By Michael Haag | Sports Editor
Homecoming has rolled around for Baylor football, and the team is looking to bring its road success back to McLane Stadium. Playing in Waco hasn’t treated the Bears well, as they’re 1-4 in their home venue. This comes during a season in which Baylor leads the nation with eight home games.
In terms of homecoming itself, Baylor is 50-43-4 on the celebration and has won the last four. The program has also won 11 of its last 12 homecoming contests. The Bears and Cyclones have met four times on homecoming, with Baylor going 3-1 in those matchups. Iowa State suffered its worst points margin in the series when the Bears blasted the Cyclones 71-7 in 2013.
Head coach Dave Aranda said it’s important to know about the homecoming tradition and that he’s going to make sure his athletes are aware. In order to put his team in the best position to succeed, Aranda said it all boils down to how they start the contest.
“I think we have to start faster than what we have,” Aranda said. “Whether that is the first drive on offense, having some success and getting points out of it, or at the very least moving the ball and having some positive plays. And then defensively, you know, first two or three drives, you know, illustrating our run fits and our pass rush and our coverage abilities and all that at the get-go.
“I think we have to be able to start fast and I think that would help get the crowd into it, that would help get the crowd to go, ‘This isn’t what it’s been. This is different. I have to pay attention to this.’ And I think we have a big responsibility in that and to get it to where it has been in the past with our home crowd. And all of it is way important. And it’s a big factor for this week. And so I’m going to talk about a lot.”
Baylor (3-4, 2-2 Big 12) is coming off a win at Cincinnati, as it is now 2-0 away from McLane Stadium. Being road warriors is something redshirt outside linebacker Garmon Randolph said is simply a result of focus and intentionality.
“There isn’t that much to talk about except for the people that have to be locked in, they need to be locked in and focus on the task at hand,” Randolph said.
Aranda said the team buys into that road mentality and that it needs to shift ahead of this weekend. He said he doesn’t like that the crowd plays a factor in how this group comes out of the tunnel.
“When you go on the road, it’s very clear that most everyone’s against you, and so the lines are kind of clearly drawn,” Aranda said. “And so it’s us versus everybody. I think when you’re at home, those lines are blurred maybe. And I just think we’re thinking too much in those frameworks. I don’t really like us thinking that way. I’d rather us just focus on the task at hand. Here’s what we can do to accomplish this win, here’s what we can do to win this play, to win this series, to win this quarter, to win this game. And so a lot of it’s going to be refocusing on that.”
Baylor owns the nation’s No. 28 passing offense and the nation’s No. 3 passing defense. Aranda said the Bears have to do three things against the Cyclones (4-3, 3-1 Big 12) on those lines to win.
“We’re going to have to run the ball,” Aranda said. “To win this game, we’re going to have to stop the run. To win this game, we’re going to have to do grown-up things in a grown-up game. I’m looking forward to that challenge.”
Fifth-year senior Clark Barrington moved to guard for last weekend’s game, and Aranda said he was pleased with the shift. Barrington said there’s a lot of confidence to execute on the ground since the Bears were able to find some running room in the second half last Saturday.
“Going into the last game, we knew that was our struggle,” Barrington said. “So for the first little bit, we kind of stayed away from it, to be honest. But we realized we needed to start running in that second half, and we had a good run efficiency and everything like that coming out of the game. So, I think we realized that these changes were necessary and they’re doing good for us.”
Iowa State looks different to Aranda and Randolph, but only schematically. Former Cyclones and current NFL standouts Brock Purdy and Breece Hall were in Waco when Baylor defeated ISU 31-29, but players like that aren’t featured on that roster in 2023.
Aranda said Iowa State head coach Matt Campbell still runs an impressive ship.
“Their body of work just speaks for itself and they put on the tape and you see it all over again and have a new grouping, new faces, but same results,” Aranda said. “And so, what a challenge ahead of us. But I feel like in a lot of ways this is exactly what we need.”
The Cyclones have won two straight games, including three of the last four. Their defense has given up 20 points per game on 329.3 total yards, including 198.1 passing and 131.1 rushing.
Baylor got a big boost from redshirt sophomore kicker Isaiah Hankins last week, who was named Big 12 Special Teams Player of the Week for his efforts. Hankins regained his starting job after losing it two games into the
2022 season.
Aranda said Hankins has established himself as a reliable option moving forward, even if the offense wants to score TDs every drive. He said they know Hankins will step out there and deliver.
“Isaiah is just a way strong example of what can be possible,” Aranda said. “When I think of him, I think of his faith, No. 1. I think of his family, No. 2. And then, I think of how he treats people, and then I think of [how] he’s a great kicker. I think that’s a way cool thing. That’s intentional by him. All that matters to him.”
Baylor is set to kick the homecoming game with Iowa State at 2:30 p.m. on Saturday at McLane Stadium. The game will be live streamed on Big 12 Now on ESPN+.
