Gameday Thread: Baylor Welcomes Auburn to Waco for High-Profile Season Opener

dallas4bears said:

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Outmatched in the trenches but the elements are there for us to be in the race for the Big 12 championship. Learn from this and move on.

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Yep. I'd like to have someone spying the QB when we face a runner.

All I see is 0-1 and we have line and D issues (again).

SMU game will be telling next week. We will be on more equal footing with talent.

Bad news though....SMU also has a mobile QB.

Ended up going about like I thought it might other than I thought the loss would be closer than 2 TDs and I had no idea Jackson Arnold's running would be the difference.

Not as bad as I thought it would be. We don't have the hosses on D to play at that level of physicality so I thought we'd get worn down. Losing Marshall was a killer and not having Williams also hurt as it relates to Arnold running at will against us. We'll run into some teams in the Big 12 who are better, but none that are as physical as what we just saw.

Youre a clown said:

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Ewalker80 said:

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The other thing benefiting auburn was that they play high school teams the next two weeks. If Arnold got knocked up a bit they don't need him for nearly a month.

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Oh good grief

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This guy is delusional!
Cracking me up

Total Yards

Auburn 415
BU 483

boognish_bear said:

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SMU game will be telling next week. We will be on more equal footing with talent.

Bad news though....SMU also has a mobile QB.

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I expect a game very similar to Colorado last year where we basically should win but allow their quarterback to make one too many plays and lose a close one. I think a 1-3 start is likely. And whereas we are all beat up after this game, SMU gets to play an easy tuneup game tomorrow

This place was an electric factory four hours ago and it's now emptied in record time. Can't run and can't stop the run = a bad combination for Baylor. Terrific road win for Auburn.

— Craig Smoak (@CraigSmoak) August 30, 2025

bear2be2 said:

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I'm not too discouraged, honestly.

Getting whipped on the lines sucks, but they recruit a lot better linemen than we do. That part is what it is.

But we moved the ball well pretty much all night without a run game that will wake up once we start playing Big 12 fronts.

This team will be successful in Big 12 play. Need to play well next week in Dallas to avoid an 0-2 start, though.

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Yep, overall we may fare ok in the B12. Don't think we'll be at the top, but I expect a better year than I was expecting.

Still think CDA is a terrible game-day coach but we've got who we got at this point.

I kind of think about a running qb as similar to a Coach that shows emotion and crawls up people's a@@ once in a while.
Just means a little more…(like the SEC?)

Oh wow. I knew it was bad, but Smoak's comment made me check the rushing stats. 24 carries for 64 yards. Woof.

When Marshall went down they ran it down our throat. Somehow we couldn't stop Arnold from running despite it being obvious he'd run.

I give offensive play calling a D+. 3 drops that were catchable but Sawyer also had some not great throws. Running it into the teeth of the Auburn defense was never going to work… yet we tried. Involved Cameron way too late… the holding was definitely hurting but find a way to get your play makers the ball or draw the flag.

Refereeing was very lopsided to Auburn but tough to complain too much when you also get your ass kicked. Auburn was extremely handsy with Cameron, Hawkins, and Trigg. They were not with Wilson and it showed because he torched them. The holding call on the Washington run was technically a hold but weak sauce to actually call unless you've hit Auburn with one or two similar ones.

Main positive takeaway from this game is that this is one of the best group of pass catchers in Baylor history. Let's right the ship and not squander it.

True Grit said:

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All I see is 0-1 and we have line and D issues (again).

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Our line issues (on both sides) are recruiting issues. Those will likely never be fixed to the level necessary to compete with teams that recruit at Auburn's level.

That's why the SEC -- and top of the Big Ten -- dominate college football. They get better linemen than everyone else does.

Our lines will be fine against our Big 12 peers. They're just not up to par against any team in the blue chip ratio club ... and never will be because we don't have access to that level of talent.

Defense still sucks. So slow.

Lost to LSU by 13 and Auburn by 14.

We just aren't there.

Yep. Therein lies the difference in the B1G/SEC vs the Big12/ACC, and it's a gap that will never be closed.

Johnny Bear said:

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Ended up going about like I thought it might other than I thought the loss would be closer than 2 TDs and I had no idea Jackson Arnold's running would be the difference.

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Arnold has always been a good runner. It's just a shame we weren't able to slow the run enough to force him to pass, which is his weakness.

He's not very good under pressure either, but we weren't able to get him into situations where we might be able to apply some.

He played well today. But we weren't able to exploit his weaknesses at all.

bear2be2 said:

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True Grit said:

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All I see is 0-1 and we have line and D issues (again).

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Our line issues (on both sides) are recruiting issues. Those will likely never be fixed to the level necessary to compete with teams that recruit at Auburn's level.

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Then it's pointless to even try to win a national championship.

Exactly. Trenches are why the same teams are always at the top competing for titles. Scheme and high level skill players can only take you so far, TCU beating Michigan and getting trounced by UGA case in point.

Jackie Marshall is a NFL level DL and when he went out they ran it to where he would be lined up a lot and had great success. Nick Saban teams were 3 deep at every line position.

Doc Holliday said:

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bear2be2 said:

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True Grit said:

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All I see is 0-1 and we have line and D issues (again).

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Our line issues (on both sides) are recruiting issues. Those will likely never be fixed to the level necessary to compete with teams that recruit at Auburn's level.

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Then it's pointless to even try to win a national championship.

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No, but being pointless does make it harder to do. Sorry, couldn't help myself.

bear2be2 said:

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boognish_bear said:

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Guitarbiscuit said:

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One thing that looks clear is nobody may be able to stop Trigg and Cameron this year. So there's that.

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And Wilson had 134 yards and Hawkins 70...all against an SEC team. Our WR room is stacked.

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Our receivers are legit. That group will feast on the Big 12.

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Oh yes. And Trigg would be NFL caliber if he could improve his hands. Cameron is probably already NFL ready.

Doc Holliday said:

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bear2be2 said:

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True Grit said:

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All I see is 0-1 and we have line and D issues (again).

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Our line issues (on both sides) are recruiting issues. Those will likely never be fixed to the level necessary to compete with teams that recruit at Auburn's level.

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Then it's pointless to even try to win a national championship.

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In football I kind of think it is...and I hate it.

The B12 usually has its contender smoked in the CFP. TCU was a shooting star exception beating Mich...before getting excoriated by Georgia.

I guess ASU did hang in there with UT last year.

Just feels even more with NIL/portal that the top end will become untouchable.

boognish_bear said:

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Lost to LSU by 13 and Auburn by 14.

We just aren't there.

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The defense has not been good since Matt Rule.

Wangchung said:

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Isn't turning around to run into the end zone backwards considered taunting?

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Not for sec refs.

2021 was Aranda as coach with Pitre and Bernard. That defense was why we won the Big12 and Sugar Bowl…. But hasn't been great since

boognish_bear said:

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Doc Holliday said:

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bear2be2 said:

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True Grit said:

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All I see is 0-1 and we have line and D issues (again).

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Our line issues (on both sides) are recruiting issues. Those will likely never be fixed to the level necessary to compete with teams that recruit at Auburn's level.

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Then it's pointless to even try to win a national championship.

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In football I kind of think it is...and I hate it.

The B12 usually has its contender smoked in the CFP. TCU was a shooting star exception beating Mich...before getting excoriated by Georgia.

I guess ASU did hang in there with UT last year.

Just feels even more with NIL/portal that the top end will become untouchable.

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Yep. I think it will be a game of who wants to buy a championship. At that point it will cheapen the game, because it won't be about how well your school is doing or how much prestige you've got…it will simply be "they bough a championship"

The way I saw it. Auburn is not that good. They will be a .500 tem in the SEC and they kicked our ass. Not likely we will be more than .500 in the Big 12 see

Exactly what Ohio State did last year. Bought the best roster money could buy and won a championship against a well coached and punching above their weight Notre Dame. Took some time for the transfers to all gel but once they did that team was unstoppable

TinFoilHatPreacherBear said:

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bear2be2 said:

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I'm not too discouraged, honestly.

Getting whipped on the lines sucks, but they recruit a lot better linemen than we do. That part is what it is.

But we moved the ball well pretty much all night without a run game that will wake up once we start playing Big 12 fronts.

This team will be successful in Big 12 play. Need to play well next week in Dallas to avoid an 0-2 start, though.

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Yep, overall we may fare ok in the B12. Don't think we'll be at the top, but I expect a better year than I was expecting.

Still think CDA is a terrible game-day coach but we've got who we got at this point.

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I think we will do ok in the Big 12. But you're right about Aranda not adjusting. No spy at all on Arnold the whole game. It's safe to say he is not good at adjustments. Either he doesn't see them or sees them and thinks it would be better off not adjusting.

Smashmouth said:

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The way I saw it. Auburn is not that good. They will be a .500 tem in the SEC and they kicked our ass. Not likely we will be more than .500 in the Big 12 see

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Auburn is probably not that good, but the Big 12 is not that good. And because of that, we could win some games. But with that said, I remember Matt Rule's team dominating the trenches. He was a better recruiter than Aranda is.

boykin_spaniel said:

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2021 was Aranda as coach with Pitre and Bernard. That defense was why we won the Big12 and Sugar Bowl…. But hasn't been great since

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Weren't those Rhule recruits?

I think we can have a team win a game. TCU did beat Michigan. ASU arguably had Texas beat. The problem is when you don't have the same level of trench warfare as your opponents, you are eventually going to get beat. It's like a hot handed Cinderella in March Madness. They're playing very well but when the 3 ball dries up a team with 4 NBA draft picks is going to beat them.

Definitely a lot of them but giving credit to the coach at the time and the two best players on that team who looking back seemed to basically be extra coaches.

Kick your field goals earlier in the game and don't give up a 98 yard kick return. All of those are on the coach.