All Black, Gold Helmets, Big Stakes: Baylor Prepares for Electric Opener against Auburn

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With Baylor’s season opener against Auburn, arguably the biggest non-conference game in the 10-plus year history of McLane Stadium, only two days away, senior safety Devyn Bobby succinctly summarized how everyone’s feeling.

“We’re very excited,” he told the media on Tuesday. “Night game. SEC opponent. All black. Gold helmets. You couldn’t ask for anything better.”

Redshirt senior left guard Ryan Lengyel added, “To beat Auburn at home in a night game with the gold-chrome helmets, it’d mean a lot to the team.”

From an outsider’s perspective, the hype for the matchup between the Bears and Tigers has been building gradually all offseason, and the players inside Baylor’s locker room can’t wait to display to a national audience how they’ve built upon last fall’s 8-5 campaign.

“We’ve been putting in so much work,” Bobby said. “It’s another opportunity for us to go out there and show what we can do on Friday.”

Part of the reason why the Bears have so much confidence is that most of the players who will make an impact against Auburn were members of last year’s team, especially on offense, with nine starters returning. That continuity is rare across the modern college football landscape and is a significant advantage that should enable Baylor to start fast on Friday.

“We definitely have a lot of confidence that we didn’t have last year, but we still have to start hungry,” Lengyel said.

Bobby chimed in, “Having a lot of guys back allows us to pick up where we started at the end of the season.”

Although there’s a ton of returning familiarity within Dave Aranda’s squad, the sixth-year head coach is making sure that his players put past successes and accolades from last season behind them.

“The way that we approached this offseason helped the team get its own confidence,” Lengyel said. “Last year was last year. Everyone understands that, and we’re going for new goals. This year being this year, we’re going to attack it with some hunger and not be complacent.”

As for what to expect against Hugh Freeze’s Tigers, it starts with the incredibly talented wide receiver room that features multiple future NFL players, including Cam Coleman and Eric Singleton.

On the flip side, Baylor’s secondary was the weakest link of the team last year, but Bobby believes that matching up against the Bears’ elite pass catchers every day in practice has helped them prepare for the primetime matchup.

LISTEN: Key Matchups, Storylines & Predictions For Baylor vs. Auburn Season-Opener

“We’re falling back on our technique and things we’ve been doing all offseason, spring, summer, fall camp,” he said. “We’ve got a great receiving core, who push us every day and get us better, so we’re going to be ready.”

Baylor’s shaky secondary took an even bigger hit this week when Aranda announced that starting nickelback Carl Williams IV wouldn’t be available against Auburn. Without Williams IV and Northwestern transfer Devin Turner, who is slated to miss the season with a knee injury, Baylor will have to rely on some unproven players in the backend.

“We’ll be going harder and playing for him, knowing he can’t be out there with us,” Bobby said of Williams IV. “He’s a great [piece] in the safety room, but without him, next man up — that’s the mentality we have in the room.”

The player who will most likely start aside Bobby is redshirt sophomore Oregon transfer Tyler Turner, who played just 33 snaps last season with the Ducks. Bobby, however, has been impressed with what he’s seen from Turner and believes he can have a great year.

“He’s consistent,” Bobby said. “He’s coming in every day to put in work. He’s doing what he’s supposed to do. He’s doing his one-11th. I’m excited for him.”

Following a year where the Bears struggled to get to the quarterback, Baylor’s secondary should also be aided by an infusion of talented pass rushers added in the offseason: redshirt junior Oregon transfer Emar’rion Winston, junior Tulane transfer Matthew Fobbs-White and four-star freshman Kamauryn Morgan.

“[It makes my life] a lot easier,” Bobby said of the pass rush. “If they eat, that’s going to allow the QB to make a bad read, which allows us to make a play. It goes hand in hand. They're working with us. We're working with them. I’m glad we got those guys.”

On the other side of the ball, a hot-button topic across social media is that Baylor’s offensive line can’t handle the size and physicality of Auburn’s front seven. In reality, the Bears are technically going up against a bigger defensive line every day in practice, with Baylor having a slight size advantage over Auburn, averaging a height of 6-foot-4 compared to 6-foot-3 and a weight of 311 pounds compared to 308 pounds.

“Our guys are big and quick,” Lengyel said. “We have Jackie Marshall, Cooper Lanz and Samu. Those guys are fast, and they can move. Going off what we’ve seen off the tape from last year’s Auburn team, we think we have a pretty good idea of what they’re going to do to us.”

The Tigers are led up front by junior Keldric Faulk, a 6-foot-6, 285-pound defensive end who totaled seven sacks and 11 tackles for loss a season ago. Lengyel believes his unit won’t be overwhelmed, but rather will be ready to make adjustments on the fly, something they excelled at doing during last year’s six-game winning streak.

“We expect a lot of size, but it’s kind of hard in the first game because you don’t know what they’ve added to their toolbox,” he said. “You don’t know how they’ve progressed since last year. We’re taking everything with a grain of salt and are going to be ready to adjust on the fly.”

Baylor will open its season against Auburn at 7 p.m. on Friday, Aug. 29, at McLane Stadium. The game will be nationally televised on FOX.

All Black, Gold Helmets, Big Stakes: Baylor Prepares for Electric Opener against Auburn

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