Baylor's Regular Season Showdown With Big 12 Foe Moved to a Friday Night

The Big 12 Conference announced on Friday that it was moving eight games to Friday nights and one game to a Thursday night this fall.

The Baylor Bears were one team that had to change around their plans. Baylor was set to play the UCF Knights on Saturday, Oct. 31, but after the change, the Bears will head to Central Florida to take on the Knights on Friday, Oct. 30.

The Bears are no strangers to playing under the lights on Friday nights. Last season, Baylor opened things up on Friday night in Waco when Auburn came to town. The Bears would end up losing the game, but it was apparent that McLane Stadium was full of energy, rooting on Baylor.

Last season, Baylor hosted the Knights and the Bears crushed UCF. Baylor would go on to win 30-3 at home.

Here is a list of the games that were moved by the Big 12:

Friday, Sept. 11 – Missouri at Kansas
Friday, Sept. 18 – Houston at Texas Tech
Friday, Oct. 9 – Iowa State at BYU
Friday, Oct. 30 – Baylor at UCF
Friday, Nov. 6 – TCU at Arizona
Friday, Nov. 13 – Houston at Colorado
Friday, Nov. 20 – Iowa State at UCF
Thursday, Nov. 26 – TCU at Texas Tech
Friday, Nov. 27 – West Virginia at Utah

A return to Orlando

Baylor's one and only trip to Orlando to play UCF was in the 2023 football season. The Bears had a miraculous comeback to take down the Knights, 36-35.

Baylor found itself down 35-7 with just over eight minutes to go in the third quarter, and that's when the Bears began their comeback. A Dawson Pendergrass touchdown, and a Blake Shapen touchdown pass had the Bears rolling.

Baylor Bears cornerback Caden Jenkins (19) celebrates his touchdown — Mike Watters-Imagn Images

Then Caden Jenkins returned a fumble 72 yards for a score. The icing on the cake was when kicker Isaiah Hankins drilled a 25-yard field goal with 1:21 left on the clock to give Baylor its lead, which ended in the win.

In the game, Shapen threw for 293 yards and a score. Richard Reese ran for 100 total yards, and Monaray Baldwin was sensational, catching seven passes for 150 yards and a score.

Looking ahead to this year, Baylor will trot out a new-look team with former five-star quarterback DJ Lagway leading the way for the Bears. He will look to make Baylor a winning Big 12 football team, once again.