Dave Aranda's opening statement to the media after Baylor's 55-28 loss to Utah

The Baylor Bears hosted 13th ranked Utah on Saturday night in Waco, TX and the Bears got run out of McLane Stadium. Utah rushed for 380 rushing yards and scored five touchdowns from ground level in a 55-28 devastating defeat in front of the green and gold faithful.

Baylor head coach Dave Aranda addressed the media at the post-game press conference and had this to say about the game and his team,

"Its good to see you guys. Way disappointing game, very frustrated, gutted really; was not anticipating that. The locker room is tough. Our guys are frustrated, angry. And I'm right there with them. At the start of the game, for the most part, we had 11 guys defensively where they needed to be. I thought at times where we had 10 out of the 11, that's where you saw the touchdown runs.

Utah is very much an option offense, whether you have a quarterback run this way, or a running back going this way. So, all 11 are counted where they need to be. I thought in the first half we were close, those long runs are not acceptable and we tried to get them fixed. In the third quarter, it was more of the same. And in the fourth quarter, the pressure of it was too much for us.

I thought offensively, we were able to run the ball early in the game, which pushed Utah into a single-high defense, which they want to be anyways, with zero blitz. Typically, Utah is a 70 percent man-free team, they were probably 30 percent in this game. They were heavy, heavy zero blitz. We saw more zero blitz than we had seen throughout the year.

There were a lot of one-on-one opportunities. We were able to make completions on some of those and on others, we missed. And in games like this, we have to make those, whether it is the catch or the throw. I thought the inconsistency on offense in terms of scoring touchdowns would affect us. And it did."
Baylor head coach Dave Aranda

Playmakers 🌟 @SawRobertson12 + @Josh_Cameron34 for the 2nd time tonight!
📺: ESPN2 #SicEm pic.twitter.com/UR4fvkTOFP
— Baylor Football (@BUFootball) November 16, 2025

What was odd and interesting at the same time was that Baylor won the battle on the field in terms of time of possession ( over five minutes more) and in total offense yards, outgaining Utah by 80 yards. In addition, Bears quarterback Sawyer Robertson threw for 430 yards and three touchdowns. But he also threw two INTs, one of which was returned for a score. He completed 50 percent of his passes.

That is significant when you consider Robertson shredded a Utah pass defense that, coming into the game, allowed just 156 yards per game through the air and three TD passes over the last five games.

Baylor must now forget about this loss and focus on preparing for their road game vs. the Arizona Wildcats (7-3) next Saturday. The Bears have two more chances to get to six wins and become bowl eligible. Look for the Bears to arrive in the Arizona desert with a large chip on their shoulder and take out some of their anger and frustration on the Wildcats.

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