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

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. Baylor offseason departures Name Number Pos. Height Weight Year Hometown Notes James Lynch 93 DT 6’4 295 Junior Round Rock, TX Declared for NFL Draft Chris Platt 24 WR 5’11 172 Graduate Willis, TX Graduated Blake Lynch 2 LB 6’3 224 Senior Gilmer, TX Graduated Chris Miller 3 S 6’0 191 Senior Frisco, TX Graduated Clay Johnston 4 LB 6’1 232 Senior Abilene, TX Graduated Denzel Mims 5 WR 6’3 215 Senior Daingerfield, TX Graduated JaMycal Hasty 6 RB 5’9 205 Senior Longview, TX Graduated Henry Black 8 S 6’0 206 Senior Shreveport, LA Graduated James Lockhart 9 DE 6’2 263 Senior Ennis, TX Graduated Jameson Houston 11 CB 5’11 200 Senior Dadeville, AL Graduated Owen Rogers 34 LB 6’2 211 Senior Phoenix, AZ Graduated Cody George 37 TE 6’2 256 Senior Lorena, TX Graduated Jordan Williams 38 LB 6’0 223 Senior Paris, TX Graduated Ross Matiscik 46 LS 6’0 235 Senior McKinney, TX Graduated Sam Tecklenburg 52 OL 6’4 310 Senior Plano, TX Graduated Johncarlo Valentin 57 OL 6’4 320 Senior Philadelphia, PA Graduated Jake Fruhmorgen 63 OL 6’6 305 Senior Tampa, FL Graduated Marques Jones 84 WR 6’2 211 Senior McKinney, TX Graduated Bravvion Roy 99 DT 6’1 333 Senior Spring, TX Graduated

Recruiting

2020 NFL draft

NFL Combine

Team players drafted into the NFL

2 59 Denzel Mims WR New York Jets 4 130 James Lynch DT Minnesota Vikings 6 184 Bravvion Roy DT Carolina Panthers 7 234 Clay Johnston 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.

Big 12 media poll 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.

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.

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

Schedule source:

Coaching staff Dave ArandaHead Coach1stLSU (DC)Joey McGuireAssoc. HC/OLB4thCedar Hill High School (HC)Larry FedoraOC/QB1stNorth Carolina (HC)Ron RobertsDC/ILB1stLouisiana (DC)Jorge MunozPGC/WR1stLSU (offensive analyst)Shawn BellTE4thCedar Ridge High School (HC)Dennis JohnsonDL1stLSU (DL)Justin JohnsonRB1stHouston (RB)Matt PowledgeS/ST1stLouisiana (OLB/ST)Brian StewartCB1stDetroit Lions (DB)Joe WicklineOL1stWest Virginia (OL)

Game summaries

Vs. Kansas

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 StatisticsKansas Passing Jalon Daniels 19–33, 159 yards Rushing Pooka Williams Jr. 14 carries, 76 yards, 2 TD Receiving Kwamie Lassiter II 6 receptions, 65 yardsBaylor Passing Charlie Brewer 15–23, 142 yards, 1 TD Rushing John Lovett 17 carries, 78 yards, 1 TD Receiving Trestan Ebner 2 receptions, 53 yards, 1 TD

At West Virginia

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 StatisticsBaylor 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 TDWest Virginia Passing Jarret Doege 30–42, 211 yards, 1 TD, 2 INT Rushing Leddie Brown 27 carries, 93 yards, 2 TD Receiving Sam James 8 reception, 66 yards

At Texas

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 StatisticsBaylor Passing Charlie Brewer 30–43, 256 yards, 2 TD Rushing John Lovett 4 carries, 21 yards Receiving R.J. Sneed 4 receptions, 62 yardsTexas Passing Sam Ehlinger 15–23, 270 yards, 1 TD, 1 INT Rushing Keaontay Ingram 16 carries, 57 yards Receiving Tarik Black 1 reception, 72 yards

Vs. TCU

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 StatisticsTCU Passing Max Duggan 14–23, 138 yards, 1 TD Rushing Darwin Barlow 16 carries, 117 yards, 1 TD Receiving Quentin Johnston 3 receptions, 64 yardsBaylor 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

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 StatisticsBaylor 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 TDIowa State Passing Brock Purdy 15–24, 164 yards, 3 TD, 3 INT Rushing Breece Hall 31 carries, 133 yards, 2 TD Receiving Charlie Kolar 3 receptions, 45 yards, 1 TD

At Texas Tech

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 StatisticsBaylor Passing Charlie Brewer 17–26, 153 yards, 1 INT Rushing Qualan Jones 21 carries, 86 yards Receiving R.J. Sneed 4 receptions, 58 yardsTexas Tech Passing Alan Bowman 14–23, 181 yards, 1 INT Rushing SaRodorick Thompson 13 carries, 69 yards Receiving KeSean Carter 7 receptions, 64 yards

Vs. Kansas State

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 StatisticsKansas State Passing Will Howard 9–18, 88 yards, 1 TD, 2 INT Rushing Deuce Vaughn 19 carries, 102 yards, 1 TD Receiving Briley Moore 2 receptions, 55 yardsBaylor 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

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 StatisticsBaylor Passing Charlie Brewer 30–56, 263 yards, 1 TD, 2 INT Rushing Jonah White 3 carries, 18 yards Receiving Jonah White 9 receptions, 63 yardsOklahoma Passing Spencer Rattler 20–28, 193 yards, 2 TD, 1 INT Rushing Rhamondre Stevenson 15 carries, 50 yards, 1 TD Receiving Theo Wease 5 receptions, 66 yards, 1 TD

Vs. Oklahoma State

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 StatisticsOklahoma State Passing Spencer Sanders 20–30, 347 yards, 3 TD, 2 INT Rushing Dominic Richardson 23 carries, 169 yards, 3 TD Receiving Dillon Stoner 8 receptions, 247 yards, 3 TDBaylor Passing Charlie Brewer 13–26, 68 yards Rushing Taye McWilliams 5 carries, 33 yards Receiving Qualan Jones 8 receptions, 37 yards

Rankings

References