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Baylor

Bears · Big 12

Head coach Dave Aranda Year 7 with Baylor

Season Projection · 2026 W5

10,000 sims
6.7
Expected wins
7-4
Proj record
4 to 9
Win range (90%)
#45 (14–81)
Final rank (90%)
4%
Make playoff
2%
Win conference

Path to Glory

Tap a win or a loss on each pivotal game to see how the playoff probability shifts. Leave any game unset to average across both outcomes.

Make the playoff

4%

Baseline projection.

  • at BYU
    Away · Nov 14
  • at Houston
    Away · Nov 28
  • at Houston
    Away · Nov 28
  • at Houston
    Away · Nov 28
  • at Houston
    Away · Nov 28

Pivotal games are the 5 with the largest playoff-probability swing, ranked by the model. Math: chained Bayesian log-odds update from the conditional simulation set; gets the directionally right answer but won't perfectly capture cross-game correlations until the full Monte Carlo pipeline lands.

Returning production · 2026

68 score
  • Quarterback 100% (4/5 )
  • Offensive line 65% (11/17 players)
  • Skill (RB/WR/TE) 35% (22/31 )
  • Front 7 (DL/LB) 46% (19/30 )
  • Secondary 73% (19/26 )
  • Special teams 78% (5/6 )

Share of last season's production each unit returns. Higher means more continuity: 70%+ is healthy, 45–70% a normal rebuild, under 45% a major turnover.

Portal additions · 2026

+1.5 rating

30 proven transfers in, carrying the production below from their prior school.

  • Garrick Ponder DE ← Southern Miss 128 impact
  • Ryan Davis DE ← Kansas State 118 impact
  • Daniel Cobbs S ← Kansas State 110 impact
  • DJ Lagway QB ← Florida 99 impact
  • Gavin Freeman WR ← Oklahoma State 96 impact
  • Traevon Mitchell DL ← South Florida 89 impact

Impact scores offensive skill additions (QB/RB/WR/TE) — prior-season production normalized within position (100 ≈ a 90th-percentile producer at that spot) and discounted for non-FBS competition, so a top back counts alongside a top quarterback. Defensive and O-line additions count as transfers but aren't box-score measurable, so they carry no impact score. The rating figure is this class's portal contribution vs. the FBS average, capped at ±2.5.

Situational efficiency · 2025

FBS percentile rank
  • 3rd-down conversion 38.9% 65th — average
  • Red-zone TD rate 14.1% 43th — below avg
  • 4th-down aggression 61.0% 98th — elite
  • Late & close 7.3 yds/play 91th — elite

Percentile is across all FBS teams with play-by-play data for the season. "Late & close" is yards per play in Q4+ with a one-score margin — a proxy for clutch offensive performance.

Schedule

Full 2026 slate. Tap a row for the matchup breakdown.

Latest Stories

  • Recap

    Baylor: 2026 Week 3 recap

    Baylor sits at 53rd overall after a one-point road loss to Auburn in Week 1—a heartbreaker that kept the rating flat at 3.8. The Bears are expected to win roughly 4.5 games this season, and their path to the playoff is essentially closed.…

  • Recap

    Baylor: 2025 Week 16 recap

    Baylor sits at 5–7 after dropping a 31–24 home decision to Houston in Week 14, a loss that underscores the Bears' struggle to close out competitive games. The model rates them at 1.4, placing them 71st nationally—a position that reflects…

More coming

Per-team pages get the full treatment in Phase 3: current rating, season projection histogram, schedule with win probabilities, and live overlays on Pylon stream days. For now, this page exists so stories and news have a permanent home as content rolls in.