Baylor Football: 3 things we learned from 2020 season

After a down season in Waco, there are three clear takeaways from the COVID-19-filled 2020 season for Baylor Football.

Just 12 months ago, Baylor was considered one of the best stories in college football. The Bears made their third NY6 bowl of the decade and coming off two instant classic games against Oklahoma.

The Bears had multiple players drafted for the first time since 2015 and brought back key players from 2019’s team. When Matt Rhule dashed for the NFL, it left the Bears in a bind as to who would become the school’s head coach. They would go out and hire LSU defensive coordinator Dave Aranda.

Aranda would assemble his staff with a mixture of highly-touted coordinators such as Larry Fedora who was formerly the head coach at North Carolina. Alongside him, was LSU passing game coordinator Jorge Munoz. He also went for his personal connections with Louisiana defensive coordinator Ron Roberts. Roberts was the head coach at Delta State, when Aranda was their defensive coordinator in 2007.

After a season opening win over Kansas, the Bears struggled to be consistent on offense and the results showed. The Bears would drop five consecutive games, until beating Kansas State on a game winning field goal. Baylor would drop their final two games, including a 42-3 loss to Oklahoma State.

There was never a sense of sync in the season, partly due to COVID-19. The Bears had their first three planned non-conference games cancelled. Their Oklahoma State game was meant to take place in October and played with double digit players out, due to COVID-19. Many team in college football got effected with the virus. Baylor was among the teams that got it the most.

Just one year removed from an elite team, Baylor showed to have flaws. Here are three things that we learned from the 2020 season for Baylor.