Going back 20 years with the Baylor Bears Guy Morris was the head coach and over his five year run he averaged about 3.5 wins a year, leaving with a record of 18-58. Next up came Art Briles who lasted eight years and like a lot of really good coaches turned the corner in year 3 going 7-6 and becoming Bowl eligible after having two back-to-back 4-8 seasons to start. After that he averaged 10 wins a year over the next five before getting fired following a scathing review by a law firm investigating allegations of sexual assault against his players. After a year with an interim coach to take over the troubled program Dan Lyons, in an article for THESPUN back in early January 2020, wrote about their next head coach Matt Rhule who, “did an incredible job at Baylor in three seasons, taking the team from the dregs of the sexual assault scandal that led to Art Briles’ ouster, and essential banishment from major college football. After going just 1-11 in year one, Rhule just led the team to an 11-win season, and berths in the Big 12 title game and Sugar Bowl.” Rhule then left for the NFL, but like Urban Meyer and some other very good college football head coaches did not find success and was back in the college ranks after a year—Nebraska in fact who we’ll get around to talking about after I finish this game. Enter Dave Aranda, Baylor’s current head coach who took over in the 2020 Covid year after Rhule’s departure and 2019 11-3 record. In his first full year the team was 12-2 but then dropped to 6-7 in 2022 while going 3-9 last year. As George Carlin would put it, they’re circling the drain which is why many believe this is a make-or-break year for Aranda.
In Week-1 Baylor beat Tarleton State 45-3, a team that was playing in Division II up until 2021 when they became an inagural member of the WAC. But that’s a whole lot different than facing No. 11 Utah on the road like they had to do this past Saturday. On its face this game looked as though it would be so lopsided that I paid absolutely no attention to it until I saw the Box Score and that Utah was held scoreless in the 2nd half. But as it turns out their star QB, Cam Rising, back after sitting out a whole season rehabbing, injured his throwing hand near the end of the 2nd Qtr when he was run out of bounds into some water coolers. Fortunately for Utah, he had already thrown two TD’s to go along with a field goal and a blocked field goal returned for TD to put them up 23-0 before he went out. Baylor would score a field goal before the half as well as another field goal and a TD after the break to close the gap to 23-12 where it would stay without Utah ever scoring again after Rising’s injury.
In the write-up by the AP for ESPN Kyle Whittingham had this to say about the injury and the team’s performance afterwards: “It’s not real serious [and] certainly, when Cam left the game that was a downer for us but the world can’t stop turning when Cam exits a game. We’ve got to keep playing [and] be productive, which we were not . . . on offense.” Rising sat out the second half of last week’s game as well but that’s after throwing five TD’s and not due to injury. Collectively Rising and back-up Freshman QB Isaac Wilson were 12-of-23 for 122 yards, 2 TD’s, and no interceptions. On the ground the Utes rushed 37 times for 170 yards with Senior RB Micah Bernard doing the bulk of the work carrying the ball 19 times for 118 yards, an average of 6+ yards for carry.
For the Bears, Senior QB Dequan Finn and the Baylor offensive line had a rough day of it dealing with Utah’s 3 sacks and 8 tackles for loss. Finn connected on just over 40% of his throws for 115 yards and 1 TD to Junior WR Josh Cameron without throwing an interception. On the ground Baylor rushed 40 times for 108 yards but never found the end zone. Without Rising, Utah’s total offense came down quite a bit from Week-1 as did their 3rd down efficiency, topping Baylor just 292-to-223 in total yards, while also leading in 1st downs, 15-12, and time-of-possession by nine minutes. With or without Rising next week Utah should be able to dispense with Utah State. But after that it starts getting real as they’ll be facing Oklahoma State on the road.