got his feet from moist to wet, then he became the player and the contributor that we felt he could be and that he is now.”

In case if you missed them, here are the total Heisman trophy odds from Bovada.lv. As you can see, Lache Seastrunk is 33/1 odds, and not a bad bet for Big 12 football fans.

Heisman Trophy

• Braxton Miller 5/1
• Jadeveon Clowney 7/1
• Teddy Bridgewater 15/2
• A.J. McCarron 10/1
• Aaaron Murray 12/1
• Johnny Manziel 12/1
• Marcus Mariota 12/1
• De’Anthony Thomas 14/1
• T.J. Yeldon 14/1
• Tajh Boyd 14/1
• Duke Johnson 16/1
• Marquis Lee 20/1
• Kevin Hogan 25/1
• Taylor Martinex 25/1
• Ameer Abdullah 33/1
• Devin Gardner 33/1
• Jordan Lynch 33/1
• Lache Seastrunk 33/1
• Stephen Morris 33/1
• Blake Bell 50/1
• Brent Hundley 50/1
• Jeff Driskel 50/1
• Ka’Deem Carey 50/1
• Kain Colter 50/1
• Sammy Watkins 50/1
• Stefon Diggs 50/1
• Todd Gurley 50/1