Baylor head coach Dave Aranda didn’t hide his frustration Monday, and the message was plain: the Bears are making life too easy on opponents.
After the win, Aranda said the locker room had a good time celebrating, but he quickly turned to the details that still need cleaning up. Penalties and turnovers were the first things on his mind.
“I know locker room was a fun time. On Saturday night, it was well deserved.
But there's a lot of things we got to get cleaned up. You know, one of the things that we've talked about quite a bit is being hard to kill.
And that's not making it easy for a team to beat us. And right now it's too easy to beat us with the penalties and the turnovers.
And we have to clean that up. Our identity needs to be the opposite of that, of giving those things to the opponent.
And so we're very focused on that.”
Aranda pointed to offensive penalties, especially up front, as one of the biggest issues holding the group back. He also broke down some of the interceptions as a mix of quarterback reads, miscommunication, and misjudgment when defenders show something different than expected.
“We have to get it cleaned up, yeah. That’s the major number one thing that we have to do.
That along with penalties, and particularly penalties on the offensive line. I think you look at offensive things that are holding us back, those are the two.
You look at the interceptions. Some of them are on quarterback progressions and reads, and then a lot of it is on, you know, there's a misread of this guy's playing, and he normally doesn't play, or he doesn't normally play this spot, and he's in here for this reason, and there's a miscommunication or a misjudgment, and it ends up being that.
"And so all that stuff's got to settle down, and we're going to have to execute at a higher level. You know, to get in these games to where there's 15 and 16 play drives, and we're going forward and not backward, and we're taking time off the clock, and we're getting into the fourth quarter with a chance to win the game. There's no room for any of these errors that we're making.”
He also said the current starting group has shown what it can do when it plays clean football, but it has to do that more often.
“No, I think we probably want to have some guys in spots to push certain guys that are on that starting group, but I think that starting group has proven itself that when they play consistent, they can move people against their will, and they can close a drive out. And so we've just got to get that more consistently.
I think that's the issue. One of the things is when we start practice great, we've got to finish it stronger, and that will be up to bat right away on Tuesday morning.”
Aranda also zeroed in on the simplest fix of all: cut down the flags.
“I think if there wasn't any penalties, if we took away the penalties, that's the easiest. That's the low-hanging fruit right there, way too many penalties.
And so we take those away. We had a bunch of them on one guy and was just having a conversation with him just downstairs just five minutes ago.
And so the ability to clean that up, I think the efficiency numbers are higher, and there's a lot of positive.
"I think our running backs are running physical. I thought Caden Knighten was much improved from the week previous, was really finishing runs and was hitting downhill.
I thought Caden on special teams really was impressive as well. Mike Turner has been impressive both weeks.
Dawson Pengrass has been his old self, and you can count on four yards every time he touches the ball. But we have to be consistent.
"This offense right now, there's some big playability. I think the more that we get in a good rhythm with our receivers and we're Jaydens, we're Gavin and Louis, and we get JP back and where those guys are situated. But it's a 12-play, 15-play, 17-play drive outfit, and we just can't go backwards when we're trying to go forwards.”
Aranda said more during the press conference, including vague injury updates, praise for the defense, and thoughts on the upcoming game against Louisiana Tech. But the recurring theme was clear: Baylor has enough pieces on offense to be dangerous, yet the self-inflicted mistakes keep dragging it down.
The Bears have shown flashes from the backfield, where Caden Knighten was “much improved” and Mike Turner has been “impressive both weeks.” Dawson Pengrass, Aranda said, has been steady and dependable. He also believes the offense has big-play potential once the receivers and quarterbacks settle into a better rhythm.
Still, none of that matters much if a holding call wipes out a good snap or a turnover ends a drive before it can breathe. For Aranda, that’s the line between a team that merely flashes and one that can finish.
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