National media's thoughts after Baylor's Week 1 loss
Take a deep breathe, Baylor fans.
Breathe in, breathe out. How are you feeling now? Less than 48 hours after a disappointing national showdown against Auburn Friday night, the sting is still there, even if it was a missed opportunity to launch themselves into the national conversations and potentially the rankings, things could have been worse. Standouts Bryson Washington and Jackie Marshall both appear to have avoided major injuries, after Washington missed most of the second quarter, and Marshall did not return after being with what Dave Aranda deemed a high-ankle sprain. The loss wasn't to a fellow Big 12 opponent, meaning all of Baylor's conference and playoff goals are still on the table. And, while Aranda was adamant in his disappointment with his team's putrid tackling, plenty of teams appeared to struggle with penalties and tackling, with college football's lack of a preseason and the transfer portal era leading to player movement up to a week before gameday, reduced tackling and physicality can lead to this.
According to PFF, #Baylor had 22 missed tackles as a team against #Auburn pic.twitter.com/5LgUT0zXsw
— Baylor Bears On SI (@BaylorBearsOnSI) August 30, 2025
And, there were far more disappointing Week 1 performances from programs and teams with much higher expectations (I'm looking at you, Arch and Kalen DeBoer). With that, we'll take a step back and see what national writers and reporters are saying about the Bears after Friday's performance
Shehan Jeyarajah
CBS national writer Shehan Jeyarajah, a Baylor graduate, was in attendance for the Auburn game. Our Josh Crawford went some over best and worst scenarios for this game and Baylor's season with Jeyarajah, and Jeyarajah quickly noted some of those worst-case scenarios rearing their head early and often for the Bears, most noticeably the ghastly run defense, surrendering over 100 yards and two rushing touchdowns to Auburn QB Jackson Arnold, and the severe drop-off in D-LINE play with Marshall's injury. In his 3-minute live hit recap on CBS Sports, he did note TE Michael Trigg as a "big-time player" and expressed some positivity for the passing attack, and the improvement shown in the secondary against a potentially explosive Auburn passing game. Ultimately, the biggest takeaway for Jeyarajah, was the domination in the trenches, on both sides of the ball, for Auburn.
Most of the stuff is fixable, except the DL. They’re gonna need to develop some guys in a hurry because the bodies they had out there got manhandled. Probably their greatest red flag.
— Shehan Jeyarajah (@ShehanJeyarajah) August 30, 2025
Robert Griffin III
Griffin made his Fox Sports broadcast debut in the same place he took home the 2011 Heisman Trophy. However, the former #2 overall pick and native Texan didn't show any hometown bias to the Bears. He noted the first-half struggles and missed throws by Sawyer Robertson, who had an underwhelming performance despite totaling over 400 yards and three touchdowns, including multiple misses on the same "box fade" concept. He, too, noted throughout the broadcast, especially in the second half, that Auburn's offensive line was leaning on Baylor's defensive front and imposing its will to the tune of over 300 rushing yards. However, he did side with the Bears in an early candidate for most egregious missed call of the year, a blatantly missed and potentially dangerous facemask tackle against WR Ashtyn Hawkins.
This was not called a facemask penalty 😬😅 pic.twitter.com/lkuSMSrihx
— FOX College Football (@CFBONFOX) August 30, 2025
He did however, shine some light on TE Michael Trigg, noting his copious amount of targets and saying that Trigg utilized the spotlight to further his case as an NFL tight end.
"They are running the same play, lining up in the slot, and [Trigg] has 1-on-1 coverage with either the slot or the nickelback', said Griffin on Trigg using his speed and size to create mismatches problems within Auburn's secondary. "Trigg had a chance to truly break out, and he is showing NFL scouts that he has a chance to play on Sundays." Trigg would end up with 7 catches for 99 yards and touchdown, with a whopping 16 targets.
David Pollack
The former three-time All-American Georgia linebacker went live Friday at the end of the game from his newly formed YouTube channel, "See Ball Get Ball with David Pollack." Amongst a few of his Baylor takes, Pollack appeared most shocked at Dave Aranda's willingness to go for it on 4th down, especially on his own 32-yard line. However, he didn't see it as an all-hope-lost situation for Baylor
"I didn't think Baylor looked overwhelmed.' said Pollack. "I think Baylor is a good football team that's going to have to figure some things out." However, with a ton of preseason expectations surrounding Sawyer Robertson, Pollack came away less than imprese
"Sawyer Robertson had too much inconsistency. Too much up and down, too much bad ball, then good ball."
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Josh began covering Baylor athletics in July 2025. Before this, he previously wrote for Syracuse men's basketball and football at SI from 2022-24. As a former Division I defensive lineman at Prairie View, Josh is passionate about storytelling from a former athlete's perspective. When he's not covering Baylor, he enjoys traveling, listening to podcasts and music, and loves cooking a good meal.