The Baylor Bears (3-2) are back on the road to face West Virginia (2-3) in a Thursday evening matchup in Morgantown. Kickoff is scheduled for 6:00 p.m. CT and will be aired live on FS1.
"I don't think we played bad and I don't think anybody would say that we played bad. I think it's just, the difference between a good team and a great team is probably five to 10 plays. And that was kind of the difference for us is that those five to 10 plays are really going to decide the game. And when you play a good team like that, you got to be on your stuff for those five to 10 plays that you know are going to be a hard down."
Senior JACK Bryson Jackson
"I think we had an opportunity to go out there and practice this past week and we established our speed and our intentionality as far as defensive play."
Head Coach Dave Aranda
"I think underneath all of the — whether its schemes or techniques — I think there's a level of immaturity or just youth that we're really working on growing. And then I think for some of our vets, there's some complacency that we're working on getting rid of and kind of waking up from.”
Analysis of the Week
SicEm365 Analyst Sam Bradshaw
I view Morgantown similarly to the Stillwater trend: most years BU is not clearly the better team and pair that with bad luck on the years where you should win and it becomes a narrative. In 2012 and 2020 you had pretty evenly matched teams but one side of the ball let BU down. In 2018 WVU was clearly the better team while 2016 saw BU come in and almost win despite a pretty significant injury to Seth Russell. 2014 was really the only year where BU was clearly the stronger overall team and the Bears got caught unprepared for WVU to break coverage tendency and for the officials to call pass interference anytime anyone looked at a wideout wrong.
The other years where Baylor has been more clearly the better team? 2013, 2015, 2019, and 2021 which BU went 4-0 in Waco. BU almost stole the 2017 game where WVU was a stronger overall team as well.
Sounds like lots of people are jumping off the bus. That's not necessary. Tough loss for sure. So frustrating to not be able to win there. Ever. But we've taken a top 10 team up there, lost, and it didn't derail our season.
Everybody calm TF down, enjoy your Friday, and we'll get things back on track next Saturday.
I like your optimism but there are too many holes to get things "back on track" since we have never been there this year against good competition.
Let's keep it perspective. We've lost in 2OT on the road to a very good team, lost to what I think could be a playoff team in OSU, and a wild one in WV where we always lose. Too early to start burning things.
Give me some Drones. That dude moves like somebody I want playing qb.
I'm definitely not giving up on the season….but that defense we saw tonight was dog crap. That's supposed to be our identity. Especially concerning given we had an extra week to prepare.
Sounds like lots of people are jumping off the bus. That's not necessary. Tough loss for sure. So frustrating to not be able to win there. Ever. But we've taken a top 10 team up there, lost, and it didn't derail our season.
Everybody calm TF down, enjoy your Friday, and we'll get things back on track next Saturday.
I like your optimism but there are too many holes to get things "back on track" since we have never been there this year against good competition.
Let's keep it perspective. We've lost in 2OT on the road to a very good team, lost to what I think could be a playoff team in OSU, and a wild one in WV where we always lose. Too early to start burning things.
Give me some Drones. That dude moves like somebody I want playing qb.
I heartily agree and you will see I posted exactly what you said on another thread this evening. Drones showed athleticism. I'm not sure Shapen has faced this size guys before. He still reminds me of a baseball player rather than QB.
Yep. Tonight was ugly. But we looked worse last year at TCU loaded with a solid defense and multiple NFL ballers. This conference has a ton of skill position talent, and sometimes they make you look pretty bad.
We win that game if Shapen doesn't get hurt. Drones was nice, but Terrible at the end with the interception and the inability to complete a pass on that last drive doesn't excite me
Sounds like lots of people are jumping off the bus. That's not necessary. Tough loss for sure. So frustrating to not be able to win there. Ever. But we've taken a top 10 team up there, lost, and it didn't derail our season.
Everybody calm TF down, enjoy your Friday, and we'll get things back on track next Saturday.
I like your optimism but there are too many holes to get things "back on track" since we have never been there this year against good competition.
Let's keep it perspective. We've lost in 2OT on the road to a very good team, lost to what I think could be a playoff team in OSU, and a wild one in WV where we always lose. Too early to start burning things.
Give me some Drones. That dude moves like somebody I want playing qb.
I heartily agree and you will see I posted exactly what you said on another thread this evening. Drones showed athleticism. I'm not sure Shapen has faced this size guys before. He still reminds me of a baseball player rather than QB.
For the love of God, please take care of our QB. Seth Russell - broken neck. Brewer - countless concussions. Gerry - frequently banged up legs. Shapen - fragile as hell.
Sounds like lots of people are jumping off the bus. That's not necessary. Tough loss for sure. So frustrating to not be able to win there. Ever. But we've taken a top 10 team up there, lost, and it didn't derail our season.
Everybody calm TF down, enjoy your Friday, and we'll get things back on track next Saturday.
I like your optimism but there are too many holes to get things "back on track" since we have never been there this year against good competition.
Let's keep it perspective. We've lost in 2OT on the road to a very good team, lost to what I think could be a playoff team in OSU, and a wild one in WV where we always lose. Too early to start burning things.
Give me some Drones. That dude moves like somebody I want playing qb.
We will see how they do this weekend but I don't think BYU is that great.
We win that game if Shapen doesn't get hurt. Drones was nice, but Terrible at the end with the interception and the inability to complete a pass on that last drive doesn't excite me
Yet, If Shapen doesn't fumbleit was on him- do we win?
Sounds like lots of people are jumping off the bus. That's not necessary. Tough loss for sure. So frustrating to not be able to win there. Ever. But we've taken a top 10 team up there, lost, and it didn't derail our season.
Everybody calm TF down, enjoy your Friday, and we'll get things back on track next Saturday.
I like your optimism but there are too many holes to get things "back on track" since we have never been there this year against good competition.
Let's keep it perspective. We've lost in 2OT on the road to a very good team, lost to what I think could be a playoff team in OSU, and a wild one in WV where we always lose. Too early to start burning things.
Give me some Drones. That dude moves like somebody I want playing qb.
I heartily agree and you will see I posted exactly what you said on another thread this evening. Drones showed athleticism. I'm not sure Shapen has faced this size guys before. He still reminds me of a baseball player rather than QB.
shapen's leg pop to throw the long ball cracks me up
Just a really poor football team right now. Secondary is bad. Lack playmakers on defense. One of the worst tackling teams in all of cfb right now. D line is very average and was incredibly overrated. Surprises me.
O line just not anything near expectations. Backs are okay but were bad early on. Receivers were poor early on but are now average. Qb is getting better but still doesn't have great feel for game or pocket presence .
Mental is totally off. Takes several minutes to get settled into games. Special teams also really poor. Recipe to lose many games. Still think they can reach a bowl but this was must win against a bad team and couldn't do it.
Among Baylor's 0-6 record in Morgantown: L, 70-63 (Bears had 700 yds) L, 41-27 (cost Bears a CFP berth) L, 24-21 (lost fumble on final series) L, 27-21 (lost in OT) L, 43-40 (tonight's fresh Hell)
Can't wait to replace the majority of the this team with better recruits. They just aren't good ball players.
Aranda needs to pray that Austin Novosad does not take a second look at that Ohio State or A&M offer. The honest truth about our recruiting is that it's going to make a slow descent unless something drastically changes with our nonexistent NIL program. You can't compete with schools that will pay their players 30K/year when all you can offer is free weekly Chick-fil-A vouchers
OSU maybe (quite possibly), A&M nope (don't care if someone, think his dad, did go there).
Just a really poor football team right now. Secondary is bad. Lack playmakers on defense. One of the worst tackling teams in all of cfb right now. D line is very average and was incredibly overrated. Surprises me.
O line just not anything near expectations. Backs are okay but were bad early on. Receivers were poor early on but are now average. Qb is getting better but still doesn't have great feel for game or pocket presence .
Mental is totally off. Takes several minutes to get settled into games. Special teams also really poor. Recipe to lose many games. Still think they can reach a bowl but this was must win against a bad team and couldn't do it.
I tend to agree with everything you say, but there's a small part of me that believes we are only maybe a handful of plays away from being undefeated or only one loss. I know, it is what it is but still…. Sort of like some sort of football karma for winning so many close ones last year?
Sounds like lots of people are jumping off the bus. That's not necessary. Tough loss for sure. So frustrating to not be able to win there. Ever. But we've taken a top 10 team up there, lost, and it didn't derail our season.
Everybody calm TF down, enjoy your Friday, and we'll get things back on track next Saturday.
I like your optimism but there are too many holes to get things "back on track" since we have never been there this year against good competition.
Let's keep it perspective. We've lost in 2OT on the road to a very good team, lost to what I think could be a playoff team in OSU, and a wild one in WV where we always lose. Too early to start burning things.
Give me some Drones. That dude moves like somebody I want playing qb.
We will see how they do this weekend but I don't think BYU is that great.
Just a really poor football team right now. Secondary is bad. Lack playmakers on defense. One of the worst tackling teams in all of cfb right now. D line is very average and was incredibly overrated. Surprises me.
O line just not anything near expectations. Backs are okay but were bad early on. Receivers were poor early on but are now average. Qb is getting better but still doesn't have great feel for game or pocket presence .
Mental is totally off. Takes several minutes to get settled into games. Special teams also really poor. Recipe to lose many games. Still think they can reach a bowl but this was must win against a bad team and couldn't do it.
I tend to agree with everything you say, but there's a small part of me that believes we are only maybe a handful of plays away from being undefeated or only one loss. I know, it is what it is but still…. Sort of like some sort of football karma for winning so many close ones last year?
To date, our three losses are by a combined 20 points... an overtime loss, a true loss and a 3 point loss. TWO of those were easily winnable with a correction or two. We can all point to a few in each of those games. I expected a loss against OSU figuring we would improve enough to make a return trip to face them in B12 Championship game. The landscape has changed. We cannot lose another to have a glimmer of a chance. TCU is GOOD! It really wouldn't matter though, good or not, Ft Worth or Waco, they'll pound Baylor... every year.
I want to think, we'll get better, each game is winnable, but my optimism is fading. I believe in CDA and staff. i just think the remaining schedule just doesn't look to be kind to us.
