Gameday Thread: Baylor Welcomes Arizona State to Waco for Prime Time Big 12 Showdown

bear2be2 said:

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Youre a clown said:

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bear2be2 said:

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IowaBear said:

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They lost to a miss st team who's going to finish near the bottom of the SEC. I'll just disagree. ASU imo isn't a god team and I think by seasons end they'll be something like 7-5. I have seen nothing to tell me KSU is an auto win. Dave is now under .500 in B12 play at home

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No one said it's an aoto-win. But we'll be favored, and I expect us to win.
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Like how we were favored and you expected us to win this game?

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I never once said I expected to win this game.

I said it would be a close game between two similarly talented teams, which it was. I don't ever predict wins in these types of games under Dave Aranda.

But I also don't predict blowouts to good teams or losses to bad ones because I'm sad ... like so many others here do.

Most of our remaining games will be close. We'll lose a few we should win, win a couple we should lose and finish 7-5 or 8-4. That's the Dave Aranda experience.

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I dont see how we win 7 based on our schedule. I'm looking at a 5 win season

And are you ok with the "Dave Aranda experience" ? That's my last question for ya

IowaBear said:

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He should be forced to answer for this loss… in no way should Dave be getting a pass for tonight

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Losing this game, while frustrating, shouldn't be equated to losing to this year's Oklahoma State or Kansas State teams.

Grill him on his decisions certainly, but tonight's loss on its own isn't a fireable offense. A loss next week would be. And a loss in the following game would be a seat-warmer.

I get being frustrated by the cumulative effect of losing all these big games close. I share your frustration. But tonight's loss was to the defending conference champion -- and a team that was predicted by many to contend for the title again this season.

bear2be2 said:

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IowaBear said:

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You also just described ASU… and we lost that game. I'll believe it when I see it. I have no faith in Dave. He's going to find a way to **** the bed in one of the OSU, KSu, UCF games. He's a **** coach, that'll tear its ugly head

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Arizona State didn't lose to Army and Arizona and almost lose to North Dakota.

Kansas State's body of work is terrible.

Leavitt is a much, much better player than Johnson. And Arizona State's defense is better than Kansas State's is.

K-State is a very poor man's Arizona State.

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K-state is pretty bad, but Dave probably makes that a game. The remaining schedule outside of TCU and Utah is terrible.. but I would be surprised if there are many "easy" wins.

IowaBear said:

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And are you ok with the "Dave Aranda experience" ? That's my last question for ya

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I'm tired of the Dave Aranda experience. But it's not going to end as long as we're winning seven or eight games ... and given our history, it probably shouldn't.

But if we lose four or five games this season, I want to see some sort of plan laid out for how we're going to rise above the mediocrity we've fallen into in recent years. And I think that needs to start with a new voice in that DC chair.

We can't continue on our current path on that side of the ball.

Assassin said:

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bear2be2 said:

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Youre a clown said:

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bear2be2 said:

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IowaBear said:

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They lost to a miss st team who's going to finish near the bottom of the SEC. I'll just disagree. ASU imo isn't a god team and I think by seasons end they'll be something like 7-5. I have seen nothing to tell me KSU is an auto win. Dave is now under .500 in B12 play at home

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No one said it's an aoto-win. But we'll be favored, and I expect us to win.
.

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Like how we were favored and you expected us to win this game?

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I never once said I expected to win this game.

I said it would be a close game between two similarly talented teams, which it was. I don't ever predict wins in these types of games under Dave Aranda.

But I also don't predict blowouts to good teams or losses to bad ones because I'm sad ... like so many others here do.

Most of our remaining games will be close. We'll lose a few we should win, win a couple we should lose and finish 7-5 or 8-4. That's the Dave Aranda experience.

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I dont see how we win 7 based on our schedule. I'm looking at a 5 win season

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Then you're very likely going to be wrong.

Oklahoma State, Kansas State, Cincinnati, UCF, Arizona and Houston are all eminently winnable games.

And TCU and Utah aren't unwinnable. I just have no faith in our ability to show up and actually pull one of those out.

Dave's a zombie. And as the mistakes add up he becomes only worse. He's not built for the job. Every chance has been given. There has to be some accountability for the poor preparation and the terrible in game decisions. My gosh.

Refusing to take field goal. Fumbles. And finally the sixty yard pass play when we had them backed up. Game, Set, Match.

IowaBear said:

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The B12 sucks.. Dave is just ass as a coach. Anyone with a brain sees that.

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Dave isn't as bad as some here want to make him, but he's just aggressively mediocre. At this point, he is exactly what his record says he is -- both good and bad.

Quinton said:

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The issue is from my eye Az St looked decent but nothing more. Auburn looked okay but they might just be average. Dave struggles against anyone with a pulse

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Yep...with the eye test ASU did not look elite. I don't take any comfort thinking...well we played the reigning B12 champs close.

They look good...but not the buzzsaw they were at the end of the year last year. Skattebo was such an X factor.

Will have to disagree. I think Dave is absolute garbage as a HC.

bear2be2 said:

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Assassin said:

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bear2be2 said:

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Youre a clown said:

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bear2be2 said:

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IowaBear said:

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boThey lost to a miss st team who's going to finish near the bottom of the SEC. I'll just disagree. ASU imo isn't a god team and I think by seasons end they'll be something like 7-5. I have seen nothing to tell me KSU is an auto win. Dave is now under .500 in B12 play at home

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No one said it's an aoto-win. But we'll be favored, and I expect us to win.
.

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Like how we were favored and you expected us to win this game?

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I never once said I expected to win this game.

I said it would be a close game between two similarly talented teams, which it was. I don't ever predict wins in these types of games under Dave Aranda.

But I also don't predict blowouts to good teams or losses to bad ones because I'm sad ... like so many others here do.

Most of our remaining games will be close. We'll lose a few we should win, win a couple we should lose and finish 7-5 or 8-4. That's the Dave Aranda experience.

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I dont see how we win 7 based on our schedule. I'm looking at a 5 win season

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Then you're very likely going to be wrong.

Oklahoma State, Kansas State, Cincinnati, UCF, Arizona and Houston are all eminently winnable games.

And TCU and Utah aren't unwinnable. I just have no faith in our ability to show up and actually pull one of those out.

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I'm hoping both of us are wrong and we win out. But that's not gonna happen. Sawyer is just not playing like he was at teh end of 2025. Our OL and DL dont appear to be syncing either

bear2be2 said:

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IowaBear said:

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The B12 sucks.. Dave is just ass as a coach. Anyone with a brain sees that.

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he's just aggressively mediocre.

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That just about sums him up perfectly.

I'm slowly lowering the bar for BU football. Right now I view success at BU as 6 - 6, minor bowl money, and Big 12 check.

Assassin said:

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bear2be2 said:

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Assassin said:

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bear2be2 said:

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Youre a clown said:

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bear2be2 said:

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IowaBear said:

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boThey lost to a miss st team who's going to finish near the bottom of the SEC. I'll just disagree. ASU imo isn't a god team and I think by seasons end they'll be something like 7-5. I have seen nothing to tell me KSU is an auto win. Dave is now under .500 in B12 play at home

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No one said it's an aoto-win. But we'll be favored, and I expect us to win.
.

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Like how we were favored and you expected us to win this game?

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I never once said I expected to win this game.

I said it would be a close game between two similarly talented teams, which it was. I don't ever predict wins in these types of games under Dave Aranda.

But I also don't predict blowouts to good teams or losses to bad ones because I'm sad ... like so many others here do.

Most of our remaining games will be close. We'll lose a few we should win, win a couple we should lose and finish 7-5 or 8-4. That's the Dave Aranda experience.

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I dont see how we win 7 based on our schedule. I'm looking at a 5 win season

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Then you're very likely going to be wrong.

Oklahoma State, Kansas State, Cincinnati, UCF, Arizona and Houston are all eminently winnable games.

And TCU and Utah aren't unwinnable. I just have no faith in our ability to show up and actually pull one of those out.

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I'm hoping both of us are wrong and we win out. But that's not gonna happen. Sawyer is just not playing like he was at teh end of 2025. Our OL and DL dont appear to be syncing either

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No, you're absolutely correct. Listing five teams on the schedule as "winnable" and then assuming that we're going to beat all five of those teams to reach that awesome 7 win mark is a massive leap in logic that Bear2 is making.

CHP Bear said:

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I'm slowly lowering the bar for BU football. Right now I view success at BU as 6 - 6, minor bowl money, and Big 12 check.

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We need to drop to the Sunbelt if that's our bar for success.


I'm not speaking from a place of emotion. It seems like the current pay for play just isn't sustainable for us, and if all we can muster up is a 0.500 season in the current big 12, some tough decisions about the future of Baylor football need to be made

"Aggressively mediocre" is an interesting description. He's only aggressive with ignorant 4th down calls. Otherwise "aggressive" does not appear to be a trait I've witnessed. And mediocre is faint praise which is not even justified.

CHP Bear said:

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I'm slowly lowering the bar for BU football. Right now I view success at BU as 6 - 6, minor bowl money, and Big 12 check.

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Exactly what the board of regents dreamed of when they fired Art Briles. Dave Aranda is their wet dream.

Reverend said:

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"Aggressively mediocre" is an interesting description. He's only aggressive with ignorant 4th down calls. Otherwise "aggressive" does not appear to be a trait I've witnessed. And mediocre is faint praise which is not even justified.

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I mean his record is 33-32 and his Big 12 record is 21-25 (19-18 since the COVID season). That's pretty much the textbook definition of mediocre.

bear2be2 said:

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The defense has competed its ass off today.

Those guys deserve a win.

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Unfortunately, the defense deserved a win until they had a chance to seal it with a key stop.

Another frustrating reality of the Dave Aranda experience.

How much are we paying the guy who put them in field goal range with a personal foul with minute left? Granted it seemed like a chicken shxt call from my seat especially after at least two face masks by ASU that weren't called.

Death by a thousand cuts.

Johnny Bear said:

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Mitch Henessey said:

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Aliceinbubbleland said:

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We should have gone for two. This was inevitable.

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Why would it have mattered? A FG still beats us

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LOL. Would've only meant we lose by 2 instead of 3.

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I disagree with the last 2 responses.

Going for 2 after the TD changes the whole dynamic of how the ending possibly plays out.

It would have been a calculated risk, but one worth taking, since we had all 3 timeouts.

The defense had struggled all night with making a key stop when it mattered most, so that should have been considered when making such a decision.

If we fail on the try, we could still go for an onside kick or kick it deep. If we kick it deep, ASU probably goes a bit conservative, which would probably mean a heavy dose of running plays - which we had some success dealing with.

With a tie game, they could obviously be more aggressive (a mix of both runs and passes), which we all witnessed.

If we'd made the 2-pointer, then ASU is forced to press, much like they did against Mississippi State - which might open them up to making a costly mistake.

With the game being tied, they were basically able to play loose and with house money, and it ended up costing us.

SMU had us in the same situation 2 weeks ago.

The difference? Their kicker was not very good and missed the game-winner at thd end of regulation.

ASU had a good kicker, and we weren't so lucky.

BellCountyBear said:

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CHP Bear said:

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I'm slowly lowering the bar for BU football. Right now I view success at BU as 6 - 6, minor bowl money, and Big 12 check.

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Exactly what the board of regents dreamed of when they fired Art Briles. Dave Aranda is their wet dream.

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In view of the absolute correctness of this statement, may I respectfully suggest BU drop the bear mascot and we become the Participants? In the interest of honesty and all.

Youre a clown said:

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dycbaylor02 said:

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IowaBear said:

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This team isn't going 8-4. That's their ceiling. That's not what their record will be. They ****ing suck. And are going to be absolutely horrendous next year. It's ****ing time. The excuses are over

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At the end of day no one will foot the bill for his buy out. Maybe after next year it's more palatable

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I talked about this with an Alumni friend the other day, but if we're really at this point that we can't afford a small buyout for a crap coach and can't bring in better talent, we need to move to a lesser conference where we can compete. Winning six games in the modern big 12 just isn't that impressive. Our current team would be a five, maybe six win team at best in this conference 15 years ago. Imagine having Oklahoma, Texas, A&M, Texas Tech, Missouri, or Nebraska on the schedule versus the mid teams we're facing

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Well I don't have to imagine, I can remember it well. Spoiler alert, we didn't fare well in the big12 95-2005

gtownbear said:

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Refusing to take field goal. Fumbles. And finally the sixty yard pass play when we had them backed up. Game, Set, Match.

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Our famous Colorado defense again.

Aliceinbubbleland said:

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gtownbear said:

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Refusing to take field goal. Fumbles. And finally the sixty yard pass play when we had them backed up. Game, Set, Match.

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Our famous Colorado defense again.

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Forever finding a way....

Aliceinbubbleland said:

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gtownbear said:

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Refusing to take field goal. Fumbles. And finally the sixty yard pass play when we had them backed up. Game, Set, Match.

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Our famous Colorado defense again.

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Good comparison

We are 70 games in to Dave Aranda's head coaching career and the sample size is significant enough for us to know exactly what he is. Anybody who thinks it's going to get better consistently does not understand how the world works. At this point, he is an OK coach on an OK team with OK players. Baylor has chosen the "consistent mediocrity" standard as our national brand.

Unfortunately if one assumes we would discover the next Art Briles if only we had an opening, he or she also doesn't know the way the world works or Baylor football history. The chances are greater actually that we would discover the next Roberts or Steele.

Ok. Let's settle. The risk is just too scary.

Let's be real: comparing today to the late 90s/early 2000s Baylor is way off. Back then we were dead last in facilities and TV money. We weren't even in the conversation.

Now the game is NIL. Yeah, we were slow there too, but we've started to catch up. The real problem? Dave Aranda. He hasn't shown he can evaluate talent, develop players, or build a winning program.

This isn't about fearing another 0-12 disaster. We're not going back to losing to non-FBS schools. Any new coach is likely an upgrade.

Sticking with the current trajectory = guaranteed mediocrity.
Taking the risk = a shot at a program that can actually compete and win consistently.

If you think staying put is the safer bet, you're part of the problem. Baylor deserves better. Period

I'd take a coach geeked out on cocaine any day over Dave.

I was being sarcastic. Sorry I confused.

Reverend said:

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I was being sarcastic. Sorry I confused.

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I understand what you were saying. A tough call, sticking with a very average, middle-of-the-road coach leading us to be the best middle-of-the-road team in the Big 12, or take a shot at finding a better coach, with the knowledge that they might lead us below middle-of-the-road, but may also may be the road less traveled.