Behind Enemy Lines: What Texas is Saying About Baylor

In what will likely be the final time that Baylor (1-2) and Texas (3-0) meet in Waco for football, it will be on the national stage in front of a sold-out crowd at McLane Stadium. The Bears have been struggling to find a spark outside of freshmen on their roster, while the Longhorns are ranked No. 3 in the nation and are loaded with NFL talent.

The Bears have won two of the last four meetings in the series, including a 24-10 win in Waco in 2019 and a 31-24 win in 2021 in Waco. However, Texas leads the all-time series with Baylor, 80-28-4. UT leads the series, 31-18-2 in games played in Waco.

Earlier this week Texas head coach Steve Sarkisian met with the media to preview their final Big 12 opener and what he expects to see from Baylor. Sarkisian addressed the elephant in the room during his opening statement. Despite being undefeated and ranked third, the teams in the Big 12 don’t care. 

“This week is Big 12 play, and that’s exciting. I told our guys that the Big 12 doesn’t care that we’re 3-0. The Big 12 doesn’t care that we’re ranked third in the AP Poll, we are 0-0 in Big 12 play,” said Sarkisian. “This week we have to do everything in our power to go 1-0 in a hostile environment against a really well-coached and veteran team and we’re going to need to play a complete game.”

As the landscape of college athletics continues to evolve for better or worse, regionality, and rivalries have become collateral damage. The memories of the Southwest Conference glory days still remain strong in the hearts of a lot of people in the Lone Star State. 

Texas leaving the Big 12 for the SEC after this season throws more dirt into the grave of the old SWC as the Horns will no longer benefit from playing programs like Baylor, Houston, TCU and Texas Tech. Sarkisian was asked about saving these “rivalries” by scheduling them as non-conference games in the future.

“That’s always a hard one because the moment you play one of them then the others will be more upset and saying why isn’t it us,” said Sarkisian. “All I can do is focus on the teams we play and I recognize that these are great rivalries and games that have been played for years, and if that’s the direction it ends up going then I think that would be great for the state.”

The hate tour for the Longhorns will begin on Saturday in Waco and Sarkisian expects all of their road games to be intense. He also touched on the process of getting his squad mentally prepared for what they are about to experience.

“I think we just need to understand what we’re walking into,” said Sarkisian. “We’re going into McLane Stadium on Saturday night and it’s been well documented as of right now as the last time we’re going to play Baylor and go there.”

“We know the situation and we can’t be fearful of that. We have to embrace it and walk in there and be ourselves, and play our brand of football. Now more than ever are there Horns Down, now more than ever are these teams going to give us their best shot. We can’t be a punching bag, we’re going into these games in attack mode.”

It will likely take another Miracle on the Brazos for Baylor to come away victorious on Saturday night, but regardless, it will be a moment in time that will stick with Baylor fans for likely the rest of their lives. Kickoff between the Bears and Horns is set for 6:30 p.m. and will be aired on ABC.