3. Baylor Bears
2020 FInal Ranking
AP 13, Coaches 12
Final Record: 11-3
What Made 2019 Special?
They were right there.
Everything was set up for the dream to come true. Utah lost to Oregon in the Pac-12 Championship the night before, the team made a great comeback against Oklahoma in the Big 12 Championship, and …
Baylor fell just short in a 30-23 thriller. Had it been able to pull that off – coming off the collapse at home to OU just a few weeks earlier – it would’ve been the No. 4 seed in the College Football Playoff.
Even so, if you had told Bear fans at the end of the 1-11 season of 2017 that their team would have the puck on their stick with a chance for the CFP a few years later …
Okay, so it was still disappointing, and losing to Georgia in the Sugar Bowl didn’t help. Even so, it was a rise-from-the-ashes story for a team that didn’t get a whole lot of preseason love.
Why 2020 Will Be A Bit Worse: Returning Talent
Start with the head coach. Matt Rhule is apparently the next Bill Belichick, Vince Lombardi and Norman Dale all wrapped up into one new Carolina Panther head man. Getting Dave Aranda away from the defensive coordinator gig at LSU was a huge hire, though.
Several strong parts of last year’s team are gone including three excellent defensive backs, a few good linebackers, and in all, seven starters.
QB Charlie Brewer returns behind a fantastic offensive front, but there’s some work to be done on the skill parts. This will still be a very good team, but …
Why 2020 Will Be A Bit Worse: Schedule
– 2020 Baylor Football Schedule Analysis
11-1 and another appearance in the Big 12 Championship is a whole lot to ask for.
Playing Ole Miss will be interesting to start out the season, but the Big 12 slate is the problem.
At Oklahoma, at Texas, at Iowa State, at Texas Tech, at West Virginia.
Again, this is a strong enough team to be in the mix for the conference title, but to come up with the same magic and the same record against a tougher slate is asking for lighting to strike twice.