When Colorado opens Big 12 play in Week 4, every Baylor fan inside McLane Stadium will have revenge on their mind.

The Buffaloes and Bears will meet that day for the first time since Sept. 21, 2024 — also a Big 12 opener — and no one who was in Folsom Field for that meeting will forget it anytime soon. 

Deion Sanders’ team stormed back from a two-touchdown deficit and forced overtime with a Hail Mary touchdown pass from Shedeur Sanders to LaJohntay Wester. That play set up overtime heroics for eventual Heisman Trophy winner Travis Hunter, who forced a game-winning fumble with Baylor 1 yard away from potentially tying the game up and forcing a second overtime.

Instead, the Buffs came away with a 38-31 victory that kickstarted the best season of the Coach Prime era. Dave Aranda’s Bears went on to win eight games in 2024, but now both programs are desperate for a bounce-back campaign in 2026 after neither qualified for a bowl game last fall.

This year’s Sept. 26 matchup in Waco, Texas, could provide the springboard both teams need as they try to reassert themselves as Big 12 contenders.

Here’s everything you need to know about Baylor:

Offseason storylines

Considering programs are quick to move on from coaches, it was surprising this offseason to see Baylor bring back Aranda for a seventh season at the helm, despite a sub-.500 record for the third time in the last four seasons and a losing overall record (36-37) across Aranda’s entire tenure.

The Bears have won more than six games just once since their surprise Big 12 title run in 2021. 

Now, it feels like Aranda has a final shot to prove he’s the right man for the job or Baylor will move in a different direction in the winter.

He’ll have to do so with a new face of the franchise in former five-star quarterback DJ Lagway, the son of former Baylor player Derek Lagway, who returned to his home state after an up-and-down two seasons as the starter at Florida.

A Heisman contender heading into last season, Lagway is the headliner of an underwhelming transfer portal cycle that saw the Bears lose more players than they brought in, with several starters finding greener pastures in the SEC. Baylor’s portal class ranked 12th out of 16 Big 12 teams, per On3. 

On offense

The marriage between Lagway and offensive coordinator Jake Spavital is likely going to determine if the Bears can or can’t replicate last year’s success.

For Broncos fans, Spavital was the offensive coordinator for then-quarterback Davis Webb at Cal in 2016. Webb is the new play-caller for Bo Nix’s Broncos.

Baylor ranked third in the conference in yards per game and fifth in points per game in 2025, thanks to a standout quarterback in Sawyer Robertson (nearly 3,700 passing yards and 34 total touchdowns), a solid offensive line and a top wide receiver-tight end combo in Josh Cameron (872 receiving yards and nine touchdowns) and Michael Trigg (694 yards and six touchdowns).

All of those factors are gone, however. Lagway is a dynamic playmaker as a passer and a runner at quarterback, but he has a new-look offensive line and, essentially, a brand-new group of playmakers, led by CU transfer Dre’lon Miller.

Running back Dawson Pendergrast returns after an injury kept him out for all of 2025 and should spearhead the rushing attack, along with Lagway. 

Spavital’s offense likes to utilize choice routes for its receivers, so a lot will be put on the likes of Miller and fellow transfers Gavin Freeman (Oklahoma State) and Jayden McGowan (Charlotte) to get open downfield.

On defense

Aranda returned to the Baylor job in 2020 because of his success leading the defense on a national title-winning LSU squad, but his units with the Bears haven’t had nearly the same success.

Now on his third defensive coordinator with the hiring of Joe Klanderman from Kansas State, Aranda once again surrendered defensive play-calling duties after Baylor ranked second-to-last in the Big 12 in points per game and fifth-worst in yards per game.

Klanderman will have a relatively new-look unit to work with, too, after top tackler Keaton Thomas transferred to Ole Miss, while promising edge rushers Kamauryn Morgan (Missouri) and Matthew Fobbs-White (Virginia) also left.

Linebacker Kylan Reed and safety Jacob Redding are two returners to build around, but a lot will be riding on the likes of newcomers Hosea Wheeler (Indiana) and Garrick Ponder (Southern Miss).

The Baylor Bears file

2025 record: 5-7 (3-6 Big 12)

Head coach: Dave Aranda (7th season, 36-37 record)

Offensive coordinator: Jake Spavital (3rd season)

Defensive coordinator: Joe Klanderman (1st season)

Key returners: RB Dawson Pendergrass, OL Kaden Sieracki, LB Kylan Reed, S Jacob Redding

Key newcomers: QB DJ Lagway, WR Dre’lon Miller, WR Gavin Freeman, OL Cole Rhett, DL Hosea Wheeler, OLB Garrick Ponder, CB Devon Jordan