Three Things Baylor Football Fans Should Watch for in Week 0
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The Baylor Bears won't suit up this weekend, it'll be one week from Saturday. However, there is football on, and there are still a few reasons Baylor fans should tune in this weekend.
Here are three things Baylor fans can pay attention to.
TCU vs North Carolina
Week 7 will see Baylor competing against TCU, therefore getting the chance to see them competing in Week 0 will allot the Bears and their fans a free first glance at how the Horned Frogs' play-calling and schemes may have changed from their previous meeting in 2025.
Baylor's game last year against TCU on October 18, 2025 ended in a 42-36 rain-soaked and lightning-delayed loss for the Bears, despite Baylor's offense staging an ultimately unsuccessful comeback late in the game. Both Baylor and TCU lost players to the transfer portal, but unlike Baylor, TCU effectively lost just over a dozen players and notably QB Josh Hoover (transfer to Indiana) to the transfer portal whereas Baylor lost 32 players to the transfer portal.
New Season, New Rules to Learn
In the unending pursuit of rule changes that happen from year to year with the intention of either streamlining the game or helping to make it safer, this year introduces some adjustments and new rules that seem counter to that concept.
The adjustments to the targeting penalties will be impactful to not just the teams playing in week 0, but Baylor as well. Without an automatic carryover of a first-half-suspension in the team's next game, it's almost as if they've intentionally lightened the punishment as an anti-deterrent. This rule may have been fine the way that it was, but it will be a factor to keep in mind watching this week's games.
Offensive pass interference will now have two levels of penalty, changing from the "spot of foul of 15 yards, whichever is closer to the original line of scrimmage" to having the standard OPI cost the offending team ten yards while reserving the 15-yard pass interference penalty for the "unnecessary roughness" and "unsportsmanlike conduct" variety.
And who knows? We might even get the chance to see a "fair catch kick" as those are now a legal addition to the CFB playbook. It's obscure and highly situational, but it will be an absolutely valid way for a team to attempt to gain three points.
New adjustments have also been made to the unsportsmanlike penalty umbrella:
"Any act of simulating the brandishing of a weapon; slashing of the throat or a nose wipe signal; removing helmet after the ball is dead (with exceptions for timeouts and equipment adjustments); dead-ball contact fouls, such as pushing, shoving, striking, etc., that occur clearly after the ball is dead and that are not part of the game action; using forcible contact to push or pull an opponent off the pile after the ball is dead". Any of those violations is an automatic march fifteen yards backwards for the offending team."
Head coaches now get two challenges each game. A third challenge is awarded to the head coach if one of their first two challenges was successful, but only if they still a timeout remaining. If the third challenge is successful, no timeout is lost. This has been the eventual logical direction for replay to go since its earliest inception. It's still not perfect, but hey, at least the rule is finally up to speed with the NFL in 2007. So there's at least that as a positive.
Week 0 Doesn't Mean Theres "0" to Watch
Seven other games will be contested during Week 0, not including the TCU vs North Carolina game. While none of these other games contain any teams that Baylor will be facing this season, Baylor fans can still enjoy that it's finally football season again. Fight songs, passionate fans, hard-hitting plays, fourth quarter comebacks, highlight reels; it all begins anew.
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Brad is a writer and contributes to the Baylor Bears on SI, with aspirations to share his own unique thoughts and perspectives with fans. Whether through the facts and figures of the past or the untold potential and triumphs of the future, sports have always been a large influence on Brad's storytelling and life overall. His inspiration to write began while watching sports when he first noticed the highs and lows of each game, each quarter, each play; there's a story in each of them worth telling, and he wanted to tell them.
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