Huskies aim to control Baylor's Robert Griffin III

SAN ANTONIO – For the Washington Huskies, there’s one question for the Alamo Bowl.

How do you stop the high-powered, big-play, fast-paced, multiple-threat, Robert Griffin III-led Baylor offense?

The easy answer: You don’t.

It’s a riddle no opposing team has really solved this season. The Bears come into Thursday’s Alamo Bowl averaging 43.5 points and 571.2 yards of total offense per game.

Even in their three losses, they averaged 510.3 yards. The only times Baylor was held under 500 yards were in losses to Kansas State (429) and Texas A&M (480). But in a loss to Oklahoma State, the Bears had 622 yards of total offense.

“It’s tough to figure us out,” Griffin said. “I’m not so arrogant to say that no one figured us out.”

It’s not arrogant if it’s true.

Since opponents don’t seem to have the answer, maybe the best people to ask are the guys who have to line up against them in practice – the Baylor defense.

The Bears’ defensive unit is far from the most dominant group in college football. Baylor is statistically worse in some areas than the Huskies.

The Bears have struggled this year, yielding an average of 477.5 yards per game. With the exception of OSU, no opponent could come close to matching what Baylor’s defense sees in practice.

Coach Art Briles said he believes in playing his No. 1 units against each other every practice. And Baylor’s defense rarely feels like No. 1 after those 30-minute sessions.

“When I got here (this season), we had our first scrimmage in the spring, and I don’t think we stopped them one time,” defensive coordinator Phil Bennett said. “In the second scrimmage, I think we had three or four stops, and I was ecstatic.”

Trying to defend the future Heisman Trophy winner and his array of playmakers such as running back Terrance Ganaway and receivers Kendall Wright and Tevin Reese wasn’t an enjoyable experience.

“Oh, it could be really frustrating,” senior nose guard Nicolas Jean-Baptiste said. “You can only stop so many things on our offense. They just run so many different things, and they are good at so many things.”

So if the Bears’ defense had to play their offense in a real game with normal preparation, what would they do?

“Stay calm and pray,” Jean-Baptiste said in total seriousness.

Not sure if UW defensive coordinator Nick Holt would take that advice. But there are a number of churches near the Huskies’ team hotel.

Holt knows his defense, which has struggled in giving up yards, is going to have to play its best game to even think of holding Baylor under 35 points.

“It’s a tremendous, tremendous opportunity for us,” Holt said. “Hopefully we are up to the challenge.”

Holt could have said “challenges” because the Bears are so versatile.

And it all starts with Griffin, who leads the nation in passing efficiency at 192.3 and has thrown for 3,998 yards and 36 touchdowns.

“Well, first of all, he’s the best player in the country, and there’s no doubt about that,” Holt said. “He’s a tremendous athlete, and has the unique ability of being able to run the ball very effectively (644 yards), but he has got a heck of an arm, throws a great deep ball and is very accurate. He’s the best of all the worlds for a quarterback.”

And if that wasn’t difficult enough to deal with, there is Ganaway, who set a school record with 1,347 yards rushing this season and also scored 16 touchdowns.

“If you don’t respect him and not get ready for him, he’ll beat you,” Holt said.

Wright also set Baylor records with 1,572 yards receiving on 101 catches and 13 touchdowns. Then there is Reese, who averages 17.6 yards per catch, and Terrance Williams, who has 53 catches and 11 touchdown grabs and averages 16.9 yards a catch.

“All their receivers are good football players,” Holt said. “They spread you out and they create a lot of mismatches, and they’re very, very explosive on offense. They have good schemes, but they have really good players.”

Talent-wise, Holt knows his defense is facing some mismatches.

He can try to come up with a scheme to help and possible confuse Griffin and Baylor. Problem is, the Bears have seen just about every viable defensive scheme, blitz package, secondary coverage and personnel grouping that’s possible. Teams have tried everything, including abandoning their normal base defenses.

“We’ve seen pretty much a mixed bag,” Baylor co-offensive coordinator Randy Clements said. “It makes you a little cautious in game planning because you may not see what you’ve been seeing from a particular defense.”

Oklahoma did that in the 45-38 loss to Baylor. And it left an impression on Griffin.

“I think the hardest game for me personally was the Oklahoma game,” he said. “For the first two quarters, I was constantly getting smacked in the face, and as a quarterback you don’t like that to happen. They, of those teams, came out and did stuff completely different than they did all year. They played us extremely tight.”

And yet, Baylor still put up 45 points and 616 yards of total offense.

Then there’s the tempo that Baylor plays. It’s like playing against Oregon in terms of getting to the line of scrimmage and getting plays off.

Washington has some experience in dealing with fast-paced offenses. But the Huskies have yet to have much success in slowing down Oregon.

“If you try to sub against us, good luck to you,” Bennett said. “Texas tried to sub, they tried everything. They went to three-man front and four-man front and our band kept playing.”

Jean-Baptiste couldn’t help but enjoy watching opposing defenses struggle against his teammates.

“We get a chance to look out there, and you see the other team’s defense struggling,” he said. “You just say, ‘Wow,’ when we get that tempo going. I’m like I almost feel sorry for them going against that for 80 or 90 plays a game.”

Ryan Divish: 253-597-8483 ryan.divish@thenewstribune.com blog.thenewstribune.com/uwsports