Welcome to the Players Club. This week features linebacker Matt Jones and wide receiver/return man Josh Cameron, who both reflected on struggles, but still believing as the team enters the final month of the season.
Reracking after another home loss, it's gut check time with four games remaining and in-state Houston heading to Waco for a rekindled rivalry and potential marquee matchup for the new-look Big 12.
So, can these Bears dig deep and make things interesting? Can they create a little magic at McLane before time runs out? Or will the home woes reach new lows?
WHAT'S THE DISCONNECT?
These Bears are familiar with resiliency and attempting to rebound from losses. After all, the Houston game will mark their fifth time playing after a defeat this season. In those games, the Bears are 3-1, the only back-to-back Ls occurring against Texas State and Utah to start the season.
Senior LB Matt Jones has been around the block and seen a lot of different versions of success and hardships during his six seasons in Waco. On Tuesday, he was quick to praise the talent he sees on this team, comparing it even to the 2021 group.
Unfortunately, that perceived talent hasn't carried over to team wins on Saturdays, as he's well aware. But as for why, the Odessa native's as perplexed as us on the outside.
"I'm pretty sure a lot of people get tired of hearing it, but, we have great practices. We're out there, energy, we're rolling, pads popping. I feel like we're putting all the work in, every bit of work you could put in, until the game starts," Matt Jones said.
The descriptions of their practices never waver despite the results often running contrary to the narrative. Every player and Dave Aranda has seemingly talked about the positives seen at practice. But none can pinpoint why there's insufficient carryover to Saturdays and how that remains the case 3/4 through the season.
"I feel like within the three hours … the four quarters, I just feel like all the work we put in, and everything we've done, it's just not unleashing. And that's really when it needs [to be] unleashed, because all the work you put in, that's what you want to do, is go out there and display [it]," Jones said to media this week.
Josh Cameron would discuss how the team changed their pregame approach to try and solve their issues with slow starts. It partially involved individual group periods with position coaches, plus getting their bodies moving more and warmed up in the leadup.
But Cameron eventually touched on the real solution to what ails the Bears. And it touches all the bases, from slow starts to home struggles to execution issues to energy concerns. The quickest but most demanding fix always comes back to the same thing.
"Really, people just making plays from the beginning. Just going into the game that would just help basically corral the whole team. So, if someone makes a big play, like everyone feels that energy, so I think if we start getting more plays, either from me or whoever, just someone making a big play to start us out. I think that'll just help a whole, whole lot."
NOT SO SWEET HOME
Equally puzzling are the team's home woes. With last week's loss to Iowa State, the Bears are now 1-5 at home this season, with the lone win over FCS Long Island.
McLane Stadium has a special magic, and there have been the makings for more this season, but the program's mired in a slump along the Brazos.
If visiting programs are better, that's one thing. And that's been the case at times. But to still be at a point where you're searching for a formula for fast starts or feeding off home-field advantage makes little to no sense.
And it has nothing to do with the crowd or gameday presentation. Yes, players need to make plays, but they may also need to get out of their heads a little.
"When we go on the road, it's a different feeling. You don't really have no one by your side. As compared to when you're here, you got the fans, you got your cheerleaders and dance people, your band, everyone's on your side. But when you go on an away game, it's like, oh, it's us versus them," Jones tried explaining.
"I feel like when we're here at home, we don't really think of like, 'oh, it's us versus them. I feel like we think of it as us — as in the stadium — versus them, rather than how it needs to be. Us players versus Them players. And when we go on away games I feel like that's what we do."
To Jones' credit, it does sound hard to explain, but having a straightforward, winning mindset at home should not be this complicated. As Josh Cameron mentioned above, the quickest solution is players making plays and, of course, coaches putting them in the proper position to do so.
To Aranda's credit, he's spoken about simplifying the mindset and focusing on the task at hand, but somewhere along the way, there's a strange disconnect and why they find themselves at 3-5.
BOWL DREAMS
Four games are all that's remaining and likely for this team at this stage. To change that, the Bears can go no worse than 3-1 to make the postseason. Now, whether or not this team is good enough or capable enough to pull off a 3-1 run is another conversation.
Understandably, some may roll their eyes or scoff merely at the notion of this team pulling off that run, but the facts remain, and a bowl game is still in play.
In his third season, Cameron is still relatively young but a vet compared to some other youth playing on this roster.
"I would say there's a whole lot of motivation. I've just kind of been talking to [younger players] too, just kind of stressing the importance of a bowl game, like what that means for the seniors," Josh Cameron said.
"Like that's a whole other game, a whole other chance to play before going out. So, I think it's just a huge motivation factor and just basically keeping everyone up and just stressing we still have a chance for a bowl game. This is a whole other game. And they can change the trajectory of next season by winning that game too," the Cedar Park standout relayed this week.
A lot more than a bowl win will be needed to change this program's overall trajectory moving forward into 2024. But, Cameron's scenario, as unlikely as it may seem, would be an earth-moving level of rebounding.
And it's in play until it isn't.
Now, lose to Houston and stick a fork in those dreams, officially, because they're not beating Kansas State, regardless of what happens this weekend.
A SPECIAL OPPORTUNITY
A week removed from accolades and heroics, the special teams unit took a backseat against Iowa State.
Still, Josh Cameron was part of those big plays in the Cincinnati win, with a 48-yard punt return that set up the first points, a field goal, in what was ultimately a three-point win.
It's a role he's growing into but enjoying, thanks to Baylor's first-year special teams coach.
"Yeah, now I'm super comfortable. I really just want to thank Coach [Tyler] Hancock for giving me the opportunity. I've never done it until this year, and he was just like, "Hey, I'm just gonna put you back.' I was like, 'Shoot, I'll give it a chance.' So I think as the season's just been going on, and getting a feel for it and just knowing like the spacing and all that, I think it's just been real cool. And real fun, honestly."
