Close, But Still So Far: Baylor’s Inconsistencies Rear Ugly Head in Loss to Arizona State

Long Live Bambino: Kole Wilson Looks to Honor Late Brother’s Legacy This Season

Well… It’s Groundhog Day again.

Head coach Dave Aranda stood at the podium following Baylor’s 27-24 loss to Arizona State on Saturday and said, “I’m disappointed with this outcome. It’s a frustrated locker room. They’re feeling down right now. When you look at this game, the effort, the care factor and the fight, I’m very much proud of that.”

Maybe in a vacuum, one could chalk this up as a tough loss at the buzzer with some flukey turnovers, but looking at the bigger picture, inconsistencies and self-inflicted wounds have continued to plague Aranda’s program, specifically at McLane Stadium, where the Bears are 4-12 against Power Four opponents and 1-9 in “big home games” dating back to 2022.

“I’m disappointed in the execution, whether it’s the turnovers on offense or the penalties on defense or the busted play on a big third down,” Aranda said. “At inopportune times, just shooting yourself in the foot, and you just can’t do that, versus a really good team. To have them at home, to have the crowd in it, and not come away with it is very, very, very, very frustrating. That’s something that has to be fixed, and I take all responsibility for that.”

The excuses, however, are becoming increasingly difficult to swallow. The pieces are in place for this year’s team to do something special and make a run at a conference title. While there are holes here and there, this isn’t an incredibly flawed roster like in years past. The Bears returned most of their starters and should be winning these games, especially in the supposed friendly confines of McLane Stadium.

“We’re a very talented team, and everyone feels that and knows that,” Aranda said. “This is getting us more, excuse my language, but pissed off and frustrated. Now, it’s about using that energy in a positive way. Everyone knows we’re really close. We’ve got to put this together, so that’s the next step.”

Quarterback Sawyer Robertson, who threw for 250 yards, three touchdowns and an interception on 25-of-39 passing, added, “Unfortunately, there are games where we could run away with it, and we’re not doing it right now. Taking that next step is what we have to do. We’re fighters, and if I know anything, it usually turns out well for guys who play hard and fight until the very end. We’re hoping to turn that corner as we go through the season. It happens. You’re going to face adversity, but how you handle that is going to make or break your season.”

On Saturday against the Sun Devils, surprisingly, the defense came together and played three and a half superb quarters of football while the offense struggled with self-inflicted wounds — turnovers, penalties, etc. But when Robertson and the offense finally put things together with two touchdown drives in the fourth quarter, then the defense couldn’t get off the field, further proving that complementary football continues to evade Aranda’s Bears.

“The thing that we’ve probably been talking about the most, more than anything, is complementary football and that’s where one side backs up the other side, or if one side isn’t playing good, then offense, defense, special teams — the other side — picks you up and carries the extra load or burden until the other side gets off the ground and starts swinging on its own,” Aranda said.

He continued, “Then, if one side is really playing well, then the other side takes that momentum and doubles down, and it kind of becomes this overwhelming thing, and we’ve yet to do that in however many games we’ve played. It’s a thing we’ve talked about a ton, but I have to look at myself and find a better way to get that done because that’s really what’s missing right now — a team that plays collectively together right now.”

On offense, part of the reason for Baylor’s struggles was a shockingly bad game from the Bears’ best wideout, redshirt senior Josh Cameron, who’s arguably been Baylor’s most consistent player for the last four seasons. Cameron coughed up two fumbles, dropped a pass and an apparent miscommunication between him and Robertson led to an interception.

“I know Josh is a dog, so obviously, this is not the game he wanted to have, but I know the type of person that he is, and he’s going to bounce right back,” senior wide receiver Kole Wilson said post-game. “I was telling him to keep his head up because it’s a long game. Even though he had those fumbles, he still made a lot of plays for us. He’s a big contributor to the team.”

Wilson noted that Arizona State’s game plan was to intentionally keep everything in front of them, hoping that Baylor would beat itself, and that’s exactly what happened on Saturday night. It didn’t appear that the Sun Devils could stop the Bears had they played a clean brand of football, but Baylor’s offense turned the ball over three times, was stopped on a fourth-and-short and had a couple of penalties stall drives.

“They’re a bend-don’t-break defense,” Wilson said. “They want to keep everything in front of them and make us make mistakes, and we have to capitalize on what they give us. We have a lot of playmakers, and we have a great quarterback, so they know if they play us man [coverage], then it’s pretty much over for them. They try to make sure they don’t do that, play off and make us make mistakes.”

In the rushing attack, redshirt sophomore running back Bryson Washington had his best game of the young season, totaling 111 yards on 17 attempts for an average of 6.5 yards per carry. Even with the success the Bears had on the ground, it didn’t feel like Washington got the rock enough, which was something that Robertson corroborated after the game.

“Bryson’s incredible,” Robertson said.” How tough he is. How physical he is running through tackles. I have no words for his performance and what he does on a week-in and week-out basis. It makes my life easier doing stuff like that. I probably left him out to dry a couple of times when I should have checked it or thrown it.”

On the other side of the ball, Aranda’s defense had arguably its best performance in years, limiting the reigning Big 12 Champions to 3.8 yards per carry on the ground and keeping quarterback Sam Leavitt mostly in check, as he finished with 221 yards on 22-of-32 passing.

“They were huge; I thought they played excellent,” Robertson said of the defense. “That’s why this one probably stings so much for me personally. They played so well. They were fighting. They were battling. They kept us in the game, while we were sputtering for whatever reason, whether we weren’t moving the sticks or it was a turnover, the defense was fighting. They fought all game. It was too late for us as an offense to get going. It was inspiring what they did. I’m proud of them. I feel bad because we couldn’t get the job done.”

The defense, for as well as they played on the night, crumbled on the final two drives, which were low-lighted by a busted coverage on third and long deep in Arizona State’s own territory, where Leavitt found a wide-open wide receiver running down the middle for a 61-yard gain. And on the ensuing possession, safety DJ Coleman picked up a personal foul penalty that gifted the Sun Devils 15 extra yards to put them comfortably into Baylor’s side of the field to set up the game-winning field goal.

“We have to close that game out,” Aranda said. “When you get in spots like that, it needs to be, ‘Uh oh. Here goes the defense.’ It doesn’t need to be that; it should be, ‘Oh, here we go. Watch them. They're going to go win this game.’ We’re not there. We need to be able to do that. We have the guys to be able to do that. We have the coaches who can coach that. But the self-inflicted mistakes kept us from doing that, so the focus is on that.”

Redshirt senior defensive lineman Jackie Marshall added, “In big-time moments, we have to step up and make those tough plays. We understand that it’s hard to win in this league, and it’s going to take everything we have to win.”

Baylor (2-2, 0-1) will look to bounce back and travel to Stillwater to face off against the Oklahoma State Cowboys (1-2) next Saturday, Sept. 27, at 2:30 p.m. at Boone Pickens Stadium. The game will be nationally televised on ESPN2.