Dave Aranda Talks Saturday's Loss, Shapen and the Struggling Offensive Line

“It’s been a hard couple of days,” head coach Dave Aranda said to open his weekly press conference Monday afternoon. “There’s been honest and open conversations and discussions on things that we did wrong and that we could do better.”

In the 42-31 shocking upset loss to Texas State, Baylor was dominated in many facets of the game, which sparked tough conversations within the program over the weekend.

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Texas State’s quarterback, TJ Finley, scorched the young Baylor secondary with 298 yards and three touchdowns through the air.

“[Talking] with our team, it’s ‘Hey, this is what you did, but it’s not who you are. We’ve seen who you are and we want to put that on tape and show the world that.’ I think there’s a ton of leadership in that room that’s going to help with that, but [having tough conversations with both the players and the staff] is hard,” Aranda said. “Any time there is a disappointment, it’s difficult.”

Quarterback Blake Shapen (RJr.), who valiantly threw for two touchdowns and 301 yards in Saturday’s loss, will miss the next two to three weeks with an MCL injury according to Aranda. In his place will be Mississippi State transfer quarterback Sawyer Robertson (RSo.)

“[Sawyer] is a confident kid that’s going to bring energy,” Aranda said. “ He’s going to motivate guys around him. There’s a contagious spirit about him. We’re going to need that especially early in the week as we pick ourselves up off the mat. There’s a great amount of belief in him with the team.”

Against Texas State, Robertson entered for a hobbled Shapen in the second half and had 112 yards through the air on 6-12 passing. But in order for Robertson or any Baylor quarterback for that matter, to find success moving forward, the offensive line, who allowed 27 pressures on 54 quarterback dropbacks, will have to drastically play better.

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Quarterback Blake Shapen will miss two to three weeks with an MCL injury, according to Aranda.

“There’s a ton of room to improve,” Aranda said of the offensive line. “And we must improve, and it’s going to be demanded that we improve. I feel like from that hard lesson that we had Saturday and moving forward throughout the rest of the week, we’ll see some good improvement.”

Aranda and the Bears will go back to the drawing board before welcoming No. 14 Utah (1-0) to McLane Stadium next weekend. The Utes bring a hard-nosed style of football and have one of the toughest defenses in the country, but first, Baylor will have to put the feelings of the Texas State loss behind them.

“It’s always hard to let go [of the feelings from Saturday],” Aranda said. “If I were to say it’s completely behind us at this point. It would probably be a ‘No.’ But I would think by the end of today, we’re looking forward and totally focused on Utah.”