CINCINNATI, Ohio – Despite trailing by as many as 24 points in the first half, somehow, someway, Baylor found itself down by just a touchdown midway through the fourth quarter against No. 21 Cincinnati.
All it needed was a stop.
Looking to get just one yard on fourth and short, Bearcats running back Chance Williams took the handoff from quarterback Brendan Sorsby, but was immediately met in the backfield by a swarm of Baylor defenders — a rare occurrence during Saturday’s contest.
What should have been a momentum-shifting run-stuff turned into another missed opportunity.
Williams conveniently plopped down onto the body of an offensive lineman without hitting the ground — although it probably should have warranted a replay — and with some extra effort and elbow grease, muscled his way to the first-down marker as a number of other Bears seemingly watched Williams instead of attempting to stop him.
The camera panned to a silent, stoic Dave Aranda standing on the sidelines, neither showing frustration with his defense, nor protesting the spot, nor begging for a review.
On the next play, Sorsby shot up the middle, jolted to the side — breaking safety Micah Gifford’s ankles in the process — and high-stepped into the endzone for a 23-yard score, capping off a seven-minute, 75-yard, back-breaking drive.
“The thing that strikes me is we’re in a position to get a stop and get the ball back to our offense to go win the game, and we just couldn’t do it,” Aranda said post-game. “Whether it was a yard short here or we didn’t make this communication there — it’s just so frustrating. We got ourselves in position, and we couldn’t do it.”
On the ensuing kick return, a big hit on wide receiver Kole Wilson jarred the ball loose, giving the Bearcats (7-1, 5-0) possession deep in Baylor’s own territory again. Moments later, Sorsby sidearmed a touchdown pass to seal the three-score loss, 41-20, for Aranda’s squad (4-4, 2-3).
That crucial two-minute stretch that featured missed assignments, soft play up front, bad tackling and turnovers was a microcosm of not just this season but the last four years and likely put the nail in the coffin for any holdovers that believe Aranda should see another year in Waco at the helm of the Baylor football program.
“We have to look at the things that are constantly plaguing us, and we have to look at the things that we tried to do to fix them,” Aranda said. “We have to be able to say, ‘Hey, man. This is not working. Here are the things we need to go next. Here’s the attitude that we have to demand from our players and our coaches.’ We have to be able to take that next step. This team has a lot of talent. This team has a lot of care factor.”
In the defeat, the Bears were out-gained in total yardage, 376-to-266, and were gashed on the ground, giving up an average of 5.3 yards per carry. Baylor’s defense allowed Cincinnati to convert on third downs (9-of-14) and fourth downs (2-of-2) at ease.
To make matters worse, the Bears also lost the turnover battle, 2-to-0, which drops them to a minus-10 turnover margin in Big 12 play. Baylor was also outscored in the first quarter, 14-0, and has been outscored in the first quarter this season, 48-23, against Power Four opponents.
“Starting fast was the message all week, and we did the opposite of that,” safety Jacob Redding said post-game. “We’ve got to take the Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday practice to Saturday. It’s plain and simple. We preach starting fast and starting fast, but we come out and do this.”
Aranda added, “You talk about not starting as fast as we need to, and the turnovers — those have been consistent with our ills — we have to get that fixed. I have to get that fixed. That’s holding us back from some wins that we need and some momentum that we probably need even more.”
The ESPN broadcast mentioned that a players-only meeting took place this week on offense, yet, once again, it took the Bears far too long to get going, which has been an all-too-familiar theme this season for offensive coordinator Jake Spavital’s crew.
The first half was plagued by the usual self-inflicted mistakes, low-lighted by a fumble from Ashtyn Hawkins, a crucial drop from Michael Trigg on third down, an overthrow on an easy touchdown from Sawyer Robertson and an unsuccessful fourth-down attempt where Caden Knighten wasn’t expecting the ball.
Although it took 29 minutes for their first score, Robertson (137 passing yards, 2 TD), Josh Cameron (4 catches, 34 yards, TD) and Michael Turner (14 carries, 90 rushing yards) finally settled in and got things going, but it was far too late as Cincinnati’s offense, on the other hand, was playing on air for much of the afternoon.
“There are guys that put a lot of pressure on themselves and try to go make the play by themself,” Aranda said of the repeated offensive struggles. “I don’t think it’s of the negative sort. If anything, guys are trying to do right too much. We have to have a balance of guys doing the right thing, but they’re in the lane of playing free, playing green, and have the confidence to go out and play aggressive, play fast.”
After dubbing this game against Cincinnati a “must-win,” the Bears now have to recalibrate their preseason expectations of winning the Big 12, which appear all but shattered after their third conference loss in just five games.
“The reality is we’re out of the Big 12 race — that was our goal at the beginning of the season,” Redding said. “Now, all we’ve got is the guys in the locker room. How we’re going to respond to the rest of the year [shows] our real character when adversity hits.”
When asked about what Baylor can do the rest of the season, Cameron noted, “Just playing the best that we can. Get the best bowl game that we can. At the end of the day, there are so many guys and seniors on this team who have dreams and aspirations of playing at the next level.”
With their backs against the wall in the biggest game of the season, the Bears came up short, plagued by the same problems we’ve seen week-in and week-out since the season opener against Auburn on Aug. 29, which ultimately falls at the feet of the coaching staff.
Regardless of quarterbacks, coordinators and roster talent, over the last four years, the truth is that Aranda’s program has suffered from slow starts and the same self-inflicted wounds, over and over and over and over again.
It’s time for a change, and Saturday’s loss probably solidified that view for the people responsible for making the decision. If Aranda is fired, the timing of when it goes down is obviously yet to be determined, but it’s hard to imagine this thing ever getting back on track with him at the helm.
Until that moment comes, however, the Bears (4-4, 2-3) will return to Waco for a homecoming matchup against UCF (4-3, 1-3) next Saturday, Nov. 1. The game time and network are yet to be determined.
