Saturday, Sept. 28
12:00 p.m. Eastern, 9:00 a.m. Pacific
Fox Sports 1
The Baylor Bears have one of the hottest seats in college football coaching right now. Dave Aranda is squarely on the hot seat in Waco after Baylor butchered an endgame sequence at Colorado. The Bears were one play away from beating Deion Sanders and the Buffaloes but botched their “Hail Mary defense.” Baylor needed to put four or five defensive backs in the end zone before the snap and simply play center field, making it easy to identify Colorado receivers and make a play on the ball. Instead, Baylor didn’t put anyone in center field. Baylor defensive backs were running stride for stride with Colorado receivers in a downfield sprint. No one from Baylor was in front of the play.
A Colorado receiver got behind the Baylor secondary, and the Bears were out of position on a play where no one should ever be out of position. Baylor was caught napping on the one play which should be extremely easy to defend. That kind of coaching blunder is malpractice in itself; the fact that it turned a sure win into a loss will only intensify the pressure on Aranda, who was fortunate to be retained by Baylor for the 2024 season in the first place. Aranda’s days are numbered unless he can author a very strong and decisive turnaround. If he wants to get off the hot seat, he needs a four-game winning streak, and that has to start with a win over a BYU team which is feeling good about itself after defeating Kansas State last weekend.
BYU Cougars-Baylor Bears Odds
Spread: BYU +3.5 (-115), Baylor -3.5 (-105)
Total: 45.5 (Over -105, Under -115)
Underdog moneyline: BYU +140
BYU Letdown after last week’s upset?
BYU defeated Kansas State by forcing turnovers and making huge plays in all three phases of the game. Kansas State controlled most of the first 25 minutes against BYU but then shot itself in the foot, and the game snowballed on the Wildcats very quickly from that point onward. BYU built a halftime lead and maintained it in the second half in a surprisingly decisive win over a KSU team which had blasted Arizona one week earlier. BYU won outright as an underdog of nearly a touchdown.
Catch all of the Underdog conversation for games this weekend with T.J. and Gary on the “3 Dog Thursday Podcast” by clicking play below,
Why is Baylor even favored for this game? You might wonder about that. The fact that Kansas State gifted BYU so many points might play into the odds for this game, with the expectation being that Baylor isn’t going to hand BYU free points.
It might be true that Baylor won’t give BYU free points, but it also has to be said that Baylor’s offense isn’t all that good. Utah allowed just 12 points to Baylor a few weeks ago. The Bears do not have an especially polished passing game. BYU should be able to contain Baylor enough to, at the very least, keep this game close. BYU being able to cover the spread by losing by a field goal seems way too good to pass up. This is a barking underdog on 3Dog Thursday for Week 5 of the college football season.