Gameday Thread: Baylor (6-5) faces Texas (7-4) in regular season finale

The Baylor Bears (6-5) wrap up the regular season against Texas (7-4) on Friday morning in Austin. Kickoff is set for 11 a.m. CT and will be aired live on ESPN. 

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Quotes of the Week

Senior Defensive Lineman TJ Franklin

"The focus is still where it needs to be. I mean, [the staff] have done a good job by making us practice in the morning and giving us the extra time in the evening to either get extra film or take care of our bodies, do anything that we need to do to be like our final preparation for the game, so that's a big help." 

Senior Offensive Lineman Jacob Gall

"That's something we've been talking about all week and I think the thing we really come back to is that this is another chance for us to prove ourselves," Gall said. "Everybody that's kind of still been doubting us all season after the start or after any loss we've had, this is still another chance to prove to everybody the team that we actually are.""

Head Coach Dave Aranda

"I think we're stronger for it. And I think we're probably a closer team now than we were just two weeks ago. I think you find out so much about yourself, especially when there's trials, tribulations, and all of it. And when people can fully put their heart out there and then have it crushed at the end, I think it's so vulnerable to do that. And for guys to do that. And then to make the decision here to do it, again, I think, speaks to just a strong growth of the team. And we're aiming to do that."

Analysis of the Week

SicEm365 Analyst Travis Roeder

What an impossible game to predict. From a pure quality standpoint, I think this is a toss-up game. What makes it so difficult is you have to predict the team’s energy, focus, and desire. Texas still has a lot to play for (they can make the title game if they beat Baylor and Kansas beats K-State). Baylor spent themselves emotionally against TCU. Were they able to recover and gin up enough energy to one of the three best teams they’ve played this year, and play them on the road?

Baylor has the talent to make Texas one-dimensional in this game by relatively shutting down Bijan and forcing Ewers to beat them consistently. That’s Baylor’s path to winning. If they really shut down Texas’ run game like TCU was able to, Baylor can hold Texas under 24 points. We’ll see what version of Baylor’s defense we get tomorrow.

Video Of The Week