Sure, we've had worse seasons by far, some under Aranda, but those were often with depleted rosters during rebuilding years. This year's team was supposed to be the culmination of a four-year rebuild, the team that was supposed to make a run at the B12 Championship and possibly even make it into the playoffs. We had all of the pieces to make it happen, and just needed a bit of extra juice from our defense, at least average-level play from them, to go on a big, 2021-style run.

Instead, we're not even going bowling this year. This team, with playoff aspirations, won't even be playing Western Kentucky at 2pm in front of 72 fans at the Factory Mattress Bowl. After the past four years, all we have to show for it is a pretty fun 6-0 run to give us an 8-win season. I can't think of any bright spots going into next year, except that it might just finally be the year that gets Aranda fired.

I'm a younger Baylor fan than most of the oldheads on here, so where does this season rank in terms of disappointments? I know that for me, it's the worst one since I started really paying attention to the team.

22. Dave has now had 3 incredibly disappointing seasons. 4 losing seasons in 6 years is utterly unacceptable….. and he's coming back next year to officially bury the program

Archie3 said:

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Sure, we've had worse seasons by far, some under Aranda, but those were often with depleted rosters during rebuilding years. This year's team was supposed to be the culmination of a four-year rebuild, the team that was supposed to make a run at the B12 Championship and possibly even make it into the playoffs. We had all of the pieces to make it happen, and just needed a bit of extra juice from our defense, at least average-level play from them, to go on a big, 2021-style run.

Instead, we're not even going bowling this year. This team, with playoff aspirations, won't even be playing Western Kentucky at 2pm in front of 72 fans at the Factory Mattress Bowl. After the past four years, all we have to show for it is a pretty fun 6-0 run to give us an 8-win season. I can't think of any bright spots going into next year, except that it might just finally be the year that gets Aranda fired.

I'm a younger Baylor fan than most of the oldheads on here, so where does this season rank in terms of disappointments? I know that for me, it's the worst one since I started really paying attention to the team.

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I've been thinking about that, and it's hard for me to gauge. Generally, Baylor teams (in my 51 years of existence) have performed about as well or bad as expected.

In terms of "failure to reach preseason expectation," this is probably one of the worst years I can think of in recent memory.

We had horrible seasons under Steele and Roberts and were bad under Bill Beall (before my time), but I'm thinking that we probably had a decent idea what those seasons would amount to before they started.

I allowed myself to be fooled by that six game winning streak to finish the year last year. With so much returning talent on offense I was sure we would be competing for a shot at the conference title game.

This season has been a massive disappointment for me. If you would have told me we were going to end up 5-7 I would've thought Sawyer was out most of the season or something drastic.

This team could not have underperformed any more, literally, if it hadn't have had a head coach at all. Just Coordinators running the show. That's the reality state of Baylor football these days.

boognish_bear said:

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I allowed myself to be fooled by that six game winning streak to finish the year last year. With so much returning talent on offense I was sure we would be competing for a shot at the conference title game.

This season has been a massive disappointment for me. If you would have told me we were going to end up 5-7 I would've thought Sawyer was out most of the season or something drastic.

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Pretty much sums up how I feel as well. Like most on here I wanted CDA gone after the 3-9 2023 season, but like you, the 6 game winning streak to end 2024 had me at least wondering if I was wrong and totally looking forward to this season that became such a clown show. And now to cap it off, there's no reason to think next season isn't at best going to be more of the same and is probably going to be even worse. My feeling in the off-season about 2026 is going to be more apathetic and unexcited than it's been since pre-Briles days.

Archie3 said:

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This team, with playoff aspirations, won't even be playing Western Kentucky at 2pm in front of 72 fans at the Factory Mattress Bowl.

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Is there actually a Mattress Bowl? Sounds like good Bowl to REST our season on.

2022 or 2023?

2017

Since 2023. That wasn't a very long time ago.

It was a very disappointing season for me. I thought we would go 6-6.

boognish_bear said:

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I allowed myself to be fooled by that six game winning streak to finish the year last year. With so much returning talent on offense I was sure we would be competing for a shot at the conference title game.

This season has been a massive disappointment for me. If you would have told me we were going to end up 5-7 I would've thought Sawyer was out most of the season or something drastic.

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Sawyer wasn't, but too many were. Washington couldn't stay in a game. Pendergrass never got on the field. The defense portal additions that were supposed to fill some of the defensive holes never got started due to injury. A lot of those things not happening were part of the expectations being higher. And our roster was never going to be deep enough to compensate for that level of loss.

The biggest problem in my mind was turnover margin. We were just about, if not, last in the rankings. We did not generate turnovers and we gave up way too many. As bad as the defense was during the season, we had at least 2 to 4 games that could have been high probability wins if the offense doesn't give up the ball or at just a normal level.

They certainly never gave up, but they couldn't keep from shooting themselves in the foot....and it was good players, Robertson, Trigg, Coleman, Washington....

2015 probably the most disappointing season in Baylor football history.

This probably falls after 2015 and 2023, where we were the consensus Big 12 champ.

Archie3 said:

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...This year's team was supposed to be the culmination of a four-year rebuild, the team that was supposed to make a run at the B12 Championship and possibly even make it into the playoffs....

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Wait, what? That is what you thought maybe but hardly anyone else on here did. Baylor was picked middleish of the Big12 pack (6th-8th) by the talking heads and I even posted a pre-season 'Guess BU's record this year' thread. Of those that answered the consensus was mostly a 6-6 or 7-5 type team. Yes, I'm hugely disappointed by the result this year, but "possibly even make...the playoffs"? Get real.

I'm class of '98, so not the oldest, but have been around

I could make a case for the 2005 season. That team was coming off a bad season, but it included a lot of hope and an inspiring win over A&M. We didn't think we were world beaters but did think a bowl was possible. Instead, the team finished 5-6, and those 6 losses included a 3 point road loss to the Aggies, a 7 point road loss to the Sooners and a 9 point home loss to Nebraska.

2005 Baylor Bears Schedule and Results | College Football at Sports-Reference.com

We probably had a better chance at a bowl in 2006, but the hope was gone.

Delmar 2.0 said:

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Archie3 said:

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...This year's team was supposed to be the culmination of a four-year rebuild, the team that was supposed to make a run at the B12 Championship and possibly even make it into the playoffs....

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Wait, what? That is what you thought maybe but hardly anyone else on here did. Baylor was picked middleish of the Big12 pack (6th-8th) by the talking heads and I even posted a pre-season 'Guess BU's record this year' thread. Of those that answered the consensus was mostly a 6-6 or 7-5 type team. Yes, I'm hugely disappointed by the result this year, but "possibly even make...the playoffs"? Get real.

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Oh, you clearly didn't listen to the 365 podcasts. It was 9-3 or 10-2 all the way, with constant mentions of the CFP.

Since last week, and the week before.