WACO, Texas – By the start of the fourth quarter of Saturday’s contest between Baylor and Kansas State, it felt like the sun was setting on the Dave Aranda era, as the Bears trailed by two touchdowns in front of a mostly empty McLane Stadium.
This game had a different vibe than the other shortcomings at home that we’ve grown accustomed to seeing across the last three and a half seasons — this seemed like it could very well be the final straw.
Despite facing arguably Chris Kleiman’s worst Kansas State team in his seven-year tenure, Aranda’s squad had its patented slow start and spent the next several hours, showcasing a heavy dose of self-sabotage, including turnovers (2), penalties (7-74) and busted assignments.
Then, in the blink of an eye, it all flipped.
For a 10-minute stretch to close the game, Baylor finally put together a desperately-needed stretch of complementary football, featuring some offensive wizardry, a defensive touchdown and elite special teams play, highlighted by redshirt senior defensive lineman Cooper Lanz’s game-sealing field goal block, giving way to Baylor’s (4-2, 2-1) narrow 35-34 win over Kansas State (2-4, 1-1).
“We’ve been in some games like this already that aren’t pretty games; I wish they looked better, but to have as many guys as we’ve got that love football, love Baylor and want to win and will sacrifice so much to win and put themself in a position to not give up but to keep fighting is what this team is about,” Aranda said post-game. “But there’s a whole other ceiling. There’s a whole other level where we need to be and where we should be. We’ve just got to clean a bunch of stuff up, and the bye week’s going to be good for that.”
The moment the game changed was when quarterback Sawyer Robertson connected with redshirt senior tight end Michael Trigg for two spectacular grabs that’ll likely be on ESPN’s SportsCenter. Trigg showed why he’ll be suiting up on Sundays next year, finishing with a career-high eight catches for 155 yards, while Robertson threw for 345 yards.
On the next play, Robertson found redshirt sophomore running back Bryson Washington out of the backfield for an 11-yard score, capping off a quick three-play touchdown drive. Then, Robertson ran it in from two yards for a successful two-point conversion, cutting into the Wildcats’ lead, 31-25.
From that point on, seemingly everything went in favor of the Bears as redshirt sophomore safety Jacob Redding made an incredible play on the ensuing defensive possession, undercutting a pass from Kansas State junior quarterback Avery Johnson and taking it back 66 yards for a touchdown.
Redding, a former walk-on who grew up going to Baylor games as a child, talked about his clutch interception afterward, saying, “I was running, and I was like, ‘I can’t believe this is happening.’ Then I was like, ‘No flags? Thank you, Lord. This is a blessing and a dream come true.’ I’m blessed, and this is a cool moment.”
When Kansas State appeared poised to regain a touchdown lead minutes later, Baylor’s defense bowed up in the red zone, forcing two straight incompletions and a field goal. The Bears then responded with a field goal of their own, this time a no-doubt-53-yarder from redshirt freshman Connor Hawkins, which matched his career long.
“That’s the perseverance aspect about us,” redshirt junior linebacker Keaton Thomas said. “I’ve talked before about how when our backs are against the wall, that’s when we’re at our best. We saw that last year, and to be able to do that again this year with another group of guys, who are all hungry and tenacious about the sport, it's awesome. Just being tenacious and determined, we’re never giving up.”
Trailing 35-34 with 31 seconds remaining, Johnson kicked the Wildcats’ offense into hurry-up mode. He completed a pair of passes, and an interference penalty helped set up a potential game-winning 56-yard field goal from Kansas State sophomore kicker Luis Rodriguez, who was two-for-two on the afternoon up to that point.
Following a pair of timeouts, Rodriguez stepped into his kick, and as soon as he made contact with the ball, Lanz sent the low-line drive backward, sealing Baylor’s improbable comeback win; the Bears out-scored Kansas State 18-3 in the fourth quarter.
“He’s selfless; he thinks of the team first,” Aranda said of Lanz. “We were not the same team, not just the same defense when we didn’t have Coop. There’s a toughness that comes with him. There’s a no-nonsense that comes with him. He’s not going to say a word. It’s his attitude. It’s the way he attacks things. It’s the look he gives guys when guys are making plays. There’s a leadership with him. We’re a much better team with Coop.”
A lot of breaks went Baylor’s way in the final 10 minutes of Saturday’s game, something that hasn’t happened in these situations across the last two seasons, as the Bears are usually on the wrong side of relatively close contests — Colorado, BYU, LSU, Auburn and Arizona State — excluding the wins over in-state rivals TCU last year and SMU this season.
While Aranda should be credited for his team's effort and fight until the very end, concerns remain. Why does it take three quarters and a two-touchdown deficit to see this team play with urgency? Why does complementary football continue to elude this team for four quarters? How can Baylor sustain being on the wrong side of the turnover battle every game?
Many of these concerns were raised last year, but at least last season, there were a lot of moving parts: a first-year offensive coordinator, a large number of new players, Aranda was calling plays on defense for the first time at Baylor and the roster had its clear flaws.
So why have those issues carried into 2025? Baylor returned virtually its entire roster and added a significant amount of talent through high school recruiting and the transfer portal. Fast starts and complementary football have been preached all season, yet it’s still not happening. The Bears are also losing the turnover battle in Big 12 games, 6-to-1, and have been outscored 34-to-16 in the first quarter against Power Four opponents.
While a win is a win, and momentum can be gained from this type of come-from-behind victory, the Bears can’t sustain this type of play if they have any intentions of meeting their preseason goal of winning the conference.
“It’s a way better feeling than having a loss; I’d rather have an ugly win compared to a pretty loss,” redshirt senior wide receiver Josh Cameron said. “Really just taking that momentum and confidence, that’s what we can build on with this win. Take the confidence and clean up the details from the game, and when we put that together, watch out.”
Robertson added, “We’re going to fight until the very end, and because of that, we put ourselves in a position to win. That’s what happens with teams that fight. It may not look pretty. We have a lot of stuff to clean up, like pretty much every other team in the country, but we have a chance to be really, really good if we clean some things up.”
With the bye week ahead, the Bears desperately need to use it as an opportunity to regroup and get healthy. Washington, Baylor’s star tailback, entered Saturday’s contest as a game-time decision and was visibly banged up; he carried the ball just nine times for 65 yards. Senior right guard Omar Aigbedion and junior safety Carl Williams IV both missed the game with an injury. There was a litany of other Bears that played through some minor issues as well.
“We’re pretty beat up,” Robertson said. “I think part of that is the schedule we’ve played; we’ve played some really, really good teams. Guys are just banged up and getting held together by tape and all kinds of pads to get out there and play and sacrifice for this team. The bye week’s huge. Getting the win going into the bye week is even bigger. I’m blessed and thankful. Confidence is high right now. We’re going to keep fighting and attacking every day to get better.”
Obviously, last year’s bye week worked wonders as the Bears looked dead in the water sitting with a 2-4 record at the halfway mark until they walked into Lubbock and steamrolled Texas Tech, 59-35, kicking off the six-game winning streak that Baylor closed the regular season on.
The optimists will say this upcoming bye can have a similar story for the Bears and Aranda’s squad can fix their issues, which, hypothetically, seem mostly fixable on paper. The pessimists, meanwhile, will say it’s a sinking ship as long as Aranda’s at the helm, and a bye week can’t change the major flaws this team has.
Regardless, no one will have a clear answer about the fruits of Baylor’s bye week until the Bears run through the tunnel of TCU’s Amon G. Carter Stadium on Saturday, Oct. 18. Until then, we’re left to guess and try to make sense of this seemingly talented yet utterly confusing team.
