Gatopadre said:

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UCF game feels CRITICALLY important for the season

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I saw enough opening night to decide this season is toast. The only question for the remaining games is how bad our toast gets burned.

Prediction; Baylor football will fly out to Florida and embarrass themselves, their school and their fans. Even RGIII would have been crippled game one with this weak imitation of an O-line and play calling that developes the play 5 yards behind the LOS when it's second or third and long.

Against Texas State he finally competed. He showed a ton of grit under immense pressure. Led a comeback that our defense and o-line decided wouldn't be completed. He threw some nice catchable balls. Made reads he missed last year. I don't think anyone is saying he's winning the Heisman but we beat Utah if he's healthy. Health is a concern as he's suffered some level of injury all 3 years he's played meaningful snaps. Granted anyone could get injured behind this offensive line.

I've never seen a Baylor offensive line play so bad, granted I was watching Phil Fulmer slowly implode during the Steele era. Odd connection as Steele played and briefly coached at Tennessee.

At least the Ryder Cup is on this weekend.

Last chance go get some kind of momentum and go into the bye with some enthusiasm and hope, work their asses off on fixing some of their issues, and have a respectable second half of the season.

With two weeks off to soak in a start of total loserdom I'm afraid the team would be lost, even to what we may consider lesser competition (though still probably better than us). Two weeks of white hot sun intensity hot seat would be crushing. I just hope Baylor can somehow keep the portal and decommits from cratering the roster.

Really? Against Texas State is the answer? The historic one of one loss? K

Killing Floor said:

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Really? Against Texas State is the answer? The historic one of one loss? K

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Better than a 3rd stringer with no FBS starts under his belt.

It would have been nice to keep a decent backup around with some decent game experience in the offense, but the staff hasn't embraced to concept of contingency plans or being ready to make an adjustment.

Tech is the make or break game. At home. Winnable game against an opponent that is probably also looking for an excuse to pack it in. Lose that game and we're probably in a tailspin (more of a tailspin?)

UCF would be a nice, but very unlikely, win.

Did you see the Tech play against a quality Oregon team? No way we win against Tech. Even though they may have lost their QB they simply dial in another.

And we almost beat Utah with a back up. They are still 1-3 with a G5 loss, just like us.

Not saying we win, but it sets the direction of the season if we don't. ie a make or break game

Remember we played Utah without their starting quarterback and two top running backs. They were crippled yet our fans think we played a powerhouse.

Bear8084 said:

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Killing Floor said:

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Really? Against Texas State is the answer? The historic one of one loss? K

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Better than a 3rd stringer with no FBS starts under his belt.

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And a losing FCS record.

KF's take on this is ridiculous.

I'd rather play Martinez over Robertson at this point, but Shapen is the best quarterback on this roster by a mile.

Aliceinbubbleland said:

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Remember we played Utah without their starting quarterback and two top running backs. They were crippled yet our fans think we played a powerhouse.

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So did ranked teams from Florida and UCLA. The result was the same.

And we were without a bunch of players against Utah, too.

Aliceinbubbleland said:

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Remember we played Utah without their starting quarterback and two top running backs. They were crippled yet our fans think we played a powerhouse.

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Every time Baylor gets mud-holed the opponent stock skyrockets here. I'm so sick tired of seeing crap like, "but their qb is a top draft pick" or "their team is probably playoff bound," and the always lame "but take away 5 plays and.." all those other lame excuses for Baylor's ineptitude.

It's a shame it takes this type of epic Biblical implosion to finally see some honest critique of potential problems.

UCF/TT is the season at this point. Im a eternal optimist but that's the reality. Sicem.

Not excusing the loss but your QB can play a helluva game and you can lose. The defense couldn't get a stop and the o-line was, again, the worst Baylor o-line I've ever seen. Shapen was not a problem that game and anyone who thinks he was doesn't understand the sport of football.

Grimes is a problem. We can't block, run sloppy routes that are easy to defend, run easy to read plays, and haven't improved since 2021, only gotten worse.

Dia del DougO said:

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Aliceinbubbleland said:

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Remember we played Utah without their starting quarterback and two top running backs. They were crippled yet our fans think we played a powerhouse.

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Every time Baylor gets mud-holed the opponent stock skyrockets here. I'm so sick tired of seeing crap like, "but their qb is a top draft pick" or "their team is probably playoff bound," and the always lame "but take away 5 plays and.." all those other lame excuses for Baylor's ineptitude.

It's a shame it takes this type of epic Biblical implosion to finally see some honest critique of potential problems.

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Utah is undefeated with three Power 5 wins and ranked No. 10 in the country.

It's quite possible to acknowledge that we suck without trying to run down every opponent we play.

Baylor has played a good schedule so far. It's also looked like a bad team against that schedule. Both can be true.

When you have 8 home games and hope to simply make it to .500 times are dark

boykin_spaniel said:

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When you have 8 home games and hope to simply make it to .500 times are dark

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You're preaching to the choir. But it's not impossible to remain objective if you try.

boykin_spaniel said:

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When you have 8 home games and hope to simply make it to .500 times are dark

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Hoping to make a pre-Christmas bowl game against Troy or Louisiana or Western Kentucky this year....

I'm just hoping Aranda doesn't show the team any more Godfather (or worse) film clips to get them pumped up for this game. OMG!

I just want to see him show SOME emotion at a game. Let the team know when you're excited. Let the team know when you're upset. Watching him on the field, it feels more like he's one of my college Accounting professors describing double declining depreciation on fixed assets. I don't need Aranda to be obnoxious like Gary Patterson, but at least show a little enthusiasm. Kim Mulkey just had to give her team the stink eye look, and they went back on the court knowing that nothing less than 110% effort was acceptable. I don't see any excitement from this team, and I really think they need it.

Things broke in 2020.

We just didn't get the results the bad OC hire and bad recruiting / development cycles until now because we lived off Rhules recruits in 2021 and 2022.

MommaBear said:

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I'm just hoping Aranda doesn't show the team any more Godfather (or worse) film clips to get them pumped up for this game. OMG!

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This week's motivational movie is To Kill A Mockingbird, the black&white version from the 1960s. Dave's playing the role of Atticus Finch.

boykin_spaniel said:

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When you have 8 home games and hope to simply make it to .500 times are dark

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we hope to see .333 on the year

Did Aranda actually say it was a make or break game? If he did, I'm going to be real interested to see how he spins it after the game.

He'll be so glad to see you. And he'll appreciate it.

We are in a bad spot when we're relying on Shapen to get us a win. Great guy, bad qb

Dia del DougO said:

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Aliceinbubbleland said:

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Remember we played Utah without their starting quarterback and two top running backs. They were crippled yet our fans think we played a powerhouse.

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Every time Baylor gets mud-holed the opponent stock skyrockets here. I'm so sick tired of seeing crap like, "but their qb is a top draft pick" or "their team is probably playoff bound," and the always lame "but take away 5 plays and.." all those other lame excuses for Baylor's ineptitude.

It's a shame it takes this type of epic Biblical implosion to finally see some honest critique of potential problems.

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Say it again. Tx St arguably absolutely dominated our line nearly as much as Tex. Bc our line is simply terrible not bc Tex is peak Ga like the goofs on this site act like.

"But it's Tex"…yeah the team that is finally pretty good but hasn't done anything for 13 yrs. It is Bu's absolute ineptitude, nothing more nothing less. Still hope beyond reason that Dave can do anything positive

Reverend said:

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Did Aranda actually say it was a make or break game?

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No, he did not say that

Quinton said:

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Dia del DougO said:

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Aliceinbubbleland said:

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Remember we played Utah without their starting quarterback and two top running backs. They were crippled yet our fans think we played a powerhouse.

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Every time Baylor gets mud-holed the opponent stock skyrockets here. I'm so sick tired of seeing crap like, "but their qb is a top draft pick" or "their team is probably playoff bound," and the always lame "but take away 5 plays and.." all those other lame excuses for Baylor's ineptitude.

It's a shame it takes this type of epic Biblical implosion to finally see some honest critique of potential problems.

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Say it again. Tx St arguably absolutely dominated our line nearly as much as Tex. Bc our line is simply terrible not bc Tex is peak Ga like the goofs on this site act like.

"But it's Tex"…yeah the team that is finally pretty good but hasn't done anything for 13 yrs. It is Bu's absolute ineptitude, nothing more nothing less. Still hope beyond reason that Dave can do anything positive

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Texas leads the nation in defensive success rate. Their defense is really good, especially up front.

Most stats, including defensive success rate, don't mean much so early in the season.

If they are still at or near the top at the end of the year, that will mean something.

Plenty of film on UCF, plenty of film on Baylor, now it comes down to who wins in the trenches. ?????

DanaDane said:

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MommaBear said:

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I'm just hoping Aranda doesn't show the team any more Godfather (or worse) film clips to get them pumped up for this game. OMG!

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This week's motivational movie is To Kill A Mockingbird, the black&white version from the 1960s. Dave's playing the role of Atticus Finch.

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Will next week's inspirational movie be Wizard of Oz where the Wicked Witch of the North threatens Dorothy with her flying monkeys?

morethanhecouldbear said:

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Defensive success rate doesn't mean much after a few games.

If they are still at or near the top at the end of the year, that will mean something.

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I hate Texas with all my being. But you can tell by watching them play this year that they're considerably better than they've been, especially on the defensive side of the ball. That front is special.

Any game they lose in this year's Big 12 will be a major upset, Oklahoma included.