"It's up to us to define what that means"

I had to go to the thesaurus on dictionary.com to try and find the right word to describe how I feel about the upcoming Baylor football season, and excited, no matter how many times I put 'really' in front of it, really accurately describes my feelings. Baylor football has brought about so much passionate emotion from not just me, but all of Baylor nation. I've seen multiple people change their cover photos or profile pictures to pictures of the new uniforms or players to show how enthusiastic they are to see this particular team. Usually there are a good amount of on edge fans eager for the season to start, but so many have been reposting articles about Baylor football, talking about recent recruits, and aspirations for Lache Seastrunk, Bryce Pretty, and all of the Bears. I'm flat out really, really excited for all of this.

Although, I shouldn't be surprised of all this commotion, because Robert Griffin III told all of us in his Hesiman acceptance speech that it was coming.

"We compete, we win, we are Baylor. Baylor we will always be, and it's up to us to define what that means, and this Heisman trophy is only the beginning of that process".

To think that Griffin winning the Heisman trophy was just the tip of the iceberg for Baylor football is pretty extraordinary. For Baylor to go from a team that was a doormat of the Big XII to perennial title contenders is, well, as Griffin put it, unbelievably believable. It really is something special we are getting to witness with this program rising up to new heights, and I get to be lucky enough to be a student while all of this is going on. One of the things I love seeing is how many other students are taking notice of this as well.

Of course, it is easy to get behind a team that is winning, but I've noticed that students seem to really be getting behind this football team. When I talk about Baylor football with other people there is a lot of elation in their voices. And these are people that don't follow sports that closely. I just hope this continues. I tried to get a pulse of the student body last year when I wrote my Baylor Line Reports to see what kind of buzz there was around campus about football, and to be honest, interest was strong in the beginning, then faded towards the middle of the season, and then really picked up after the destruction of Kansas State. This no doubt had to do with Baylor's win/loss record in that stretch of time, but when the excitement came back, there was a lot more of it. Almost as if it was quietly building through the season.

That's how I feel Baylor football has been since the year Griffin won the Heisman. Over this year and a half Baylor has been building. Both figuratively and literally. A new stadium, a championship caliber team, and a new passion for this football team.

Griffin said in his acceptance speech that it was up to us to define what "We are Baylor, Baylor we will always be" means. Griffin set everything into motion with the season he had and winning that coveted trophy. When he did that, no one thought Baylor could win the Big XII. Now we're getting first place votes. It used to be that the only place I could even find it remotely possible for Baylor to get into a BCS bowl game was when I played NCAA football on my xbox and created myself as the running back. Now, there are writers saying Baylor is a dark horse for the Big XII title, a BCS bowl berth, even the National title. This is a Baylor team that believes. And it now has a student body that believes with it. That is a great definition of we are Baylor. And the best part is that Baylor isn't done getting better. There is a lot of room for improvement down the road and Baylor is showing that they can get some of the best recruits in the nation.

It's up to us to define what Baylor will be going forward. New stadium, New uniforms, new attitude, but through it all we are Baylor, and i think everyone in the country is really going to get an understanding of what that means this season.