By Carson Vercoe | Sports Writer
Before the first snap of the 2026 season, sports fans and experts had already decided how it would go.
Baylor finished the 2025 season with much to be desired. A low-tier defense was completely overhauled, new faces joined the coaching staff and a new quarterback at the helm left the Bears with plenty of uncertainty.
Projections across the nation had the Bears at about five or six wins, with a shot at a bowl game but not dangerous enough to be anything more.
They have blown those projections out of the water five games in.
Baylor enters the bye week at 4-1 and 2-0 in Big 12 play, riding a four-game win streak. The Bears haven’t just exceeded expectations — they have changed the perception of the team.
For a team surrounded by uncertainty and doubt in August, Baylor has spent the last five games replacing that uncertainty with results and hope. Head coach Dave Aranda felt as though his team shut down those doubts in its 55-19 win over Arizona State this past week.
“So much criticism with this team and so much negative stuff, after a while it’s like you can’t take it anymore,” Aranda said. “There’s no pretense of any frenemies. It’s straight enemy, and you can be the villain, and that’s what you saw.”
One of the biggest offseason doubts surrounding the Bears was the defense.
The Bears allowed 32.6 points and 392 yards per game a season ago. Baylor couldn’t stop the run and struggled to pressure the opposing quarterback, finishing with 12 sacks.
The defense has seen the much-needed turnaround in 2026. The Bears have held each opponent to under 20 points. They have already crushed their sack total from a year ago with 18 sacks, the fourth most in college football.
Baylor also couldn’t generate turnovers last year, but that hasn’t been a problem this year, with 10 takeaways.
“We got a really good defense,” senior linebacker Ryan Davis said. “I still think the bar is getting raised every single week, and this isn’t the final product yet.”
Defensive coordinator Joe Klanderman arrived with a broken defense, and now he’s built a physical unit that produces results.
But the doubts from the offseason weren’t limited to just the defense.
When junior quarterback DJ Lagway hit the transfer portal to Baylor, everyone was put on notice
Lagway struggled at Florida, and people constantly doubted that the former five-star recruit could change his career trajectory.
So far this season, it looks like he is.
Lagway is coming off his best game of the season at Arizona State. He threw for 306 yards and four touchdowns and scored one on the ground.
After his injury in the Auburn game, Lagway has become more comfortable and confident. He keeps growing as a quarterback with each game, and the Bears will need him to continue silencing his doubters down the road.
“Everybody’s always got something to say,” Lagway said. “We just got to play for ourselves because that’s all we’re doing, play for our teammates.”
Baylor still has some uncertainty. The Bears’ run game has been spotty all season long. Senior running back Dawson Pendergrass, sophomore running back Caden Knighten and the rest of the group only managed 3.7 yards per carry before last week.
“We’ve got to be more dependable running the ball when we need to run it,” Aranda said.
Baylor finally got the run game going against the Sun Devils, rushing for 244 yards on two 60-plus-yard runs. If the Bears can run the ball effectively, their offense becomes noticeably better.
Baylor also looks ahead to a gauntlet at the end of the season.
The Bears have played great at the start of the season and surpassed most people’s expectations, but they haven’t played anyone quite like what they’ll face in the last three games of the season.
They will head to No. 8 BYU, return home to play No. 11 Texas Tech and travel to No. 22 Houston to complete the regular season.
If Baylor can play against top-25 teams as it has in these first five games, they will certainly turn some heads.
The Bears will look to keep on answering when they take on TCU on October 17 at 6 p.m. at McLane Stadium.
