Everything Baylor head coach Dave Aranda said after thrilling win over SMU

Baylor took down SMU in double OT on Saturday. Here's what the head coach said.

Jerome Miron-Imagn Images

It took two overtimes, but Baylor got its first win of the 2025 season in a thrilling way. The Bears were down 38-24 with five minutes to go, but Sawyer Robertson led Baylor to two TDs to tie the game. In OT, Baylor and SMU both scored TDs on their opening drives, but the Mustangs would miss a FG attempt in the second OT to give Baylor a chance to win the game. From 27 yards out, freshman Connor Hawkins nailed the game-winning FG to give Baylor a 48-45 win.

Following the game, head coach Dave Aranda talked all things about the Bears' win.

Opening statement

Good to see everybody. Very proud of the effort of our team today. And the fight that they had. And the dedication that it took to kind of see everything through. There's so much that could have been cleaner and, frankly, needs to be better.

The mistakes early on are frustrating. We're playing a bunch of transfers and young guys and this whole thing. And, you know, when they have the opportunity to play, we have to give it a high rate of success. But we're able to battle. You know, at halftime, the spaces are kind of tight, so we've got to come out to talk in a hallway. I just remember 10, however many guys coming out and all making eye contact with me to see, hey, is he in? Does he believe? You know, it was almost as if he believes I believe.

And I just, I don't know, a bunch of eye contact being made. Guys come out in the hallway. And so after that, I just felt, man, you know, we're going to do this thing. I can see everybody, you know, their hearts are wide open right here. And so it's good to see, you know, a lot to clean up. You know, this film is going to be ugly. But it's always good to deal with ugly stuff when you have a win.

Character of this team coming back down 14

They care about each other. I think it's a tight team. I think they care about the leaders of the team .I think what the leaders represent and who they are and how they go about what they do, they aspire to be that. And so they want to see guys like that win.

On showing the outside world that this is just the beginning

It's a way competitive group. There's guys that want to win. You know, we talk about battle and, hey, you're in it to win it. And you saw that. I mean, you know, I think when we were down, whatever those numbers were, you know, we're all kind of searching to see how do we fix it, what's the next step, what's going on, and there's really no time for caution or time for kind of complaining. It's like, man, we've got to get this fixed and let's go. So that was very much the feeling on the sideline. And so when it's that way, you feel like we're going to get over this hump.

Did he think about going for two at end of regulation

I think the play that we were running or have for that situation, we already ran and we went backwards. So we probably try to find something else for that.

On Sawyer staying calm the entire time

Yeah, I thought Sawyer in the start of the game was kind of feeling his way through it. You can't take Sawyer for granted. Us, for Baylor, to have Sawyer Robertson, you can't take it for granted. The type of person he is, the leader that he is, he's inspiring our own players. My son is here. He looks up to Sawyer. He's doing it right now with kind of not really a running game. And so everyone's kind of loading up on him. And for him to maneuver through whatever he's got to do to get a cleaner pocket and get cleaner releases and cleaner throws and all that, he did that.

And so way proud of him. And then the other would be Josh Cameron. Both those guys you just talked to. At the end of it, Josh is a single receiver to our sideline. All the other receivers are on the other sideline. And I knew, I think they knew, and I think everybody knew, that the throw was going to go to Josh. And they have him bracketed, they have him pressed, they have him whatever. And he's making those plays. I think for younger players, I think that's way instructive. It doesn't matter if they know. It matters how you apply what you know. And he put that on tape today. It went cool.

On defense coming through when it mattered

Coach and I were speaking prior to the game. I think it was 2014 or 2013. I was in their school. We played them in a bowl game. It was at Auburn. It was a long time ago. And then when we were both in the SEC together, we played each other all the time. And just when you play him, the offense that he's been with for however long, it's just so much you have to prepare for. There's so many gadget and trick plays. You can find yourself lost in all these tunnels that never end of this gadget, this trick play, this, this, this.

And so you have to kind of go there to be prepared. But in the process of going there, you can lose people because there are many depths under the sea. And to get the recall back and to execute those plays that hit us early was what we were lacking in those areas. But when we weren't tripping and falling over ourselves, we were able to make some stops and play competitively. So there's a glimmer of positive there that we've got to build off of.

On clarity for the fumbled punt

Yeah, I actually did not see that. I was already on the defensive side trying to fix all the things that were broken. And so when I came to it, I got a couple different explanations. I think they were trying their best to lay it out. But I think it's still kind of incomplete. There's still questions I have about it.

Injury update on Michael Trigg and Coleton Price

Yeah, I think right now they're going to be day-to-day.Y ou know, we're hoping to get them both back for this next game.

On SMU missing FG in double OT

No, there's throws that are attached to those runs that we had that give us that look. We'd take them, you know, and then the whole thing there was to attack and not just kind of park the bus. And so we were able to get some movement to line scrimmage, which enabled us to run it again after we ran it a couple times.

What this comeback could do for his team

You know, winning is just so much better than losing. I just think any time you win, there's just people happy and they're smiling. And so I think there's that. I think when you do all the things that people are asking you to do and don't win, then it could be like why are we doing these things? What is this? What is the purpose of all of this? And so winning is important.A nd then I think, you know, what was a tight team is even now more tighter because they see what happens when they come together. And they bend, but they'll break.

On Jacob Redding

Yeah, really cool. I think, you know, he's the one that's always paying attention. He's the one that you only got to tell him one time. He's the one that is taking all the notes. He's the one that, you know, instantaneous kind of reflex off of, hey, this drill and then applying that drill into the team period. He's been that one, you know. And so it's kind of been living in those important but lower levels of kind of do you get it, do you not get it, how are you getting it, all that, and then to apply it in big stages and bright lights and all that is way cool. I think, you know, he was always capable of that. He just needed to do that so to fully believe that he could do that. So watch out now, you know.

What changed from first half to second half for Baylor's defense

First half we're making stupid mistakes. We're in quarters and quarterback scrambling and we got a plaster. And plaster means, hey, the coverage is down the field so it was zone. But now they're scrambling, it turns to man. And, you know, we didn't do that. And so that's, you know, we repped it, talked about it.I have to coach it better. I'm frustrated with that. We have to find a way to get it to where we're not learning by doing it wrong. We got to learn it before so that we can do it right. And I'm failing at that right now. But then I think also in the second half there's better. We played a fair amount of man in this game. And so this was, we played a peso grouping with two defensive ends and two outside backers.

I think a lot of their runs early on, a lot of their system was for a 3-4 look. We didn't really play 3-4 all night. And so the man I thought, they were chasing man after a little bit trying to throw shots. And they got one for a touchdown in the overtime. But for the most part I thought when we were locked on, our people were able to cover them. And so there's some stuff that we can grow from with that.

On seeing that look in his team's eyes during halftime

Well, I think the look in their eye was more of like, hey man, I'm down to do this, you're down to do this. I think that was the look. They just wanted to see. I think when you take a look at someone, it's like, hey man, he ready to go. All right, it's business. So I think they were looking to see that. All of our guys, man, they want to do well. They want to do good. They want to win. They want to help. And so I just think when you get into pressure situations, they're looking to see, hey, if you're in, I'm in. So I very much felt that. That was the first time. I think throughout the week it was kind of a workmanlike thing. There wasn't really much time for any of those looks.

On Michael Trigg

It's a shoulder. It's a bruise. He has a bruise on his shoulder. He's had it before, and it's back again. And so we'll see right now, day to day.

On Connor Hawkins' kick

Proud of him. Yeah, I think his moment and, you know, we practice a fair amount of just whatever practice period, or it's an individual period or it's a team period, and we'll break it. And then music will start, and the team will surround him, and he's got to make a kick. He was getting a sip of Gatorade just not knowing it's unscripted. And our strength coaches do a good job of adding some spice maybe to those things in terms of the communication to him. And so there's a fair amount of stuff coming at him, and, you know, he has to be able to make those kicks under pressure. And he's been doing it as long as I've known him in practice, and so it's cool to see it transfer over.

On beating SMU for the 14th time in a row

There's a great history, and it's cool to play this game. And I know it means a lot to Baylor people, and to get a win means even more. And so they've got a really good team. I told Coach that. I think they've got a young team that's talented. You know, they believe. They're still going to believe despite this. And so they're going to be a tough out for whoever's next.

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