No. 9 Baylor visits No. 21 BYU: How to watch, storylines and pregame updates

It might be one the biggest games of the Independence era at BYU, and there is no shortage of storylines.

No. 9 Baylor, the defending champions of the Big 12, will visit Provo tonight as the highest-ranked opponent to play in LaVell Edwards Stadium since the Cougars left the Mountain West conference.

You would have to go all the way back to 2009 — in a game against No. 8 TCU — to find the last time a team inside the top 10 came to town.

Game time: 8:15 p.m. MT

Channel: ESPN

Broadcast team: Mark Jones, Robert Griffin III, Quint Kessenich

College GameDay Picks: Baylor was picked 4-1 to win the game by College GameDay’s panel of analysts. Kirk Herbstreit, Pat McAfee, Desmond Howard and the celebrity guest all went with the Bears. Lee Corso was the only man to pick BYU.

Storylines and pregame reading

• At top of everyone’s mind tonight is the health of BYU’s top two receivers: Puka Nacua and Gunner Romney. Both will be a game-time decision tonight. We wrote about what the offense looks like without them, and what BYU must rely on if they aren’t able to play.

• Jernaro Gilford called his shot earlier this year. BYU’s cornerbacks coach told everyone that his position group was the best BYU’s had since the 1990s. Against Baylor, BYU’s path to victory largely rests on Gilford being proved right. With the Bears’ mix of speed at receiver and a strong-armed quarterback, the secondary will have its hands full.

• Kalani Sitake started this week off by calling Baylor the standard of the Big 12. There are plenty of parallels between these two teams in terms of how BYU wants to build its program in the Big 12. So this is a measuring stick game, and the coaching staff has embraced it.

• True freshman Korbyn Green was going to sign with Baylor. Now, after Joey McGuire left to Texas Tech, he is at BYU. Could this week be his moment to break the rotation against the team he was going to play for?

• Baylor head coach Dave Aranda met BYU assistant coaches Kevin Clune and Ed Lamb met in an In-N-Out Burger over 20 years ago. Now, after weaving in and out of each others coaching lives for the last two decades, they will meet on college football’s biggest stage. It is a long way away from the Division-III SCIAC, where there are no scholarships.

• How about a statement to Texas recruits? Big 12 success is often predicated on mining the talent-laden state in the heart of the conference. BYU still has a ways to go in that department, but beating Baylor would be a strong first step.

• Keanu Hill might be wide receiver one today, so here is a little bit of background on the Texas kid stepping up against a Texas school.

• And some tidbits about the kicking drama, secondary and more on Baylor.

from The Salt Lake Tribune https://ift.tt/Jx3P5Ol