Baylor ready to go bigger
The Bears are looking to toughen up future non-conference games.
Baylor gets it. After getting snubbed last December by the folks who brought you the very first College Football Playoff, the game’s newest powerhouse is getting on board and flexing its muscles.
With Art Briles’ blessing, the sc hool has expressed a willingness to upgrade a non-conference schedule so weak that it embarrassed the Harlem Globetro tters.
Before you get too excited, know that the Bears haven’t announced a home-andhome with defending national champion Ohio State just yet. They didn’t say they are going to the Big House or between the hedges or venturing into the Swamp.
But there is movement where there was stagna- tion before, and that’s a good thing for Baylor as well as the Big 12. Strength of schedule means everything these days.
Arkansas AD Jeff Long, chairman of the CFP, said the committee wasn’t about sending messages, but Western Union couldn’t have been more direct when he referred to Baylor’s schedule last season as a factor when the once-beaten Bears were
excluded from the fourteam playoff.
After all, Baylor hasn’t squared off against a Power 5 team in non-conference play since it met Wake Forest in 2009. Wouldn’t a high-flying matchup between scoring machines Oregon and Baylor be billed as The Game Time Forgot?
Give Nick Saban a call. He loves facing spread offenses. Bring Mike Leach to Waco and pencil in Washington State-Baylor.
You think Baylor couldn’t buy out one of its no-name opponents?
Baylor Athletic Director Ian McCaw told us at the Big 12 spring meeting Thursday that he’s had “two or three conversations” about upcoming marquee opponents over the next decade.
“I expect some additional games against Power 5 conference teams,” McCaw said.
Oh, the Bears have arranged a pair of games with Duke for 2017 and 2018, and with Utah in 2022 and 2023. Otherwise, Briles’ Stephenville teams had tougher schedules.
“It’ll vary a bit year to year,” McCaw said. “We’re open to playing a Power 5 game not every year, but a good number of years moving forward.”
The Sisters of the Poor were trying to squeeze onto Baylor’s schedule. So were the Brothers.
The Bears will be tested this fall by SMU, Lamar, Rice and several intrasquad scrimmages. In 2016, Northwestern State replaces Lamar. Liberty and Texas-San Antonio are the big draws besides Duke in 2017. A year later, in addition to the Blue Devils, there’s a return date with UTSA and a game with — ouch — Abilene Christian.
McCaw said he could see adjusting Baylor’s non-conference schedule before 2020.
“We’re having some interesting discussions,” he said.
He’s also talking about a second neutral-site game on top of the annual Texas Tech affair at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, maybe even out of state.
Anything would be an improvement. When you schedule Incarnate Word and Abilene Christian with a straight face, it’s hard not to beef up the schedule.
Finally, Baylor realized it’s not Baylor any more. Not little ol’ harmless Baylor.
No, they’re the twotime defending Big 12 champion Bears.
“I like the sound of that,” McCaw said. “I’m wanting to hear threetime.”
It’s understandable that Baylor is new to this neighborhood. It wasn’t the household name it is now, and scheduling in advance can be tricky. Why, Oklahoma Athletic Director Joe Castiglione said he was actually discussing a future game with a bigtime non-conference opponent. In 2030. You read right. As he said, “I’m talking to somebody about 2030 because I’m trying to ensure one traditionally strong opponent every year.”
Bob Bowlsby claimed he hadn’t put any pressure on the school to upgrade. Needless to say, the Big 12 commissioner endorsed the move.
“The better the schedules we can play in non-conference, generally the better off we are,” Bowlsby said. “The caveat to that is every program is not similarly situated. If you’re trying to build from the bottom of the league, there’s no expectation you’re going to play three teams at the top. I think those are local decisions, but we are not naive to think they don’t impact the rest of the league.”
Times change, and Baylor’s finally changing with them.
“We’re in a different spot when we were scheduling those games,” McCaw said. “I remember when I first came to Baylor, I was told if we could ever find a way to win six games and go to a bowl game, people think they’d died and gone to heaven.”
Baylor-Oregon sounds like heaven.