When we published several different overarching pieces over this season, we have always placed Baylor in this no man’s land because, even as of publication, we don’t know what this Baylor team will be by the time they square off against the Kansas Jayhawks.
What we do know is that the Bears will be one week removed from a matchup against TCU (who suddenly look a lot less daunting), while having played three Big 12 games, including an out-of-conference week one matchup against the Auburn Tigers.
For Kansas, they will probably still be recovering from the emotionally sapping rivalry against the Kansas State Wildcats, while also having already played three Big 12 games and a Missouri squad.
Its been how long since Kansas earned a win over Baylor?
Maybe it's because Kansas vs Baylor isn’t an electric rivalry matchup, so the record isn’t brought up, but it is a concern that KU hasn’t beaten the Bears since 2007. And to add salt to the wounds, it doesn’t make it any better to know that not many of those matchups have been particularly close. As a matter of fact, only one has been decided by one score, and for that you have to take your mind all the way back to 2011, in a 31-30 loss.
While fans certainly don’t need a reminder the last time these two played, the Jayhawks were fighting for a third-straight bowl game under head coach Lance Leipold as the team had fought itself back from a desolate 1-5 start to enter this matchup at 5-6, with just one win away from having the season saved.
On the other side of the ball sat an on-fire Baylor team who had their own faults and started the season 2-4, but had pulled themselves up to a 7-4 record and were still catching the draft of a five-game win streak. Two polar opposite sides, one fighting for a higher-quality bowl, the other fighting for any bowl at all.
Following the aforementioned tune of blowouts, KU was quickly swept aside in their 45-17 loss, where Kansas entered the second period down a respectable 11 points, but a 21-0 third quarter was enough to put a bow on the season for the Jayhawks.
Baylor has its squad compiled for a make-or-break season
Despite their recent luxurious victories over KU, the Bears have struggled as of late to find consistent results under head coach Dave Aranda. Under Aranda, Baylor is 36-37 with no more than eight wins in a single season since 2022. These results have slowly turned up the heat on Aranda to an uncomfortable temperature that he’s at right now.
With so much on the line this season, Aranda filed in 30 transfers, highlighted by former Florida quarterback DJ Lagway.
Lagway will have to deal with two main pressures on his shoulders. The first is that his play under center could be a deciding factor in Aranda’s future; the second is that Lagway himself is trying to prove critics wrong. Lagway joins the Bears with 4,179 passing yards under his belt, but with 28 touchdowns and 23 interceptions as well. When Lagway is on, he looks like a rising star of the sport, but how quickly you find Lagway on is an entirely different conversation.
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