By Erika Kuehl | Opinion Editor, Kalena Reynolds | Arts & Life Writer
Seven weeks ago marked the turning point in Baylor football’s 2024 season. With a 59-35 win in Lubbock against Texas Tech highlighted by redshirt junior quarterback Sawyer Robertson throwing a career-high five touchdowns. Over the past six games, the Robertson led Baylor offense has averages 41.3 points per game, the most in the FBS.
After knocking off Kansas 45-17 on Saturday afternoon at McLane Stadium, head coach Dave Aranda extended his longest single-season winning streak at Baylor to six. He said the pivotal moment in shifting the program happened before the win against Texas Tech. The final game of last season was the moment he began to feel a shift.
“Everybody felt like we were being buried, but we’re still alive,” Aranda said. “It’s hard to breathe when they’re putting dirt on you, you know what I mean? And so to get some oxygen and to breathe a little bit – I think you look at Devyn Bobby as a great example of that. Devyn has an opportunity to make picks and he drops them, and now all of the sudden he’s grabbing picks out of the air, all over the place. That’s just the power of belief and the power of being positive.”
Aranda said the difference in the team came from a shift of priorities, while he had previously emphasized players focus on things outside of football like academics, he changed his approach this season and moved football to the top of that list.
“Prior to this year, we would spend the least amount of time on that and spend time on things that I think, whether it’s academics, these are all things that I’m rooted by, things I believe in, and things that I think are way important,” Aranda said. “But I probably did too much of that, and so we just did football, so guys could see the difference right away. I think that was when you could feel the change.”
Aranda also credits Robertson’s improvement this season to the team’s overall success. The redshirt junior sits fifth in the nation in quarterback ranking following the Bears’ win. With the injury of sixth-year quarterback Dequan Finn, Robertson shifted his focus and has quickly become a fan favorite amongst Baylor fans.
“I think once he became more comfortable there, really in fall camp, you could see just a huge increase in his productivity and confidence,” Aranda said. “And then once he had the opportunity with the injury to DQ [Dequan Finn]. Again, the Devyn Bobby principle is just there’s people believing in you. There’s people that know you can do it. There’s people that are all the way backing you. He just took off. I think a lot of the work came from spring to fall, and then once he had his chance, and people were believing him, there’s no stopping him.”
Coming off a six-game win streak, Robertson confidently said they could beat anyone in the conference.
“I think Kansas was hot, too,” Robertson said. “They had a lot to play for, playing for bowl eligibility. [They] had just beaten the three top-ranked teams in the conference. To do what we did today, I’d say it’s hard to argue that. I think there are a lot of other teams that are playing really well right now, though, but I think we’re really hot.”
Redshirt sophomore outside linebacker Kyler Jordan said that the biggest shift in the team’s morale came from believing in each other.
“I think the biggest thing is just belief, like knowing that we could do it,” Jordan said. “I think as soon as we started playing with the confidence, starting in Lubbock, and letting it build on each other, there’s just a belief in the locker room that we feel like we could play anybody right now.”
With the regular season in the rearview mirror, the Bears will know what bowl game they are in on Selection Day. This will take place on Dec. 8 and broadcasted on ESPN.
