Baylor walked into Blackout on the Brazos with a packed McLane Stadium behind it and came away with a loss that stung in every possible way. More than 40,000 fans, including 11,000-plus students, showed up expecting the Bears to handle TCU, and instead they watched Baylor post its worst offensive showing of the season in a 17-6 defeat.
That number tells the story all by itself: no touchdowns. For a team that had been averaging 38 points a game, being held out of the end zone at home was a jarring fall. The defense did enough to keep things within reach, but when the offense couldn’t finish drives, the result was a frustrating loss.
A lot of the frustration circles back to Dave Aranda’s choices, starting with the quarterback situation. If DJ Lagway still can’t move freely without risking further injury, why was he kept in the game?
And if he’s limited that badly, was he really the better answer than Nate Bennett? Against a tough TCU defense, Baylor still seemed committed to asking Lagway to operate under the worst possible conditions.
That showed up again and again. There were moments when Lagway had room to use his legs and pick up yards, but those chances mostly went nowhere.
He either threw the ball away or completed short gains that didn’t amount to much. The sense was hard to shake that a healthier, less restricted Lagway could have made those plays matter in a much bigger way.
The play calling only added to the head-scratching. Long-developing routes kept putting Lagway in spots where pressure could get home before anything opened up.
If the quarterback was uncomfortable in those situations, the obvious answer was to lean on quicker throws - swing passes, screens, slants, anything that could be snapped and released in a hurry. Instead, too many attempts looked like they were designed to go 20-plus yards downfield.
The run game never got the kind of life Baylor needed, either. When the ground attack struggled to build any momentum, the Bears didn’t really adjust. Rather than mixing in different looks or packages, the offense essentially moved away from the run in the second half.
Aranda also brought some of the spotlight on himself before the game, with the social media hype and his comments taking aim at local media. If Baylor had blown TCU out, it would have all been background noise. But after a home loss like this, the extra attention only makes the scrutiny sharper.
In the end, Baylor got exactly the kind of result that turns every decision into a talking point. The defense gave the Bears a chance.
The offense didn’t cash in. And a home crowd that came ready for a win instead watched the scoreboard stop at 6.
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