Welcome to the fourth installment of TRASH TALK. Feel free to join along in the comments section, but remember this is all in good fun.
On Oct. 15, 2016, the Baylor Bears defeated the Kansas Jayhawks, 49-7. Since then, the Bears have lost every Big 12 game they’ve played, along with nonconference losses to football powerhouses Liberty, UTSA, and Duke. Their lone win, sandwiched between losing streaks of 6 and 4 (so far) games, was a bowl victory over Boise State.
That blip aside, it appears the rightful order of the football world has at long last been restored. For more than a decade, Baylor football was the doormat of the Big 12. From the conference’s creation in 1996 until 2010, the Bears hadn’t had a winning season, a streak that lasted through four coaches’ tenures:
- Chuck Reedy posted a pair of winning seasons during the death throes of the Southwest Conference, but promptly went 4-7 in the first year of the Big 12.
- Dave Roberts posted identical 2-9 (1-7 Big 12) records in 1997 and 1998.
- Kevin Steele earned a single Big 12 victory (35-32 over Kansas in 2002) and never posted a better record than 3-9 in four years in Waco.
- Guy Morriss provided Baylor with a couple of relative golden years during his five years on the sideline, going 5-6 (2-6) in 2005 and 4-8 (3-5) in 2006. Through the first 12 years of Big 12 football, those were the only times Baylor didn’t finish dead last in the South Division.
Then Art Briles arrived, and after a while, so did success. In 2010 the Bears had their first winning record, first bowl trip, and first time placing better than fifth in the South Division since the Big 12 formed.
Then the Big 12 started unraveling at the seams, with Colorado and Nebraska seceding by the time of the 2011 season, followed by Mizzou and Texas A&M.
Look, I’m not saying Baylor’s success caused the worst turmoil in college football that I can remember. I’m just implying it.
It’s probably too much to expect Baylor to go 0-12 this season, because Kansas is really bad, you guys, 0-2 in the MAC, and who knows about Iowa State. But it would be really great to see Baylor go 0-12.
Baylor shouldn’t even have been in the Big 12 from the beginning. We should have had Houston, but then the politicians got involved and ruined everything.
In summary, and in closing, Baylor getting good at football ruined the Big 12, but now that they are bad again, things should hopefully return to the way they should be.