Baylor ended up having their second-best season of this tenure and decade last fall by finishing the back half of the year undefeated. Now, ESPN’s Greg McElroy thinks the Bears have enough momentum, assuming some of it carries over to this season, to be in contention for a playoff spot. McElroy recently tiered the teams […]
Baylor ended up having their second-best season of this tenure and decade last fall by finishing the back half of the year undefeated. Now, ESPN’s Greg McElroy thinks the Bears have enough momentum, assuming some of it carries over to this season, to be in contention for a playoff spot.
McElroy recently tiered the teams in the Big 12 during an episode of ‘Always College Football’, including Baylor in tier two, titled for contenders to make the College Football Playoff, along with half of the rest of the league with Texas Tech, Kansas State, Arizona State, Iowa State, Utah, Kansas, BYU, and TCU. That’s because he values the Bears’ turnaround to finish last year at 8-5 overall.
“If you look at where this team was, how many people right now would have said Baylor, in 2025, would be in the tier-two category in the Big 12 after a 2-4 start to the 2024 season? A lot of people might have thought that Dave Aranda wouldn’t even be there at this point given how they started the season just a year ago. But how they finished the season has me feeling like there’s some momentum that’s been created within the program,” said McElroy. “They finished (winning) six in a row in the regular season. They finish 8-5 overall. Get the bowl game, of course they didn’t win the bowl game but, either way, to finish with that type of flurry has me feeling pretty good.”
This starts on the offensive side of the ball for the Bears, becoming a Top-20 scoring unit last year at 34.4 points while posting 440.1 yards of offense, based on what they have back. QB Sawyer Robertson (62.2% completion for 3,071 yards, 28 touchdowns, eight interceptions) is the biggest piece of that as the QB1 now in Waco.
“Part of the reason why they finished as well as they did is they found that quarterback in Sawyer Robertson that could very much take them to the next level…I think he’s a top-ten quarterback in the country coming back. I think he’s flying under the radar in many people’s projections about what great quarterback play might look like this upcoming year,” said McElroy. “Remember, last year, he wasn’t even the day-one starter. So, to play as well as he did down the stretch when not getting all those first-team reps in the offseason, having to share time at time at points in the early part of the season? Now, it’s his show. He’s the one that’s going to drive the car, and that’s got to have you feeling pretty good about what this team might be.”
“Offensively, around him, they bring so much back…This is a group that’s already produced at a high level but, now, they might even be a little bit better with some of the continuity that’s been created for (OC) Jake Spavital. Really encouraged by some of the pieces they added in the portal,” McElroy continued. “The offensive line should be pretty dang good as well. You have a really, really talented backfield with Bryson Washington. I love what Bryson Washington could do this year.”
Then, defensively, McElroy did have some more concerns as something that could affect this team’s chances. Still, he sees enough there, namely from their double-digit additions on that side from the portal, for Aranda to work with.
“You do have to iron out a couple things on defense, but they have gone out and been very aggressive and intentional in trying to bring in guys from big-time programs…You go out and you get pieces from schools like that? That makes you feel like they’re going to have strong talent across the board. It’s just whether or not they can find that continuity,” said McElroy. “Dave Aranda is one of the best defensive minds in the sport. I think he’ll be able to figure it out with some of the new pieces that he has to play with.”
McElroy also noted Baylor’s schedule as it’s a lot, especially early. They start with two big-time non-conference games against Auburn and at SMU before playing four more of those tier-two teams from the conference, three of those over their first seven games in total, in league play.
“It’s a tough schedule…Auburn in the non-conference. I think Auburn is a significantly improved team from a year ago. This will be a great test on August 29th, to figure out exactly where Auburn is and to figure out exactly where Baylor is. They’ll get that game at home and it’s a massive opportunity for Baylor to start the season off on the right foot,” said McElroy. “They’ll host last year’s champion in Arizona State on September 20th. So, in the first two or three weeks, they’re kind of going to need to know, hey, this is kind of where Baylor is at with some of the teams they’ll have to face there early on…They also play SMU on September 6th. You get three teams, man, those first three or four weeks that are going to give you a real good indicator of what is possible for this team moving forward.”
“But it does not get much easier as things move along,” McElroy went on. “You’ve got Kansas State on October 4th, you’re at TCU on October 18th, you’re at Utah on November 15th, and then you still have road trips to Arizona, who might be problematic at that point by November 22nd, or at Oklahoma State, that game on September 27th.”
After a pair of losing seasons and losing start to their last season, Baylor has trended very well since last year in mid-October. It’s now a matter of how much of that carries over into this season with the Bears also having hopes of making the playoff from out of the Big 12.
“If stars align, I could see Baylor making a run and picking up where they left off down the stretch last year, but they do have to figure out a few things,” said McElroy.
Category: General Sports
