2020 Baylor Bears football team explained

Year:	2020
Team:	Baylor Bears
Sport:	football
Logo Alt:	Baylor Bears
Conference:	Big 12 Conference
Short Conf:	Big 12
Record:	2–7
Conf Record:	2–7
Head Coach:	Dave Aranda
Hc Year:	1st
Off Coach:	Larry Fedora
Oc Year:	1st
Def Coach:	Ron Roberts
Dc Year:	1st
Off Scheme:	Spread
Def Scheme:	Multiple
Stadium:	McLane Stadium

The 2020 Baylor Bears football team represented Baylor University in the 2020 NCAA Division I FBS football season. They played their home games at McLane Stadium in Waco, Texas, as a member of the Big 12 Conference and were led by first-year head coach Dave Aranda in the Bears' 122nd overall season.

Offseason

Position key

Back	B		Center	C		Cornerback	CB		Defensive back	DB
Defensive end	DE		Defensive lineman	DL		Defensive tackle	DT		End	E
Fullback	FB		Guard	G		Halfback	HB		Kicker	K
Kickoff returner	KR		Offensive tackle	OT		Offensive lineman	OL		Linebacker	LB
Long snapper	LS		Punter	P		Punt returner	PR		Quarterback	QB
Running back	RB		Safety	S		Tight end	TE		Wide receiver	WR

Offseason departures

One Baylor player with remaining eligibility, James Lynch, declared early for the 2020 NFL draft. In addition, 18 seniors from the 2019 team graduated.

+ class="nowrap"	Baylor offseason departures
Name	Number	Pos.	Height	Weight	Year	Hometown	Notes
	93	DT	6’4	295	Junior		Declared for NFL Draft
Chris Platt	24	WR	5’11	172	Graduate		Graduated
Blake Lynch	2	LB	6’3	224	Senior		Graduated
Chris Miller	3	S	6’0	191	Senior		Graduated
	4	LB	6’1	232	Senior		Graduated
	5	WR	6’3	215	Senior		Graduated
	6	RB	5’9	205	Senior		Graduated
	8	S	6’0	206	Senior		Graduated
James Lockhart	9	DE	6’2	263	Senior		Graduated
	11	CB	5’11	200	Senior		Graduated
Owen Rogers	34	LB	6’2	211	Senior		Graduated
Cody George	37	TE	6’2	256	Senior		Graduated
Jordan Williams	38	LB	6’0	223	Senior		Graduated
	46	LS	6’0	235	Senior		Graduated
	52	OL	6’4	310	Senior		Graduated
Johncarlo Valentin	57	OL	6’4	320	Senior		Graduated
Jake Fruhmorgen	63	OL	6’6	305	Senior		Graduated
Marques Jones	84	WR	6’2	211	Senior		Graduated
	99	DT	6’1	333	Senior		Graduated

Recruiting

2020 NFL Draft

NFL Combine

See main article: 2020 NFL draft.

Team players drafted into the NFL

2	59		WR	New York Jets
4	130		DT	Minnesota Vikings
6	184		DT	Carolina Panthers
7	234		LB	Los Angeles Rams

Preseason

Big 12 media poll

The Big 12 media days were held on July 21–22, 2020 in a virtual format due to the COVID-19 pandemic.^[1]

Big 12 media poll^[2]
1	Oklahoma	80
2	Oklahoma State	6
3	Texas	4
4	Iowa State
5	Baylor
6	TCU
7	Kansas State
8	West Virginia
9	Texas Tech
10	Kansas

Schedule

Spring game

The Bears planned to hold spring practices in March and April 2020. The Baylor football spring "Green and Gold game" was to take place in Waco, TX on April 18, 2020. The team's spring practices as well as the spring game were canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.^[3]

Regular season

Baylor initially released its 2020 schedule on October 21, 2019. An updated Big 12 schedule was released on August 12, 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. With the updated schedule, the Bears will host one non-conference games against Louisiana Tech. Baylor will host Kansas, Oklahoma State, TCU, and Kansas State and travel to West Virginia, Texas, Iowa State, Texas Tech, and Oklahoma in regular season conference play. On September 8, the Louisiana Tech game was postponed indefinitely. On September 12, a new game against Houston was announced in its place. On September 18, Baylor announced that the Houston versus Baylor game would be postponed due to Baylor not meeting the Big 12 Conference COVID-19 game cancellation thresholds.^[4]

The Bears had games against Ole Miss and Incarnate Word, which were canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.^[5]

Schedule Source:^[6]

Coaching staff

Dave Aranda	Head Coach	1st	LSU (DC)
Joey McGuire	Assoc. HC/OLB	4th	Cedar Hill High School (HC)
Larry Fedora	OC/QB	1st	North Carolina (HC)
Ron Roberts	DC/ILB	1st	Louisiana (DC)
Jorge Munoz	WR	1st	LSU (offensive analyst)
Shawn Bell	TE	4th	Cedar Ridge High School (HC)
Dennis Johnson	DL	1st	LSU (DL)
Justin Johnson	RB	1st	Houston (RB)
Matt Powledge	S/ST	1st	Louisiana (OLB/ST)
Brian Stewart	CB	1st	Detroit Lions (DB)
Joe Wickline	OL	1st	West Virginia (OL)

Game summaries

Vs. Kansas

See also: 2020 Kansas Jayhawks football team.

Statistics	KAN	BAY
First downs	20	24
Total yards	328	352
Rushes/yards	43/169	43/203
Passing yards	159	149
Passing: Comp–Att–Int	19–33–0	16–24–0
Time of possession	31:30	28:30

Team	Category	Player	Statistics
Kansas	Passing		19–33, 159 yards
Rushing		14 carries, 76 yards, 2 TD
Receiving		6 receptions, 65 yards
Baylor	Passing		15–23, 142 yards, 1 TD
Rushing	John Lovett	17 carries, 78 yards, 1 TD
Receiving		2 receptions, 53 yards, 1 TD

At West Virginia

See also: 2020 West Virginia Mountaineers football team.

Statistics	BAY	WVU
First downs	15	18
Total yards	256	345
Rushes/yards	33/27	39/134
Passing yards	229	211
Passing: Comp–Att–Int	23–38–2	30–42–2
Time of possession	28:07	31:53

Team	Category	Player	Statistics
Baylor	Passing	Charlie Brewer	23–38, 229 yards, 3 TD, 2 INT
Rushing	John Lovett	14 carries, 23 yards
Receiving	R.J. Sneed	6 receptions, 48 yards, 1 TD
West Virginia	Passing		30–42, 211 yards, 1 TD, 2 INT
Rushing		27 carries, 93 yards, 2 TD
Receiving	Sam James	8 reception, 66 yards

At Texas

See also: 2020 Texas Longhorns football team.

Statistics	BAY	TEX
First downs	22	19
Total yards	316	429
Rushes/yards	21/64	47/159
Passing yards	252	270
Passing: Comp–Att–Int	31–44–0	15–23–1
Time of possession	27:53	32:07

Team	Category	Player	Statistics
Baylor	Passing	Charlie Brewer	30–43, 256 yards, 2 TD
Rushing	John Lovett	4 carries, 21 yards
Receiving	R.J. Sneed	4 receptions, 62 yards
Texas	Passing		15–23, 270 yards, 1 TD, 1 INT
Rushing		16 carries, 57 yards
Receiving		1 reception, 72 yards

Vs. TCU

See also: 2020 TCU Horned Frogs football team and Baylor–TCU football rivalry.

Statistics	TCU	BAY
First downs	20	15
Total yards	385	278
Rushes/yards	44/247	33/75
Passing yards	138	203
Passing: Comp–Att–Int	14–23–0	17–37–1
Time of possession	31:23	28:37

Team	Category	Player	Statistics
TCU	Passing	Max Duggan	14–23, 138 yards, 1 TD
Rushing	Darwin Barlow	16 carries, 117 yards, 1 TD
Receiving		3 receptions, 64 yards
Baylor	Passing	Charlie Brewer	17–37, 203 yards, 2 TD, 1 INT
Rushing	Craig Williams	10 carries, 91 yards, 1 TD
Receiving	Yusuf Terry	2 receptions, 43 yards

At Iowa State

See also: 2020 Iowa State Cyclones football team.

Statistics	BAY	ISU
First downs	17	23
Total yards	366	362
Rushes/yards	27/71	41/198
Passing yards	295	164
Passing: Comp–Att–Int	22–33–2	15–24–3
Time of possession	26:55	33:05

Team	Category	Player	Statistics
Baylor	Passing	Charlie Brewer	22–33, 295 yards, 3 TD, 2 INT
Rushing	Charlie Brewer	10 carries, 29 yards
Receiving	R.J. Sneed	6 receptions, 93 yards, 1 TD
Iowa State	Passing		15–24, 164 yards, 3 TD, 3 INT
Rushing		31 carries, 133 yards, 2 TD
Receiving		3 receptions, 45 yards, 1 TD

At Texas Tech

See also: 2020 Texas Tech Red Raiders football team and Baylor–Texas Tech football rivalry.

Statistics	BAY	TTU
First downs	20	19
Total yards	360	381
Rushes/yards	48/207	39/124
Passing yards	153	257
Passing: Comp–Att–Int	17–26–1	23–38–1
Time of possession	33:27	26:33

Team	Category	Player	Statistics
Baylor	Passing	Charlie Brewer	17–26, 153 yards, 1 INT
Rushing	Qualan Jones	21 carries, 86 yards
Receiving	R.J. Sneed	4 receptions, 58 yards
Texas Tech	Passing		14–23, 181 yards, 1 INT
Rushing		13 carries, 69 yards
Receiving	KeSean Carter	7 receptions, 64 yards

Vs. Kansas State

See also: 2020 Kansas State Wildcats football team.

Statistics	KSU	BAY
First downs	14	21
Total yards	344	420
Rushes/yards	35/256	36/71
Passing yards	88	349
Passing: Comp–Att–Int	9–18–2	31–39–0
Time of possession	25:42	34:18

Team	Category	Player	Statistics
Kansas State	Passing		9–18, 88 yards, 1 TD, 2 INT
Rushing		19 carries, 102 yards, 1 TD
Receiving		2 receptions, 55 yards
Baylor	Passing	Charlie Brewer	31–39, 349 yards, 2 TD
Rushing	Charlie Brewer	23 carries, 56 yards, 2 TD
Receiving	R.J. Sneed	6 receptions, 86 yards, 1 TD

At Oklahoma

See also: 2020 Oklahoma Sooners football team.

Statistics	BAY	OKLA
First downs	19	16
Total yards	288	269
Rushes/yards	26/25	31/76
Passing yards	263	193
Passing: Comp–Att–Int	30–56–2	20–28–1
Time of possession	29:50	30:10

Team	Category	Player	Statistics
Baylor	Passing	Charlie Brewer	30–56, 263 yards, 1 TD, 2 INT
Rushing	Jonah White	3 carries, 18 yards
Receiving	Jonah White	9 receptions, 63 yards
Oklahoma	Passing		20–28, 193 yards, 2 TD, 1 INT
Rushing		15 carries, 50 yards, 1 TD
Receiving		5 receptions, 66 yards, 1 TD

Vs. Oklahoma State

See also: 2020 Oklahoma State Cowboys football team.

Statistics	OKST	BAY
First downs	27	12
Total yards	608	156
Rushes/yards	47/261	31/70
Passing yards	347	86
Passing: Comp–Att–Int	20–30–2	18–34–0
Time of possession	33:45	26:15

Team	Category	Player	Statistics
Oklahoma State	Passing		20–30, 347 yards, 3 TD, 2 INT
Rushing	Dominic Richardson	23 carries, 169 yards, 3 TD
Receiving		8 receptions, 247 yards, 3 TD
Baylor	Passing	Charlie Brewer	13–26, 68 yards
Rushing	Taye McWilliams	5 carries, 33 yards
Receiving	Qualan Jones	8 receptions, 37 yards

Notes and References

1. Web site: Rittenberg . Adam . Big 12 football media days going virtual due to coronavirus . ESPN.com . 6 May 2020 . ESPN, Inc. . 9 May 2020.
2. Web site: Oklahoma Tops Big 12 Football Media Preseason Poll . big12sports.com.
3. Web site: Baylor football announces cancellation of spring game, pro day . KWTX . KWTX-TV News 10 . 3 April 2020.
4. Web site: Baylor-Houston Match-Up Postponed . baylorbears.com . 18 September 2020.
5. Web site: Talty . John . SEC moves to conference-only 2020 schedule, pushes back start of season. AL.com. 30 July 2020 . 30 July 2020.
6. Web site: Baylor Bears Schedule 2020 . ESPN.com . ESPN, Inc. . 21 January 2020.