Baylor still has everything to play for despite loss to Auburn
The Baylor Bears suffered a disappointing loss to the Auburn Tigers on Friday night to open the 2025 season. After winning six of their last seven games a year ago, the Bears came into Friday's game fully expecting to win. They actually played pretty well, they just had no answer for Auburn's run game, which totaled over 300 yards and four touchdowns.
The loss stings, but Baylor still has everything to play for in 2025.
Let's tell it how it is: if you're not in the SEC or Big Ten, it's going to be extremely hard to earn an at-large bid to the College Football Playoffs. It would likely take an 11-win season to be considered, and with the caliber of teams in the Big 12 this year, that would be extremely tough for any team to achieve.
The most likely path for a Big 12 team to make the College Football Playoff is through winning the Big 12 Championship. While Baylor might be 0-1 overall, they're still on an even playing field with every other Big 12 team not named Kansas State or Iowa State, who played each other in week zero. This loss will not affect their chances to win the Big 12, and at the end of the day, that was always their clearest path to making the playoffs.
I'm not too worried about the Bears after this loss. They made a lot of mistakes, and frankly, got screwed by quite a few calls. Outside of the run defense, which needs a ton of work, the Bears looked good.
The offense took a few drives to really get rolling, but in the second half, they looked like last year's Baylor offense. Sawyer Robertson was clicking, Michael Trigg looked amazing and Kole Wilson showed out. It would've been nice to see more from the run game, but overall, I feel confident about the Bears' offense moving forward.
Defensively, I was impressed with the secondary. They played well against the best receiver room they'll face all season. Cam Coleman and Eric Singleton are arguably the best 1-2 punch in the nation, and they held them to a total of 43 yards. Part of that was due to Auburn's success on the ground, but it was still an encouraging performance for the defensive backs.
The loss to Auburn isn't what the team or fans wanted, but the Bears will be fine. They're still one of the best teams in the Big 12 and should be in contention for the conference title and a spot in the Big 12 championship game.
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Luke is a writer for the Baylor Bears On SI. He's an LSU graduate and previously covered the Tigers for two years. He also covers the New Orleans Saints and Formula 1. Luke's passion for sports and storytelling led him to become a sports writer.