It’s another battle for No. 9 Baylor soccer versus North Texas at 7 p.m. today and Boise State at 1 p.m. Sunday.

“North Texas is extremely athletic,” Baylor co-head coach Marci Jobson said. “They’re fighters, and they’re very good at their style of play, which is similar to ours. They’re on kind of a hot roll this year. This is probably the toughest North Texas team I’ve seen, so it’s going to be a really good game.”

The Houston Texans have grown accustomed to watching star receiver Andre Johnson make spectacular grabs.

Just two games into his NFL career, the Texans are already beginning to expect equally dazzling catches from DeAndre Hopkins.

“I always read Psalms 18 before I go out and race,” junior cross country runner Rachel Johnson said. “It talks about God giving us strength. It’s a really good thing to read, I think, just to get focused and just see that I should be running for God and not myself.”

Call it superstition, luck or simply faith, Johnson’s ritual of preparing for a meet has worked.

Over the offseason, Baylor tweaked the positions of senior safety Ahmad Dixon and senior nickelback Sam Holl in an effort to improve the Bears’ defense throughout the 2013 season.

Dixon, formerly a nickelback, moved to safety in the spring. The move to safety allows Dixon to play in more space and utilize his exceptional speed to track passes in the air and run down opponents.

Offense wins games, but defense wins championships. No. 9 Baylor soccer puts extra emphasis on its stout backline. The defense is the bread and butter of the team and a central reason why Baylor has a 29-game unbeaten streak.

Baylor co-head coach Marci Jobson prides herself on implementing her system of team defense. With the extra emphasis put on that position, having a strong backline is vital to the Bears success.

“I feel good,” Jobson said. “They are playing solid. They’re playing tough and they’re going to have to definitely bring that on Friday.”

Baylor volleyball overcame a slow start against Rice University to win their first road match of the season in Houston. Baylor dropped the first set and then won three consecutive sets to close out the Rice Owls and earn the victory. The sets went 18-25, 25-21, 25-21 and 25-14.

Sophomore outside hitter Thea Munch-Soegaard led the Bears. Munch-Soegaard finished with 11 kills, 13 digs and two service aces.

One thing junior starting quarterback Bryce Petty wants to make sure of is that this Baylor team does not get comfortable after amassing two blowout victories against nonconference opponents this season.

“You can’t get complacent,” Petty said. “You can’t think you’ve arrived. We still have our things to work on and that’s what we’re going to try to do.”

Petty and the team used the bye week to do just that, work out the kinks, perfect their game and recuperate their bodies. Now, Baylor turns its focus to ULM.

No. 20 Baylor football has a tough task coming up this Saturday when they try to contain University of Louisiana-Monroe dual-threat senior quarterback Kolton Browning, who helped ULM score 42 points against the Bears last season in a 47-42 Baylor win.

This season, the Bears boast the second-best scoring defense in the entire NCAA by allowing 8.0 points per game.