Saturday Blitz
Fansided

Baylor Football: 5 reasons Matt Rhule will make Bears contenders in 2018

By Andrew Miller

WACO, TX - OCTOBER 28: Head coach Matt Rhule of the Baylor Bears looks on as Baylor plays the Texas Longhorns in the first half at McLane Stadium on October 28, 2017 in Waco, Texas. Texas won 38-7. (Photo by Ron Jenkins/Getty Images)
WACO, TX - OCTOBER 28: Head coach Matt Rhule of the Baylor Bears looks on as Baylor plays the Texas Longhorns in the first half at McLane Stadium on October 28, 2017 in Waco, Texas. Texas won 38-7. (Photo by Ron Jenkins/Getty Images) /
facebooktwitterreddit
Prev
1 of 6
Next

Bringing Baylor football back to the glory days might not be too far away for a rising star head coach in Matt Rhule this season.

Baylor football has the proper pieces in place returning to Waco, Texas, in 2018 to be one of the most improved teams in the Big 12. It would be hard for the Bears to get worse, coming off a one-win season that saw them have a very dramatic fall from grace.

Not too long ago, Baylor was among not just the top programs in the Big 12, but in the entire nation. Up until about halfway through the 2016 season, the Bears had about a five year run that was the best in school history. It’ll take a lot for second-year head football coach Matt Rhule to get Baylor back to that point any time soon.

However, Rhule seems to be instilling the right culture for Baylor when it needs to be there the most. This program returns more production from 2017 than nearly all other teams in the country. According to a calculation posted on SB Nation on the returning production from teams all across the nation, Baylor brings back more than only three other teams.

The Michigan State Spartans, Kansas Jayhawks and Georgia Southern Eagles are those three schools that have more experience coming back than Baylor. It’s interesting that the bottom two teams in the Big 12 in 2017 bring back the most experience this year, and could make the race tighter in the middle of the conference standings.

While Kansas does not figure to play a significant role in the bigger picture in the Big 12, Baylor could slide up near bowl contention with some large off-season improvements. Here are five reasons Rhule can bring the Baylor Bears back into contention in 2018.

Home/Baylor Bears