Mack Brown felt his offense and offensive line didn’t merit having most valuable players for their play against Oklahoma.

The offense accumulated just 289 yards. But it can breathe a sigh of relief as Baylor comes to town Saturday.

The Bears are last in total defense. No, not last in the Big 12. Last in the country.

They are 118th in scoring defense, 117th in pass defense and 89th in rushing defense. Their offense and an unchallenging nonconference schedule has helped them maintain a winning record. But in Big 12 play, the Bears are 0-2. Both Texas and Baylor are looking to put an end to a two-game losing streak. Last week, the Bears were shocked when TCU’s redshirt freshman quarterback Trevone Boykin scored five touchdowns in a 49-21 win over them. The Horned Frogs were allowed 21 unanswered points in the fourth quarter.

Boykin went 22 of 30 with four touchdowns passing. Not what the Bears were hoping for.

“It is very frustrating,” Baylor head coach Art Briles said. “It is very humiliating, not just to us, as coaches, but to our players also and to our University. We did not do a good job of showing up for Baylor tonight.”

The Longhorns offense will look to bounce back from its dismal showing at the Red River Rivalry. They did not find the end zone until there were less than five minutes left. The Sooners dominated the line of scrimmage and made David Ash’s life very difficult, and the running backs felt the consequences. The team only had two rushing yards at the end of the first half and 74 total yards rushing by the end of the game.

Texas was averaging 209.4 yards of rushing per game before Saturday.

A game against the Bears’ terrible defense could be just what the Longhorns need to get back on track. But while Baylor has given up 70, 49 and 42 points in three different games this season, wide receiver Marquise Goodwin doesn’t focus on those numbers.

“You really can’t worry about what happened last weekend, you’ve just got to worry about what I can do to help my team win this weekend,” Goodwin said. “And I think that’s maybe where some teams go wrong, where some people go wrong.”

Goodwin said teams play even harder than usual when they face off against Texas. Offensive lineman Luke Poehlmann doesn’t pay attention to the numbers, either.

“Every week is going to be a challenge,” Poehlmann said. “We’re not going to look at stats.  We’re not going to look at anything else but the guy we’re lining up against.”

If the Longhorns defeat Baylor, it certainly won’t make up for what happened at the Cotton Bowl. But it will even their conference record and boost their confidence.

“We’re done with Oklahoma,” Poehlmann said. “That was last week. We’re working on Baylor now.”

Printed on Thursday, October 18, 2012 as: Terrible Baylor defense could offer relief