By Jeffrey Cohen | Sports Editor
The Revivalry has deeply rooted itself in Central Texas tradition.
The oldest rivalry in Texas does not only remain within 120 yards of green grass. It spreads into the culture of both schools and becomes a piece of the region’s lore.
“I’ve been instructing our team about what this means, and how long this has been going on,” head coach Dave Aranda said. “It’s way important to hear from so many people where this means so much.”
While Baylor (4-1, 2-0 Big 12) has many players who are getting their first taste of the matchup, it looks to continue turning the tides against TCU (2-3, 0-2 Big 12) in the 122nd edition of The Revivalry.
“What the last seven years, 10 years have looked like in this rivalry, a lot of our guys being transfers are all new to it,” Aranda said. “[I’m] trying to tell them, ‘Hey, this is where it’s at.'”
The Horned Frogs have emerged victorious in nine of the last 11 meetings with the Bears taking the previous meeting in Waco on a walk-off field goal in 2024.
Baylor expects to continue defending McLane Stadium against its most hated rival.
“All of us feel disrespected when they come to our home trying to move up on us,” senior safety Micah Gifford said.
There are multiple parallels between Saturday’s game and the classic two years ago. Both are night kickoffs with McLane being plunged into a sea of black. The former brought in over 44,000 fans while the latter is expecting a similar turnout, giving out over 10,000 student tickets within three days.
“[It means] everything to have all the Baylor fans come out for a rival game,” fifth-year wide receiver Louis Brown IV said. “Pretty sure you don’t want to miss a rival game, but it would mean a lot for Baylor fans supporting us.”
There is no shortage of motivation during rivalry week. Aranda had boxing trainer and commentator Teddy Atlas talk to the team. He spoke about trying to continue finding any fight, even after battling for almost 60 minutes.
“He talked about how great fighters are like a house,” Aranda said. “The great fighters go and explore different rooms. Whereas a new untested fighter maybe stays in one room. And you get to the 12th round, the 15th round of a championship fight, ‘How do you get out and explore different rooms of this house?’ You become an explorer, and you get to show what the human spirit can do.”
Both squads will be searching for that second wind on Saturday as The Revivalry is no stranger to tight contests. Nine of the last 13 meetings were one-score affairs.
The history of this game has also remained fairly even, with TCU leading 60-54-7.
Baylor is coming off a bye week, giving it two weeks to prepare for the matchup with the Horned Frogs. Aranda said he would’ve preferred the Bears to continue playing while on a four-game win streak capped off by a 55-19 win at Arizona State. They still made the most of their bye week, gaining momentum in practice while returning to full strength.
“All of it really came out really strong,” Aranda said. “We were able to create momentum during a bye, and now we get to a point where we’re healthy. We’ve got it all lined up.”
TCU still poses a threat to the Bears despite its losing record. It lost to No. 8 BYU, North Carolina and UCF by a combined 20 points, holding those opponents to an average of 17.7 points. The Horned Frogs defense is looking to bring down a Baylor offense that had its best performance against the Sun Devils.
“We know that they’re a good team, have a good defense,” Brown said. “The records and stuff don’t mean nothing. We know they’re tough to play, so we have to be on our A game as well.”
The Bears’ defense will also get its first look at quarterback Jaden Craig and the TCU offense. After setting records at Harvard, Craig sits third in the Big 12 with 280 passing yards per game.
“He’s a good quarterback,” Gifford said. “He can throw good on the run, but at the end of the day, we read our keys, go out there, make our plays, play fast.”
Baylor will take on TCU at 6 p.m. Saturday at McLane Stadium. The game will be broadcast on FS1.
