Nearly three years ago, with the division title on the horizon, Baylor’s defense became a brick wall.
Oklahoma State gained 2 yards and a go-ahead touchdown on four attempts in the final minute of the 2021 Big 12 Championship Game. The Bears allowed just 1 3/4 points, and Baylor won the Big 12 title in coach Dave Aranda’s second season.
Saturday night at Colorado, Baylor needed another final-minute game to seal the game, with lower stakes (the team’s Big 12 opener) and more room to maneuver: 45 yards from defense, while Buffalo needed just Two seconds to cover them. But the scene was reminiscent of the one played out 30 years ago between Kordell Stewart and Michael Westbrook, between Shedeur Sanders and LaJohnta West. LaJohntay Wester) teamed up to create a miracle, sending the game into overtime, and the Buffaloes eventually won 38-31.
Those two endings, 33 months apart, encapsulate how far Baylor has fallen from its peak under Aranda, who now has a 25-27 program record.
Free daily sports updates delivered straight to your inbox.
Free daily sports updates delivered straight to your inbox.
Sign up
“The behavior at the end of supervision is like nothing I’ve ever seen,” Aranda told reporters.
This might just be hyperbole in the moment after the game, but the Bears’ defensive scheme was executed so poorly that there’s reason to believe Aranda never saw the game-winning Hail Mary.
Quarterback Sawyer Robertson leads the Baylor Bears to 2-2 after losing to Colorado on Saturday. (Christopher Hanewinkel/Imagn Images)
Aranda was once the highest-paid assistant in college football and revered for his defensive talents, but he enters the season in the fifth year of his first head coaching job and the Bears’ crushing loss to Colorado feels like A potential turning point. Can he recover?
Baylor is now 11-18 since the 2021 season, winning the Big 12 title and winning the Sugar Bowl after going 12-2. Rotation of offensive and defensive personnel has been a theme during Aranda’s tenure.
After the program hit rock bottom last year with a 3-9 record, Aranda vowed to make more changes, ramping up efforts in the transfer portal, putting more emphasis on name, image and likeness compensation and positioning himself as the team’s defense. players.
The first three weeks of the season are promising. The Bears look more talented and are playing with an edge that seemed to be missing last year, and Aranda’s transition on defense has worked well.
go deeper
Baylor bets on Dave Aranda: Can he reward them with a revival?
Even against Colorado, there were encouraging signs. Sanders had eight sacks and more pressures, some of which came from Texas Tech transfer Steve Linton. Quarterback Sawyer Robertson and receivers Monare Baldwin and Hal Pressley performed well on offense. The entire team displays a pervasive ability that was not common a year ago.
But Baylor’s loss on Saturday was embarrassing. The Bears gave up a 24-10 lead and squandered multiple opportunities to force the game into regulation.
After back-to-back sacks by Sanders led to a punt on fourth-and-31, Baylor took over the game at the Colorado 26 with a chance to score, leading 31-24 with 3:58 left. Two point lead. The Bears ran the ball three times before Isaiah Hankins’ 46-yard field goal missed to the right with 2:16 left.
On Colorado’s final drive of the fourth quarter, Baylor backed up Buffalo, facing second-and-24 from its 31 with 55 seconds left. Yet the Bears gave up all of that yardage on the next three plays, keeping the scalpers alive.
Before West tied the score, Colorado flirted with a game-winning field goal on its last play, with receiver Will Sheppard behind Baylor cornerback Caden Jenkins. , receiver Will Sheppard caught Sanders’ pass at second.
On Baylor’s final defensive play, which Aranda called a “victory cigar,” the Bears pressured Sanders, rushing him out of the pocket to the left, and he fired a bomb to West. Aranda detailed the pressure assignments he missed, which he said was “inexcusable” considering Baylor called a timeout before the game to set up its defense.
“I take full responsibility for this,” he said. “I have to be able to coach that better.”
Baylor fans everywhere nodded in agreement. This may be the Bears’ worst loss since September 11, 1999. Instead of taking a knee, the Bears ran the ball and fumbled it; UNLV responded with a 100-yard touchdown to win 27-24.
This Baylor team no longer returns home with a positive momentum of 3-1 and now must recover from an emotional blow with less room for error in an ultra-competitive conference.
go deeper
Colorado forces overtime with Hail Mary, dramatic win over Baylor
If Saturday’s loss sparks a losing streak, it will be the third straight year of frustration for Baylor fans. The upcoming schedule is not forgiving. This weekend, Baylor will host No. 22 BYU, a team that just dominated Kansas State. Then there are back-to-back road games at No. 18 Iowa State and Texas Tech before a return home matchup against No. 20 Oklahoma State to wrap things up in October.
If the Bears can’t bounce back quickly, Aranda’s spot could be in trouble heading into November. While Baylor athletic director Mack Rhoades has not publicly stipulated a specific number of wins for Aranda this season, reaching a bowl is a baseline expectation. Saturday’s game at Folsom Field was wasted, which makes things even more difficult.
Regardless, the season isn’t over yet. Baylor (2-2) is only a third of the way through its schedule, and if the Bears can bounce back quickly and beat the Cougars, it will go a long way toward surpassing Saturday’s nightmare finale. This year’s Big 12 is sure to be terrible, with three of the top four teams in the league’s preseason rankings losing their conference openers.
But the urgency of changing the script is crucial. The 2021 Big 12 championship season is the exception in the Aranda era. Baylor has had a losing record in the other three years and is currently 13-25 overall in each year except 2021. Year).
Baylor leadership wants Aranda to succeed. He was popular in the building because he came across as thoughtful and sincere. He’s not the fire-breathing caricature of the football coach stereotype. In college coaching, being a good guy buys you extra time, which certainly helped win Aranda this year despite the drop in production.
Whether he gets another depends on how Baylor responds to its recent collapse. The decision will not be made based on Saturday’s results. But if there’s any uncertainty as Rhodes weighs his future at the end of the season, the manner in which the Bears failed is sure to stand out.
After Saturday’s loss, Aranda said the Bears will try to get their hearts back in their bodies, calling the loss “a huge wake-up call.”
“I know we will respond,” he said. “I know this team. I know we’ll be stronger for this.
If they want to lift another trophy with Aranda at the helm, they will be better off.
(Top photo: Andrew Weavers/Getty Images)
