Baylor Gets High Praise In Way-Too-Early Top 25

The Bears will have high expectations heading into the 2022 season

Author:
Matt Galatzan
Publish date:
May 13, 2022 7:00 AM EDT

Coming off of a Big 12 Championship and a Sugar Bowl win over Ole Miss, the Baylor Bears will have high expectations heading into their third season under head coach Dave Aranda.

One major reason for those expectations is the Big 12 itself, which will largely be down across the board thanks to the mass exodus at Oklahoma, and Texas still in the process of rebuilding its program.

However, the Bears are an extremely talented team in their own right, and despite losing some of their top talents to the NFL last week, they will be favorites to repeat as conference champions in 2022.

As a result of their returning talent, college football analysts are high on the Bears, with Aranda's team widely recognized as a top-10 team by most major publications.

Most recently, Pro Football Network took their own shot at a way-too-early top-25, listing the Bears among the top-8 teams in the country.

8) Baylor Bears
The Big 12 is one of the most difficult conferences to predict this season. As a result, and despite the loss of a lot of defensive parts, it wouldn’t be a surprise to see Baylor repeat as conference champions. They return all but one of their astonishingly good offensive linemen. Adding Jaxon Player to the defensive front is a scary-good move alongside Siaki Ika.
Do I think the Bears can be a top-10 college football team this fall? Maybe not. However, a Power Five champion will nearly always worm their way into the top end of the College Football Top 25.

The Bears came in one spot behind Notre Dame, and a spot ahead of the Pittsburgh Panthers.

The top-10 consisted of USC at No. 10, Pitt at No. 9, Baylor at No. 8, Notre Dame at No. 7, Texas A&M at No. 6, Utah at No. 5, Georgia at No. 4, NC State and No. 3, Ohio State and No. 2, and Alabama at No. 1.