The Bears have had three losing seasons under Dave Aranda, but the other was the best in school history. What will we get from Baylor in 2024? And just how hot is Aranda’s seat getting?
As we continue through Oklahoma State’s 2024 football schedule, let’s take a look at a Bears team that is desperate for a bounce-back season, and might just have add the pieces it needs to get it.
Be sure you’re caught up on the previous episodes of our Summer Schedule Preview series: of our Summer Schedule Series: Noncon | Utah | K-State | West Virginia | BYU
Week 9: Baylor | Oct. 26 | Waco, Texas
For the first time since 1996, the inception of the Big 12, OSU and Baylor did not face each other in 2023.
Series History: 23-19
The series, historically, was lopsided in the Cowboys’ favor, but the Bears made up some ground in the 2010s, winning four of five and six of eight spanning the Art Briles to Matt Rhule eras.
Last Meeting: OSU 36, BU 25 (2022)
The Cowboys got some payback in Waco at their last meeting after the Bears took home the trophy Arlington in the heartbreaker that was the 2021 Big 12 Championship. The Bears had followed up their Big 12 title, Sugar Bowl-winning season with a 6-7 finish and an Armed Forces Bowl loss to Air Force.
Baylor in 2023: OSU didn’t face Baylor in 2023 with the Big 12’s round robin scheduling gone. Left to their own devices, the Bears followed a 6-7 season with a paltry 3-9 finish, their worst since Aranda’s inaugural 2-7 campaign. One can look no further than the Bears finishing dead last in scoring offense (23.1 points per game) and scoring defense (33.3). It’s hard to average a 10-plus point deficit and win many games.
Baylor in 2024: There is some reason for Baylor fans to hope — fans can always find hope in July — especially when you bring in a new OC/QB combo. Aranda brought in Jake Spavital to coach his offense and dynamic Toledo transfer Dequan Finn to run it.
Spavital, a Tulsa native, spent a year as a GA on Mike Gundy’s staff back in 2010 and some of that offensive acumen must have rubbed off — my tongue is planted firmly in-cheek — and he went on to work his way up with stops at West Virginia, Texas A&M and Cal before a stint as Texas State’s head coach.
Finn will replaced the departed Blake Shapen, who transferred to Mississippi State. The former led the MAC in passing yards and touchdowns last year while also amassing over 500 rushing yards and seven TDs on the ground. Finn was an All-MAC First Teamer and the conference’s Most Valuable Player. If the Spavital-Finn duo can inject some life into Baylor’s offense, it might bring Aranda’s tenure off life support.
Of Note: O-Line Has to Be Better
The Bears ranked last in the Big 12 in sacks and tackles for loss allowed, but a young group is mostly back and, at least, more battle-tested. They also welcome some help in the middle by way of the transfer portal with Kurt Danneker from Ohio and Omar Aigbedion from Montana State.
Bears Hard to Pin Down
The conference preseason poll always at least a little bit of a crapshoot, but the Bears under Aranda have been historically hard to pin down.
Ahead of his first year in 2020, Baylor was picked to finished fifth in the league but went 2-7 and finished ninth ahead of only a winless Kansas team. In 2021, Baylor was picked to finish eighth, and they won the league. In 2022, the Bears were, somewhat predictably, picked to win the league but finished in the bottom half at 4-5 (6-7 overall). And in 2023, they were predicted to finished sixth in the new-look league, and they finished dead last out of 14 teams.
“I have seen the media poll and kind of where we are predicted to finish, and so I am excited to prove that wrong,” Aranda said at Big 12 Media Days. “I think in the past couple years, we’ve done that pretty successfully, both ways. So, we are excited to get to work and to prove that we’re a better team than what we are perceived as.”
This year, the Bears were picked to finish 12th in the conference so, based on recent history, you can expect them to either sink to the bottom of float up somewhere near the top. With the parity of the league in general, and with a dynamic QB and proven playcaller, I’ll give them wildcard’s chance of finishing with a winning record. But it’s Baylor, so who knows.
Read this original article at Pistols Firing Blog.