Baylor’s bowl picture has gone from cloudy to all over the map after Saturday’s 25-24 loss at Kansas, a defeat that not only dropped the Bears to 4-3 but also ended Dave Aranda’s run as head coach.
The Bears had put themselves in decent position by opening 4-1, then let back-to-back games slip away against TCU and Kansas. Both chances came against teams that entered the matchup with losing records, and Baylor missed on both.
Now Joe Klanderman is in charge as interim head coach, and the math is simple: Baylor needs two wins over its final five games to reach bowl eligibility.
That’s where the projections split. ESPN and CBS Sports still see Baylor reaching the postseason, while Athlon Sports and The Athletic leave the Bears on the outside.
ESPN’s Kyle Bonagura has Baylor heading to the First Responder Bowl against Florida Atlantic. That game would be played close to home at Gerald J.
Ford Stadium in Dallas on Jan. 2.
ESPN’s Mark Schlabach goes a different direction, projecting Baylor against Mississippi State in the Liberty Bowl on the same day in Memphis. Of the two ESPN projections, that one would bring the more compelling matchup, since a win over an SEC opponent would give Baylor a notable finish to an uneven year.
CBS Sports’ Brad Crawford sends the Bears to San Diego for the Poinsettia Bowl on Dec. 23 against Oregon State.
That matchup would bring together two teams heading in opposite directions. Oregon State has won five straight after an 0-2 start and sits at 5-2 overall and 3-0 in Pac-12 play. The Beavers have done their best work on offense, piling up 42.7 points per game behind an explosive passing game.
Baylor’s defense, though, has been the steadiest part of the team this season. Oregon State’s own issues on that side of the ball could open the door for DJ Lagway and the Baylor offense, which has sputtered over the past two weeks.
Athlon Sports’ Steven Lassan does not include Baylor in his latest bowl field, instead putting the Bears among the teams that just miss out. That’s a step back from earlier projections that had Baylor matched up with Air Force in the Armed Forces Bowl.
The Athletic also leaves Baylor out. The outlet has been especially hard on the Bears lately, sliding them from No. 39 to No. 65 in its national rankings over the last two weeks.
That 26-spot fall captures how fast the momentum has vanished for Baylor after those consecutive losses to struggling conference opponents.
The path to six wins is still there, but the schedule does not offer much breathing room. Baylor’s next chance comes Friday at UCF, and that trip to Orlando is tougher than it once looked after the Knights’ 39-31 double-overtime upset of previously unbeaten BYU.
Friday’s game will be the first real test of how Baylor responds under Klanderman. A new voice can sometimes spark a team, but the Bears still have to clean up the same issues that sank them recently: offensive inconsistency, penalties and missed chances.
Baylor is still at 4-3, so a bowl trip is not out of reach. But another loss would crank up the pressure quickly with November ahead.
And if this season ends the wrong way, missing a bowl for a second straight year after finishing 5-7 in 2025 would sting all over again.
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The matchup also carries some added weight because Kansas has had a hard time solving TCU in recent years, and Fort Worth has not exactly been a friendly stop for the Jayhawks. Still, this version of Kansas looks more capable of creating problems with its run game and enough passing help to make defenses think twice about loading up. If TCU is going to protect home field, it will need to keep Kansas from getting comfortable early and find a way to take away the kind of balance that has made the Jayhawks tougher to handle. [Read more 🡒]