Facing trials of 2017 season, Bears look forward to home-field advantage

It’s been a long month.

Prior road trips to the north to face Kansas State and Oklahoma State with a week off sandwiched in between, the Baylor football team last played a home game against Oklahoma on the weekend of Sept. 23. The Bears have only played one home game in the last six weeks.

But now they are back in Waco getting ready to face their third top 25 opponent in the last four games with No. 23 West Virginia, a team flying high as they come to town following an emotional come-from-behind victory over Texas Tech last weekend.

The short trip across the Brazos River is a much-needed reprieve for Bears who are looking to exchange some excitement in the stands for some additional energy on the field.

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Trestan Ebner

“It’s really nice to be home,” freshman running back Trestan Ebner said. “You know, playing in front of your home crowd, it makes us want to play harder especially with it being Homecoming. We just want to come in and do good for Baylor. We just want to play hard and win at home.”

A win for Baylor at home on Saturday would be the first in over year. The last came in Baylor’s 2016 Homecoming game, a 49-7 victory over Kansas on Oct. 15. Since then, Baylor has lost 12-consecutive regular-season games, including five-straight at McLane Stadium, a massive difference from the 19-straight games Baylor won at home 2012-2015.

Finding a win over WVU wouldn’t undo the early-season losses that are still looming, but it would provide more than a glimmer of hope for the future. It would also provide a stepping stone for the mental state of the players.

“They’ve been through a lot, and they continue to fight and scratch and claw, and I’m proud of those guys that go out and represent us on Saturdays,” Matt Rhule said. “I hope our fans come out and cheer for our kids. I hope our fans go to the Bear Walk and slap those kids on the back, because those kids, even in the last two weeks, have endured a lot, and continue to show up and represent their school with pride.”

A freshman from New Jersey, cornerback Harrison Hand wasn’t part of those teams that won 19-straight games in Waco, as is the case with Ebner and a significant portion of Baylor’s 2017 team, but he sees the trials the program is enduring right now as ones that will take them back to the same level.

“It’s definitely bringing us closer,” Hand said. “‘Cause when I first got here I didn’t really know everybody, but as we go through these tough times, it’s bringing everybody together, knowing that everybody has each other’s back.”

Home-field advantage also isn’t a foreign term for any football player at any level, including the three freshmen on the roster from N.J., and they all hope to see the support in the stands on Saturday.

“It feels pretty good knowing that our fans are out there; home field advantage,” Hand said. “Just go out there and make all the fans happy.”

Rhule confirmed that he will continue the tradition of bringing the entire team to the pep rally on Friday evening, not for the sake of the fans, but for the team to see the support they have even during the midst of an extremely trying time.

“If this is what it’s like when things are down, imagine the support you’re going to get when things are great,” Rhule stated when referring to players and high school prospects seeing the support of Baylor fans on Friday and Saturday. “So, I think it’s a tremendous opportunity this weekend in recruiting, and it’s a tremendous opportunity for our players, and I’m hopeful that we can go out and compete at a high level.”

“And most importantly, we have a chance to come home after a month away and play in front of our fans and all the people that believe in our kids and in our program. I know, for that, we’re extremely excited.”

But honestly, how big of an impact can a large and energetic Homecoming crowd this weekend have on the future of the program? Following Baylor’s last game in Waco, it could have been enough to sway the thoughts of one of the top prospects that the Bears are recruiting in the 2018 class.

After falling short to No. 3 Oklahoma, a game where the Bears recovered an on-side kick and gave themselves an opportunity to push the game to overtime in the final moments, the fans gave an emphatic standing ovation to the players as they made their way to the locker room for the heart and effort they put on display from start to finish.

“I had one of the best recruits at the Oklahoma game say to me that seeing our crowd stand up and cheer for this team after losing—that outpouring of emotion and support for our time after a tough time—meant a lot to him,” Rhule said.

“That’s what this is all about to me. We’re going through this tough time, but these players did not bring about this tough time. But they’re going through it. And they’re going through it in a tough way and they’re fighting through it. So I hope that everyone shows up there just to say “hey, we love you and support you,” because that’s what we’re going to do. We’re going to show up and fight our tails off.”