“The ability of this team and the ability of what this team can do is very high; there are high expectations, and we did not meet those today,” a frustrated Dave Aranda told the media following Baylor’s 42-7 victory over Samford.
While the game was never in peril for a single second and the score would indicate a dominant blowout in favor of the Bears (2-1), that isn’t exactly what took place on Saturday afternoon at McLane Stadium.
Baylor often appeared to be a team going through the motions, struggling with poor tackling on defense and committing a series of uncharacteristic mistakes on offense.
Whether it was a slip-up due to an 11 a.m. kickoff versus a below-average FCS opponent or a long-term issue remains to be determined. Given Aranda’s history and 19-22 record since the 2021 season, Saturday’s showing may leave some people with a bit of unease.
However, the sixth-year head coach believes the less-than-stellar performance can be used as an example moving forward.
“This game gives us an opportunity to demand more and show that ‘Hey, what is okay ain’t good enough’ and to get just by ain’t it — that’s not what we’re doing this for,” Aranda said. “More is required and more is demanded.”
Baylor’s defense totaled a season-high four turnovers in the victory, and after an ugly drive in the first quarter where they allowed a score on a comical trick play, the Bears completely shut the Bulldogs down.
But when asked whether his defense is headed in the right direction, Aranda responded, “I don’t know,” and stressed that the physicality isn’t where it needs to be, particularly up front.
“I’m going to be hard on them because we’re talented there,” he said. “We have the ability to do it, and we have the coaches to do it. Guys have to demand more. Coaches have to coach harder. Players have to demand more of themselves, demand more of their teammates. It’s not going to be easy. There are no layups, especially when we start our league play. We need to be better.”
While the performance was frustrating to Aranda and most of those who watched, the players remain positive that they can get everything straightened out before conference play starts next weekend.
“The film’s never as good as you think, and it’s never as bad as you think,” wide receiver Kobe Prentice said after the win. “I’m sure there’s a lot that we can grow on from this game. It wasn’t pretty, but we got the dub. It’s not easy to win at the college level, so I’m thankful.”
Baylor’s offense had carved up two Power Four defenses to the tune of 72 points in the first two games, but surprisingly struggled with Samford on Saturday, who had been outscored 73-16 entering Saturday’s contest by the likes of West Georgia and The Citadel.
Running back Bryson Washington finished with 135 yards and two touchdowns on 31 carries, and the offense out-gained Samford, 468-to-195, but the offensive line wasn’t as dominant as you might expect against a lesser FCS opponent.
“I’m disappointed with the line of scrimmage,” Aranda said. “This was a game going into where offensively, we wanted to say, ‘Hey. We got the run game going. We’re outphysicaling people. We’re finishing people. We’re falling forward.’ I can’t say that we did that.”
In the victory, the Bears were an abysmal 4-of-13 on third downs and had more three-and-outs (4) on Saturday than against Auburn and SMU combined (2). It was clear that after jumping out to a 14-0 lead minutes into the contest, Baylor lost focus and didn’t keep its foot on the gas.
“We’re kind of pulling teeth to get focused and an energy,” Aranda said. “I thought we were able to break some big plays early, and then we weren’t able to break those plays late, and we had to move people to get out of the way to find space, and we weren’t doing that.”
Quarterback Sawyer Robertson’s struggles were arguably the biggest shocker on Saturday, as the Lubbock native has been phenomenal so far this season and was coming off a 440-yard, four-touchdown performance in the win over No. 17 SMU, which earned him AP and Big 12 Player of the Week awards.
Against the Bulldogs, Robertson wasn’t as crisp or efficient; he threw for 211 yards, three touchdowns and two interceptions on 23-of-37 passing and finished with a 42.7 quarterback rating. Aranda compared Robertson’s outing to those of when he was a redshirt sophomore in 2023.
“I think he was feeling the pressure of stuff not working,” Aranda said of his starting quarterback. “He was feeling the fog of not everyone being focused in and not everybody giving the type of effort that’s demanded. He’s trying to make plays. He’s trying to make something out of nothing at times. I think there wasn’t a bunch of separation with releases. There weren’t great pockets with protection.”
Prentice, who caught four passes for 16 yards and a score, didn’t think the turnovers impacted Robertson, saying, “He was the same Sawyer as if he didn’t throw the interception. When he threw that first one, I was like, ‘Okay, he’s human,’ because he’s been basically perfect all year. It doesn’t affect how he plays. He doesn’t let it get to his head, and he’s ready to play the next play.”
Entering the contest, most people anticipated that Robertson wouldn’t play past the first half, but he ended up playing well into the fourth quarter, something that Aranda said wasn’t the original plan.
“If the game was going where it looked like we were going to win the game and there was a healthy lead, we wanted to try and go to halftime,” he said. “By the time that we get to that phase, all of a sudden, we’re going backwards, and we didn’t want to leave, so we gave him one more drive. That’s pretty much the way it ended up sorting out.”
In place of Robertson, redshirt freshman Nate Bennett got to play two drives in the fourth quarter, totaling 34 yards on 5-of-7 passing. Four-star redshirt freshman and Auburn transfer Walker White didn’t see the field because Aranda noted that they wanted to “go in order based on how long the guys had been here.”
“Nate took some hits, and he stepped into some throws,” Aranda said. “He made some reads, so that was way cool to see. He’s been through quite a bit to be able to have his opportunity and make the most of it. I’m proud of him.”
Aside from Bennett’s first action of the year, the Bears had some other positives as freshman tailback Caden Knighten got his first career rushing touchdown and San Diego State senior transfer Louis Brown IV hauled in three passes for 34 yards and a touchdown.
Defensively, true freshman linebacker Kaden Burns and junior wide receiver turned safety Micah Gifford caught their first career interceptions, and redshirt sophomore cornerback LeVar Thornton had a bounce-back performance, collecting an interception and breaking up a pass.
“You get confidence when you know you can do something,” Aranda said. “Micah Gifford, if you add up a couple of months, he was a receiver and now he’s playing DB. He had a great break on the ball and made a big-time play. Kaleb Burns is going to be an invaluable player for us; he’s very talented and instinctual.”
Aranda continued, “LeVar is another one who last week had a tough game from start to finish, but responded today with a pick. There are guys who can make plays. When they make it, there's confidence that they can do it. Now, they can go out expecting to make that play. It’s a big difference.”
The Bears will look to put behind them whatever struggles they had on Saturday and build on the positives as they shift their focus to the conference opener against the reigning Big 12 Champion, the Arizona State Sun Devils.
Aranda admitted there’s still a ton for Baylor to clean up, noting, “We’ve got to improve our focus. We’ve got to improve in line of scrimmage play, both offensively and defensively. We’ve got to improve on protecting the ball on offense, and we've got to improve on limiting big plays on defense.”
Baylor (2-1) will face Arizona State (2-1) at 6:30 p.m. on Saturday, Sept. 20, at 6:30 p.m. at McLane Stadium. The game will be nationally televised on FOX.
