Baylor makes the short trip to Dallas on Saturday to face No. 16 SMU at Gerald J. Ford Stadium. Kickoff is scheduled for 11 a.m. ET on The CW, and head coach Dave Aranda knows his team needs to bounce back after opening with a loss to Auburn.
“It just sucks to lose it,” Aranda said. “You know, the negativity that comes with losing and just all of it. But told them to represent, you know, out in class and just on campus and just the whole thing. Be proud of it. We’re going to win here soon.”
A drive up I-35.#SicEm pic.twitter.com/D9U1E3yY24
— Baylor Football (@BUFootball) September 1, 2025
Aranda stressed that his offensive identity remains aggressive. “It does give confidence and an edge to the offense because they know that we’re going for it, we're in attack mode all the way,” he said. “It’s really, really hard to defend an explosive talented offense that goes for it all four downs.”
Defensively, the Bears must regroup after surrendering explosive plays. “There’s a lot less struggles on the front of the defense and just physicality-wise, playing blocks wise, just things that really would like for us to be beyond at this point,” Aranda admitted. “We’re going to have to be creative I feel.”
The Mustangs, a playoff team last season, bring a dangerous quarterback in Kevin Jennings. “The quarterback we just played was scrambling to run it,” Aranda said. “Kevin, a lot of his runs are to throw it. He’ll keep the drive alive and then he’ll make you pay with a ball down the field.”
Aranda acknowledged the pressure of a frontloaded schedule but kept faith in his roster. “We’re a good team and we’ve got a lot of talent and guys have sacrificed a bunch to get to this point,” he said. “We can win a lot of games and I believe that wholeheartedly.”
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