By Kevin Lonnquist
Publisher
Here we are. The start of the 2022 College Football Season. What we watched on Saturday was equivalent to Christmas Eve Day.
What we’re going to watch on Thursday and Friday is like Christmas Eve after you’ve had dinner and are settling in for the night before the big guy comes down the chimney.
Saturday is College Football’s version of Christmas Day. You wake up refreshed, renewed with unbridled excitement because it is finally here.
Why not use Christmas as the analogy to the start of the college football season. A cousin of the RJB’s has always greeted him with that greeting.
No need for the RJB to get too deep into anything for this week’s selection. We’ll get back into that next week.
For now, just enjoy the one and only…
*****
Baylor football access is going to look like this for the season. Dave Aranda will meet with the media at 11:30 a.m. every Monday the week of game (no Monday heading into a bye week).
Player interviews will be conducted every Tuesday following practice. That will be about 6:00 p.m. Typically, we’ll use those transcripts in the Blitz unless we find a nugget that’s of great news value. Of course, will pass it along.
If you live in Waco or want to do some planning ahead and want to get to Rudy’s BBQ to watch Aranda, you can do that this coming Wednesday from 7:00-8:00 p.m. He should be on every week of the season.
There is no media availability until after the games. In this case, it will be postgame from Albany.
*****
Now, to the celebrated event of picking this year’s record. It’s an annual tradition that I conduct the week leading up to the season opener. If you want to reread my way-to-early 2022 prediction, click this link.
Of course, there’s not much drama with the 2022 prediction as I already voted for Baylor to win the Big 12 championship. It’s a matter of the record and what that will look like. Let’s get to it.
Sept. 3 vs. Albany – This is going to be an exhibition that counts. I could see Baylor leading something like 21-0 after the first quarter. From there, it will be a situation where the starters should be out after the first half and a whole lot of people getting playing time in the second half. This will be a good time for backup QB Kyron Drones to get extensive work just to see how he looks.
Baylor 1-0
Sept. 10 at BYU – Originally, I penciled this in as a loss. A night game on ESPN in Provo would be a lot of troublesome circumstances for the Bears. Plus, you would think the Cougars feel like they have some owein’ to do after what happened in Waco last year. This should be a tight game. Baylor wins if it controls the clock and punishes the Cougars with its running game. Baylor loses if it can’t do that, and young cornerbacks are exposed.
Baylor 2-0
Sept. 17 vs. Texas State – Another game where the Bears should get on top of this decisively at some point in the first half. Maybe the starters play a series or two in the second half before they give way to the backups. I think Texas State will be a little better offensively. But this won’t be close.
Baylor 3-0
Sept. 24 at Iowa State – The Big 12 opener in Ames, IA. And you can be sure the Cyclones would love nothing more than to pull the upset. Defense typically travels no matter where it is during the season. If you have a really good defense – and the Bears do – they should be fine.
Baylor 4-0
Oct. 1 vs. Oklahoma State – The one program in the Big 12 where it has an established quarterback in Spencer Sanders. However, Baylor handled him with seven interceptions in the two 2021 meetings. Maybe this is a preview of a repeat of the Big 12 title game. Oklahoma State’s defense will be very good again. I think it will be close. But the Bears will have enough.
Baylor 5-0
Oct. 13 at West Virginia – We all know the history of this team when it travels to Morgantown, WV. It hasn’t been a lot of fun. Well, 0-5 lifetime. But the Mountaineers are in a period where they have to do something big if head coach Neal Brown is going to keep his job. An upset would do that. Baylor finally gets that elusive first win and accomplishes the first goal of becoming bowl eligible.
Baylor 6-0
Oct. 22 vs. Kansas – This has been such a lopsided series over the years. There’s no reason to think Homecoming 2022 will look any different. That’s why you schedule Kansas as your homecoming opponent. It would be interesting to see if the Jayhawks can push the Bears just a little.
Baylor 7-0
Oct. 29 at Texas Tech – This is one of the better rivalries in college football that no one discusses. That’s strange too because the series is so tight. Baylor leads 40-39-1. Even though Baylor Associate HC Joey McGuire has given this program a jolt, the Red Raiders still have the same issues – good on offense, porous on defense.
Baylor 8-0
Nov. 5 at Oklahoma – While the coaching staff and many others have changed in Norman, the fact remains this blue blood is never short on talent. Baylor has won only once in Norman (2014). This team is capable of grabbing win No. 2. But I just have this feeling the Sooners are going to be as good as they always are, despite all their turnover. Even though Aranda was right to do it, that late field goal last year in Waco won’t be forgotten.
Baylor 8-1
Nov. 12 vs. Kansas State – Regardless of the outcome of Oklahoma game, this could be one that Baylor needs to keep its wits. The following week is the finale against TCU. The danger of Kansas State will only be represented by what kind of season transfer QB Adrian Martinez is having. Baylor should keep its wits because November is money time. The defense should be clicking.
Baylor 9-1
Nov. 19 vs. TCU – I think we can all agree that last year’s loss in Fort Worth was a dumb loss. Baylor didn’t play that well and still could have pulled it out if not for the turnover at the end. TCU was fueled by the fact that it changed coaches and perhaps some of the frustration was released. These archrival games are always fun. The Bears know there’s a little extra here.
Baylor 10-1
Nov. 25 at Texas – Like BYU, I had this game as a loss. But if you read into that, I mentioned that I had the right to change my mind because you never know what Texas is going to be like. Through reading up on the Longhorns, I’m going to hedge that their track record of being dysfunctional will catch up with them. If they lose the Oklahoma game, their season could go sideways. If they win the Oklahoma game, there typically haven’t been many coattails to follow them. Defense travels and wins.
Baylor 11-1
What it means
The net result of this is that I believe the Bears will be playing for the Big 12 championship again on Dec. 3 at AT&T Stadium in Arlington against Oklahoma and win it. But they will return to the Sugar Bowl after just missing out on the College Football Playoff.
*****
Ever find yourself binge watching something and wonder to yourself, how did I get here? I’ve done that. Somehow, I drifted it in pulling up everything of the late great comic Don Rickles. We lost Mr. Warmth in 2017 at the age of 90. Can’t argue with that.
Obviously, his humor cuts both ways. You either liked him or you didn’t. I always kind of liked him and that was because I grew up Las Vegas seeing the billboard signs at the Sahara and the Sands promoting his appearances.
But when I found the old Laugh In shows on out-of-the-way channel a month ago, Rickles was on it. I went to go find something of him on YouTube and then got sucked in. His appearances on The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson were a riot.
Then I found his appearance on Charlie Rose. Gave me some pretty good a-ha moments.
I saw an appearance on Craig Ferguson’s show in 2014. Obviously, he was physically going through some issues. But at 88, he was still touring and still sharp. We all hope to get to 88 – that’s not you Ahnachat – and be in that space.
Again, he was an acquired taste. But the one thing I learned about him is that he really had a good heart. He was married for 52 years.
Your choice if you want to watch his appearance on CNN with the late Larry King in 1987. The audio drops within the first 10 seconds but fight through it.
*****
Now, a look at other Baylor sports…
>After dropping the season opener to No. 5 Minnesota in four sets, The No. 16-ranked Baylor volleyball team took down the reigning national champion, No. 3 Wisconsin, on Saturday afternoon in Fort Worth, winning 3-2. The Bears (1-1, 0-0) brought down the Badgers (1-1, 0-0) in five sets, winning 21-25, 25-22, 26-24, 21-25, 15-12.
Leading BU on the weekend was senior outside hitter Lauren Harrison, who had 36 kills combined against Minnesota and Wisconsin.
The Bears head to Malibu, CA., for the Pepperdine Asics Classic from Sept. 1-3. There, BU will face Pepperdine, San Diego and Santa Barbara.
>Following a 2-1 win over Florida this past Thursday, Baylor soccer fell against No. 1 North Carolina, 6-0, Sunday afternoon at Mike A. Myers Stadium.
The Bears battled the Tar Heels in the first half of the game, getting off six shots and two on goal. BU produced three corner kicks but weren't able to capitalize with any set pieces. Baylor is now 1-2-1.
Baylor plays at Houston on Thursday before returning home to take on Iowa on Sunday at Betty Lou Mays Soccer Field.
>Baylor’s cross country season begins on Thursday at the Tornado Watch Invitational at Old Settlers Park in Round Rock. The men begin at 7:30 am. The women will follow at 8:00 a.m.
Let’s make it a great week!
Publisher
Here we are. The start of the 2022 College Football Season. What we watched on Saturday was equivalent to Christmas Eve Day.
What we’re going to watch on Thursday and Friday is like Christmas Eve after you’ve had dinner and are settling in for the night before the big guy comes down the chimney.
Saturday is College Football’s version of Christmas Day. You wake up refreshed, renewed with unbridled excitement because it is finally here.
Why not use Christmas as the analogy to the start of the college football season. A cousin of the RJB’s has always greeted him with that greeting.
No need for the RJB to get too deep into anything for this week’s selection. We’ll get back into that next week.
For now, just enjoy the one and only…
*****
Baylor football access is going to look like this for the season. Dave Aranda will meet with the media at 11:30 a.m. every Monday the week of game (no Monday heading into a bye week).
Player interviews will be conducted every Tuesday following practice. That will be about 6:00 p.m. Typically, we’ll use those transcripts in the Blitz unless we find a nugget that’s of great news value. Of course, will pass it along.
If you live in Waco or want to do some planning ahead and want to get to Rudy’s BBQ to watch Aranda, you can do that this coming Wednesday from 7:00-8:00 p.m. He should be on every week of the season.
There is no media availability until after the games. In this case, it will be postgame from Albany.
*****
Now, to the celebrated event of picking this year’s record. It’s an annual tradition that I conduct the week leading up to the season opener. If you want to reread my way-to-early 2022 prediction, click this link.
Of course, there’s not much drama with the 2022 prediction as I already voted for Baylor to win the Big 12 championship. It’s a matter of the record and what that will look like. Let’s get to it.
Sept. 3 vs. Albany – This is going to be an exhibition that counts. I could see Baylor leading something like 21-0 after the first quarter. From there, it will be a situation where the starters should be out after the first half and a whole lot of people getting playing time in the second half. This will be a good time for backup QB Kyron Drones to get extensive work just to see how he looks.
Baylor 1-0
Sept. 10 at BYU – Originally, I penciled this in as a loss. A night game on ESPN in Provo would be a lot of troublesome circumstances for the Bears. Plus, you would think the Cougars feel like they have some owein’ to do after what happened in Waco last year. This should be a tight game. Baylor wins if it controls the clock and punishes the Cougars with its running game. Baylor loses if it can’t do that, and young cornerbacks are exposed.
Baylor 2-0
Sept. 17 vs. Texas State – Another game where the Bears should get on top of this decisively at some point in the first half. Maybe the starters play a series or two in the second half before they give way to the backups. I think Texas State will be a little better offensively. But this won’t be close.
Baylor 3-0
Sept. 24 at Iowa State – The Big 12 opener in Ames, IA. And you can be sure the Cyclones would love nothing more than to pull the upset. Defense typically travels no matter where it is during the season. If you have a really good defense – and the Bears do – they should be fine.
Baylor 4-0
Oct. 1 vs. Oklahoma State – The one program in the Big 12 where it has an established quarterback in Spencer Sanders. However, Baylor handled him with seven interceptions in the two 2021 meetings. Maybe this is a preview of a repeat of the Big 12 title game. Oklahoma State’s defense will be very good again. I think it will be close. But the Bears will have enough.
Baylor 5-0
Oct. 13 at West Virginia – We all know the history of this team when it travels to Morgantown, WV. It hasn’t been a lot of fun. Well, 0-5 lifetime. But the Mountaineers are in a period where they have to do something big if head coach Neal Brown is going to keep his job. An upset would do that. Baylor finally gets that elusive first win and accomplishes the first goal of becoming bowl eligible.
Baylor 6-0
Oct. 22 vs. Kansas – This has been such a lopsided series over the years. There’s no reason to think Homecoming 2022 will look any different. That’s why you schedule Kansas as your homecoming opponent. It would be interesting to see if the Jayhawks can push the Bears just a little.
Baylor 7-0
Oct. 29 at Texas Tech – This is one of the better rivalries in college football that no one discusses. That’s strange too because the series is so tight. Baylor leads 40-39-1. Even though Baylor Associate HC Joey McGuire has given this program a jolt, the Red Raiders still have the same issues – good on offense, porous on defense.
Baylor 8-0
Nov. 5 at Oklahoma – While the coaching staff and many others have changed in Norman, the fact remains this blue blood is never short on talent. Baylor has won only once in Norman (2014). This team is capable of grabbing win No. 2. But I just have this feeling the Sooners are going to be as good as they always are, despite all their turnover. Even though Aranda was right to do it, that late field goal last year in Waco won’t be forgotten.
Baylor 8-1
Nov. 12 vs. Kansas State – Regardless of the outcome of Oklahoma game, this could be one that Baylor needs to keep its wits. The following week is the finale against TCU. The danger of Kansas State will only be represented by what kind of season transfer QB Adrian Martinez is having. Baylor should keep its wits because November is money time. The defense should be clicking.
Baylor 9-1
Nov. 19 vs. TCU – I think we can all agree that last year’s loss in Fort Worth was a dumb loss. Baylor didn’t play that well and still could have pulled it out if not for the turnover at the end. TCU was fueled by the fact that it changed coaches and perhaps some of the frustration was released. These archrival games are always fun. The Bears know there’s a little extra here.
Baylor 10-1
Nov. 25 at Texas – Like BYU, I had this game as a loss. But if you read into that, I mentioned that I had the right to change my mind because you never know what Texas is going to be like. Through reading up on the Longhorns, I’m going to hedge that their track record of being dysfunctional will catch up with them. If they lose the Oklahoma game, their season could go sideways. If they win the Oklahoma game, there typically haven’t been many coattails to follow them. Defense travels and wins.
Baylor 11-1
What it means
The net result of this is that I believe the Bears will be playing for the Big 12 championship again on Dec. 3 at AT&T Stadium in Arlington against Oklahoma and win it. But they will return to the Sugar Bowl after just missing out on the College Football Playoff.
*****
Ever find yourself binge watching something and wonder to yourself, how did I get here? I’ve done that. Somehow, I drifted it in pulling up everything of the late great comic Don Rickles. We lost Mr. Warmth in 2017 at the age of 90. Can’t argue with that.
Obviously, his humor cuts both ways. You either liked him or you didn’t. I always kind of liked him and that was because I grew up Las Vegas seeing the billboard signs at the Sahara and the Sands promoting his appearances.
But when I found the old Laugh In shows on out-of-the-way channel a month ago, Rickles was on it. I went to go find something of him on YouTube and then got sucked in. His appearances on The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson were a riot.
Then I found his appearance on Charlie Rose. Gave me some pretty good a-ha moments.
I saw an appearance on Craig Ferguson’s show in 2014. Obviously, he was physically going through some issues. But at 88, he was still touring and still sharp. We all hope to get to 88 – that’s not you Ahnachat – and be in that space.
Again, he was an acquired taste. But the one thing I learned about him is that he really had a good heart. He was married for 52 years.
Your choice if you want to watch his appearance on CNN with the late Larry King in 1987. The audio drops within the first 10 seconds but fight through it.
*****
Now, a look at other Baylor sports…
>After dropping the season opener to No. 5 Minnesota in four sets, The No. 16-ranked Baylor volleyball team took down the reigning national champion, No. 3 Wisconsin, on Saturday afternoon in Fort Worth, winning 3-2. The Bears (1-1, 0-0) brought down the Badgers (1-1, 0-0) in five sets, winning 21-25, 25-22, 26-24, 21-25, 15-12.
Leading BU on the weekend was senior outside hitter Lauren Harrison, who had 36 kills combined against Minnesota and Wisconsin.
The Bears head to Malibu, CA., for the Pepperdine Asics Classic from Sept. 1-3. There, BU will face Pepperdine, San Diego and Santa Barbara.
>Following a 2-1 win over Florida this past Thursday, Baylor soccer fell against No. 1 North Carolina, 6-0, Sunday afternoon at Mike A. Myers Stadium.
The Bears battled the Tar Heels in the first half of the game, getting off six shots and two on goal. BU produced three corner kicks but weren't able to capitalize with any set pieces. Baylor is now 1-2-1.
Baylor plays at Houston on Thursday before returning home to take on Iowa on Sunday at Betty Lou Mays Soccer Field.
>Baylor’s cross country season begins on Thursday at the Tornado Watch Invitational at Old Settlers Park in Round Rock. The men begin at 7:30 am. The women will follow at 8:00 a.m.
Let’s make it a great week!
