When Baylor comes to town Saturday the Bears will be doing it with a true freshman quarterback leading the offense after senior Seth Russell was lost due to a season ending injury.

Zach Smith will be making his third career start against the Mountaineers, but his first in a true road game. A Rivals.com four-star prospect a year ago, Smith has tossed for almost 1,000 yards this season with eight touchdowns and four interceptions after being forced into a difficult spot.

The Texas native has all the natural tools to be effective and in his previous two starts has led Baylor to an average of over 500-yards per game of total offense.

The Bears haven’t made many changes to what they do offensively with Smith serving as the quarterback but they have attempted to simplify things for the freshman.

That means using more tight ends and fullbacks with twin sets to protect while allowing him time to scan the field with bigger personnel protecting.

“They’ll use bigger bodies in there to protect him so he can see the field,” defensive coordinator Tony Gibson said. “Obviously he doesn’t get rid of the ball as quickly as some of the other guys but that’s just him being young and thinking. He has a great arm.”

Another difference without Russell is the fact that Baylor won’t use Smith as much in the run game instead electing to hand the ball off to the various running backs.

“They just let him sit back there and read coverages and hand it off,” Gibson said.

Still, Smith has the tools to beat defenses with both the size at 6-foot-4 and the pocket presence to read defenses and deliver an accurate ball down the field. But given his inexperience, the trick will be to force him into situations where he is uncomfortable against the unorthodox 3-3-5 defense.

So while frustrating the young quarterback will be one of the goals coming into the matchup the key to accomplishing that will actually come by slowing down the Bears potent rushing attack.

“They’re going to try to establish the run. Their line is physical and they are going to try to put body on boy and pound the rock,” redshirt senior linebacker Justin Arndt said. “We want to put the ball in the quarterback’s hands and try to make him beat you.”

On the season the Bears average 255 yards per game on the ground, tops in the Big 12 Conference, and will hand the ball off to a number of options such as senior Shock Linwood and sophomore Terrence Williams.

And in order to have success, the Mountaineers must prevent the Baylor offense from striking balance and keeping its young quarterback out of difficult spots on second and third down where he is forced to throw the football.

That way the Mountaineers can disguise in the back end and bring various looks, which is when the defense can excel in creating both turnovers and miscues.

“We have to get them in situations where they have to throw it and then we have to cover it and get in different looks,” Gibson said. “If they are able to run the ball and get balanced it takes it tough.”