2018 Baylor Bears football team

2018 Baylor Bears football
Texas Bowl champion
Texas Bowl, W 45–38 vs. Vanderbilt
Conference	Big 12 Conference
Record	7–6 (4–5 Big 12)
Head coach	Matt Rhule (2nd season)
Co-offensive coordinator	Glenn Thomas (2nd season)
Co-offensive coordinator	Jeff Nixon (2nd season)
Offensive scheme	Spread
Defensive coordinator	Phil Snow (2nd season)
Base defense	3–3 stack [1]
Home stadium	McLane Stadium
Seasons ←  2017 2019  →

2018 Big 12 Conference football standings

v t e	Conf.							Overall
Team		W		L					W		L
No. 4 Oklahoma y$^		8	–	1					12	–	2
No. 9 Texas y		7	–	2					10	–	4
Iowa State		6	–	3					8	–	5
No. 20 West Virginia		6	–	3					8	–	4
TCU		4	–	5					7	–	6
Baylor		4	–	5					7	–	6
Oklahoma State		3	–	6					7	–	6
Kansas State		3	–	6					5	–	7
Texas Tech		3	–	6					5	–	7
Kansas		1	–	8					3	–	9
Championship: Oklahoma 39, Texas 27
^ – College Football Playoff participant $ – Conference champion y – Championship game participant Rankings from AP Poll

The 2018 Baylor Bears football team represented Baylor University in the 2018 NCAA Division I FBS football season. The Bears played their home games at the McLane Stadium in Waco, Texas. They competed as a member of the Big 12 Conference and were led by second-year head coach Matt Rhule. The team improved on its 1–11 record from last season, as they would finish 7–6, 4–5 in Big 12 play to finish in a tie for fifth place. They were invited to the Texas Bowl, where they defeated Vanderbilt.

Preseason

Award watch lists

Listed in the order that they were released

Award	Player	Position	Year
Rimington Trophy [2]	Sam Tecklenburg	C	JR
Fred Biletnikoff Award [3]	Denzel Mims	WR	JR
Bronko Nagurski Trophy [4]	Ira Lewis	DT	SR
Outland Trophy [5]	Ira Lewis	DT	SR
Lou Groza Award [6]	Connor Martin	K	JR
Earl Campbell Tyler Rose Award [7]	Denzel Mims	WR	JR

Big 12 media poll

The Big 12 media poll was released July 12, 2018, with the Bears predicted to finish in ninth place. ^[8]

Media poll
Predicted finish	Team	Votes (1st place)
1	Oklahoma	509 (46)
2	West Virginia	432 (2)
3	TCU	390 (1)
4	Texas	370 (1)
5	Oklahoma State	300
6	Kansas State	283 (2)
7	Iowa State	250
8	Texas Tech	149
9	Baylor	125
10	Kansas	52

Schedule

Baylor announced its football schedule Oct. 26, 2017. ^[9] The Bears played 12 games with six home games (two non-conference games and four Big 12 games), five away games (one non-conference game and four Big 12 games) and a neutral-site Big 12 game.

Date	Time	Opponent	Site	TV	Result	Attendance
September 1	7:00 p.m.	Abilene Christian *	McLane Stadium Waco, TX	FSN	W 55–27	45,330
September 8	6:00 p.m.	at UTSA *	Alamodome San Antonio, TX	Facebook	W 37–20	42,071
September 15	2:30 p.m.	Duke *	McLane Stadium Waco, TX	FS1	L 27–40	40,442
September 22	2:30 p.m.	Kansas	McLane Stadium Waco, TX	FS1	W 26–7	36,725
September 29	2:30 p.m.	at No. 6 Oklahoma	Gaylord Family Oklahoma Memorial Stadium Norman, OK	ABC	L 33–66	86,642
October 6	2:30 p.m.	Kansas State	McLane Stadium Waco, TX	FS1	W 37–34	36,888
October 13	2:30 p.m.	at No. 9 Texas	Darrell K Royal–Texas Memorial Stadium Austin, TX (rivalry)	ESPN	L 17–23	93,882
October 25	6:00 p.m.	at No. 13 West Virginia	Mountaineer Field Morgantown, WV	FS1	L 14–58	53,117
November 3	11:00 a.m.	Oklahoma State	McLane Stadium Waco, TX	FS1	W 35–31	43,492
November 10	2:30 p.m.	at No. 23 Iowa State	Jack Trice Stadium Ames, IA	FS1	L 14–28	53,860
November 17	11:00 a.m.	TCU	McLane Stadium Waco, TX (rivalry)	FS1	L 9–16	45,140
November 24	11:00 a.m.	vs. Texas Tech	AT&T Stadium Arlington, TX (rivalry)	FS1	W 35–24	27,308
December 27	8:00 p.m.	vs. Vanderbilt *	NRG Stadium Houston, TX (Texas Bowl)	ESPN	W 45–38	51,104
*Non-conference game Homecoming Rankings from AP Poll released prior to the game All times are in Central time

Schedule Source: ^[10]

Game summaries

Abilene Christian

	1	2	3	4	Total
Wildcats	7	13	7	0	27
Bears	17	21	10	7	55

See also: 2018 Abilene Christian Wildcats football team

At UTSA

	1	2	3	4	Total
Bears	10	10	7	10	37
Roadrunners	3	10	0	7	20

See also: 2018 UTSA Roadrunners football team

Duke

	1	2	3	4	Total
Blue Devils	7	16	7	10	40
Bears	0	0	13	14	27

See also: 2018 Duke Blue Devils football team

Kansas

	1	2	3	4	Total
Jayhawks	0	0	7	0	7
Bears	7	16	3	0	26

See also: 2018 Kansas Jayhawks football team

At Oklahoma

	1	2	3	4	Total
Bears	6	3	14	10	33
No. 6 Sooners	14	14	21	17	66

See also: 2018 Oklahoma Sooners football team

Kansas State

	1	2	3	4	Total
Wildcats	7	7	0	20	34
Bears	3	9	8	17	37

See also: 2018 Kansas State Wildcats football team

Baylor held a slight edge in the pregame analysis. Coming into the game Baylor was considered better than they were at this same time last year and has won 3 games (Kansas, Texas-San Antonio, and Abilene Christian), the Bears have also lost 2 (Duke, Oklahoma). In Baylor's previous game against Oklahoma, they achieved 493 yards of offense in their loss—something expected to be a challenge for Kansas State on defense. ^[11]

The game started with Kansas State holding the lead at the end of the first and second quarters. Baylor pulled ahead in the third quarter but missed several field goals. Baylor's Charlie Brewer threw for 296 yards and Kansas State's Alex Barnes rushed for 250 yards ^[12] (he ran for 129 yards and four touchdowns in the 2016 matchup also at Baylor). ^[13]

Kansas State had its share of mistakes: K-State missed a field goal and an extra point and were also ineffective on kickoff returns. Kansas State also gave up a fumble on the kickoff return after a controversial play review to start the third quarter and Baylor scored a touchdown two plays later. ^[14] Wildcat turnovers and penalties led to three touchdowns for Baylor. ^[15] They also had problems with a punt return they recovered and an extra point was blocked. ^[13]

Baylor's Connor Martin had a rough day as the kicker, missing three field goals and an extra point, yet among all that he ended up kicking the game-winning field goal from 29 yards with 8 seconds left in the game. The final score was a Baylor victory, 37-34. ^[13]

At Texas

	1	2	3	4	Total
Bears	7	3	7	0	17
No. 9 Longhorns	3	20	0	0	23

See also: 2018 Texas Longhorns football team

At West Virginia

	1	2	3	4	Total
Bears	0	0	14	0	14
No. 13 Mountaineers	10	31	10	7	58

See also: 2018 West Virginia Mountaineers football team

Oklahoma State

	1	2	3	4	Total
Cowboys	7	3	14	7	31
Bears	0	14	7	14	35

See also: 2018 Oklahoma State Cowboys football team

At Iowa State

	1	2	3	4	Total
Bears	0	0	7	7	14
No. 23 Cyclones	7	10	11	0	28

See also: 2018 Iowa State Cyclones football team

TCU

	1	2	3	4	Total
Horned Frogs	3	6	7	0	16
Bears	6	0	3	0	9

See also: 2018 TCU Horned Frogs football team and Baylor–TCU football rivalry

vs Texas Tech

	1	2	3	4	Total
Bears	7	7	14	7	35
Red Raiders	10	7	0	7	24

See also: 2018 Texas Tech Red Raiders football team and Baylor–Texas Tech football rivalry

vs Vanderbilt–Texas Bowl

	1	2	3	4	Total
Bears	10	7	14	14	45
Commodores	14	7	7	10	38

See also: 2018 Vanderbilt Commodores football team and 2018 Texas Bowl

Players drafted into the NFL

See also: 2019 NFL draft

Round	Pick	Player	Position	NFL Club
3	67	Jalen Hurd	WR	San Francisco 49ers

References

1. Newton, David (September 29, 2021). "Carolina Panthers' top-ranked defense reflects 'old-man' strength of Phil Snow". ESPN . Retrieved December 5, 2023.
2. "Rimington Trophy Press Release". May 30, 2018. Retrieved July 14, 2018.
3. "2018 Biletnikoff Award Watch List". July 19, 2018. Retrieved July 19, 2018.
4. "2018 Bronko Nagurski Trophy Preseason Watch List". July 24, 2018. Retrieved July 24, 2018.
5. "22018 OUTLAND TROPHY WATCH LIST UNVEILED". July 24, 2018. Retrieved July 24, 2018.
6. "Lou Groza Collegiate Place-Kicker Award Announces 2018 Preseason Watch List". July 25, 2018. Archived from the original on August 17, 2009. Retrieved July 25, 2018.
7. "2018 Nominations The Earl Campbell Tyler Rose Award" (PDF). August 16, 2018. Retrieved August 17, 2018.
8. "Sooners Picked to Repeat in Big 12 Preseason Football Poll".
9. "Baylor Unveils Football Schedule". Wacotrib.com. October 26, 2017. Retrieved October 26, 2017.
10. "2018 Baylor Bears Football Schedule". FB Schedules. Retrieved May 2, 2018.
11. Robinett, Kellis (September 30, 2018). "Grades from Kansas State's 19-14 loss to Texas and a look ahead to Baylor". MSN Sports . Retrieved October 1, 2018.
12. "Kansas State vs. Baylor (box score)". ESPN.com . October 6, 2018. Retrieved October 6, 2018.
13. "Baylor beats K-State on Martin's FG with 8 seconds left". Fox Sports . October 6, 2018. Retrieved October 6, 2018.
14. Robinett, Kellis (October 6, 2018). "Mistakes cost Kansas State Wildcats in 37-34 loss to Baylor Bears". Wichita Eagle . Retrieved October 6, 2018.
15. Green, Arne (October 6, 2018). "Kansas State football loses heartbreaker to Baylor 37-34". Topeka Capital-Journal . Retrieved October 6, 2018.