It’s Still Texas vs. Baylor, but Shoe of Dominance is Currently on the Other Foot

In a rivalry that has been historically one-sided, the expectation borne by the overwhelming favorite has changed sides.

In the Texas vs. Baylor matchup, Texas has dominated Baylor, winning 74 of the 103 previous meetings. The Longhorns even won 11 of the first 12 meetings between the teams as Big XII foes. But since 2010, the Bears have had the upper hand, winning three of the last four, including 30-10 last year to claim their first conference title.

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Baylor’s surge coincides with turnover at Texas after the Longhorns have failed to meet their own high expectations. This season, it’s the Bears who have championship aspirations while the Longhorns simply want to return to the road that leads to success under Charlie Strong.

As Jim Vertuno wrote in an Associated Press piece published in Tuesday’s Waco Tribune, Strong realizes why Baylor now plays the role of favorite, no matter what his players said on Monday.

“While the players and fans certainly haven’t accepted that Baylor has surpassed the Longhorns, Strong clearly recognizes that the rivalry has flipped and he is the one trying to catch up,” Vertuno wrote.

Everyone, it seems, from Texas coaches to media covering the Longhorns – if not the Longhorns themselves – are singing Baylor’s praises, and the sense is that the compliments aren’t empty ones designed to spark overconfidence in the visitors. Strong compared the Bears to Oklahoma’s 2008 team that played for the national championship.

“Well, it’s similar to that Oklahoma team,” he said Monday. “You’re just looking at Oklahoma, you have [Sam] Bradford, you have Petty at quarterback, they had [Jermaine] Gresham, the tight end there, but then they had the outside receivers, which Baylor has right now.”

Defensive coordinator Vance Bedford, who like Strong was part of the Florida staff that beat Oklahoma for the title, said Baylor quarterback Bryce Petty reminds him of another Floridian, just not a Gator.

“Blake Bortles of Central Florida who was the [third] player taken in the [2014 NFL] draft,” Bedford said Wednesday. “Not as tall but athletically runs like him, can buy time with his feet; physically a good runner…He can make all the throws – deep throws, intermediate throws. I think that kid is a special player I really do.”

Baylor exemplifies one of the basic laws of physics: objects in motion tend to stay in motion until acted on by an outside force. Art Briles has the Bears in the fast lane up the polls while the Longhorns search for their identity.

“The Bears are operating at full speed ahead these days while the Longhorns are still trying to figure out how to navigate the twists and turns that have come with the change atop the program,” Cedric Golden wrote in Tuesday’s Austin American-Statesman.

Strong realizes that as well. He said when the players went through a more casual workout on Sunday following the win over Kansas, he could tell they had already started to focus on the Bears.

“We had a chance to go out and just loosen up some, and you can just tell, when you play teams like the Baylor’s, it’s just a totally different vibe from the players,” he said. “It’s not as much joking around because they understand if you don’t play well, you can get totally embarrassed out there, too.”

Those who specialize in making money off predicting games think seventh-ranked Baylor may be primed to do exactly that. Someone told Strong the Bears had been installed as a 13-point favorite (currently the spread is nearly 16), and he didn’t flinch, as Mike Finger pointed out in the Houston Chronicle.

“A couple of touchdowns?” he said. “They deserve every bit of it.”

Bedford realizes the gravity of the test his defense is about to face.

“Boy my swagger is down right now,” he told the media Wednesday. “After watching that video I was thinking my goodness, my stomach is in knots right now… I have to be honest. You talk about not sleeping, not eating. Trying to defend these guys, it does it all to you.”

Acknowledging the reality of the situation and accepting it are two different things, though. Just because the Bears are heavy favorites doesn’t mean Texas will throw in the towel early. Do the Longhorns face challenges to keep the game close or even pull an upset? Sure. But as each player who met with the media Monday seemed to stress, this is still Texas, where they expect to win.

“They’re still Baylor,” UT wide receiver John Harris said Monday in Finger’s story. “Just because they started playing better in this era, that’s good for them. We’re still Texas.”

“I’m not getting into outside opinion,” senior linebacker Jordan Hicks, the current Big XII defensive player of the week, said. “We are who we are. We believe in each other. We believe that what we have is good enough to beat anybody.”

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