If Baylor loses to TCU this time, the Bears are frauds
Unlike that time in March when a group of Texas fans were denied the right to buy patio seats for the baseball series in Fort Worth, TCU AD Jeremiah Donati will not reject any Baylor fan who wants to pay for a seat on Saturday.
Tickets remain available for Baylor’s most important game of the season. A rivalry that once briefly was the best in Texas has returned, but the game isn’t doing much on Stadium Drive.
Kickoff for No. 12 Baylor at TCU is the dreaded 11 a.m., a perfect excuse for the students to no-show.
Matt Rhule is the leading candidate for National Coach of the Year for the job he’s done in Waco. He would have been named the Big 12 Coach of the Year last season had he and his team not gagged on pressure with a home loss to TCU.
Rhule has achieved much in his time at Baylor, but he is 0-2 against Gary Patterson.
National legitimacy is at stake for Baylor and Rhule. Lose, and the Bears are frauds and the College Football Playoff committee is right to disregard this team.
TCU is a mess, but Baylor is TCU’s last shot to salvage a season that sits on the edge of the toilet.
Why Baylor should fear TCU
The Bears are 2.5-point favorites, and they should win their first game in this series since 2014.
They should have hammered TCU last season in Waco. Instead, Rhule left with his worst loss as Baylor’s head coach.
The Bears were playing for a bowl bid and hosting their senior day against their despised rival. TCU was beset with injuries and starting a third-string quarterback, Grayson Muehlstein. The Horned Frogs also had one healthy scholarship running back.
This should not have been close.
Baylor was simply out-coached, and TCU receiver Jalen Reagor scored two touchdowns on plays that make him an NFL prospect in a 16-9 victory.
Baylor can’t let this happen again.
TCU: Where the ‘T’ is for transfer
Patterson likes to downplay the emphasis on the quarterback. Given the state of the position on his team, it’s a wise choice.
The most important position is a mess on his team.
Had it gone according to plan, Shawn Robinson would be the starting quarterback and the offense would be fine. But he transferred to Missouri in the spring.
No matter, TCU had another highly rated prospect, Justin Rogers. He suffered a knee injury in high school, and now he’s transferring, too.
The graduate transfer Patterson added in the spring, Alex Delton of Kansas State, just quit because he’s not playing.
Delton is not playing because offensive coordinator Sonny Cumbie went with the kid with the big arm over the experience against Oklahoma State.
Max Duggan has played like a freshman, and the offense has behaved accordingly.
If all of these quarterbacks had transferred three years ago, questioning the state of the program would be justified. With the NCAA continually relaxing rules and creating the “Transfer Portal,” it is no longer much of an issue when players leave.
At least TCU is not making the same mistake that Texas did in the final years of Mack Brown. You have to keep bringing in quarterbacks. Find the best one, and let the others leave.
Patterson’s concern is whether Duggan is the right one.
Baylor must be perfect
Baylor should celebrate that the College Football Playoff committee bothered to put the Bears in its first rankings.
Winning every game doesn’t mean much when you aren’t an Ohio State, Alabama, etc.
Baylor is 8-0 in a Power 5 conference, and ranked 12th, behind two teams that have lost twice, and four teams with one loss.
As Baylor and TCU learned the hard way in 2014, the crooks who comprise the playoff selection committee look at the names they know and nothing else. The bias that existed then thrives today.
In 2014, both TCU and Baylor lost one game and were kept out of the first playoff. TCU’s lone loss was at Baylor, 61-58.
It’s 2019, and Baylor is playing in November on the national stage while TCU stumbles along, hoping this season’s reward is that it found a long-term solution at quarterback and gained bowl eligibility in the process.
This is not the time to lose to TCU.
Baylor, if you lose to TCU this time, you’re a fraud.
