What If Wednesday: Did Baylor Just Get Its Most Important Win Ever?

Kansas is not a very good team. I don’t think I’m taking any large hot take with that statement. And yet, Baylor’s win over the now 1-8 Jayhawks may have been its most important win to date.

Now, important is different from biggest. There are other games that come to mind when one is thinking of the “biggest” and most celebrated victories, like the 61-58 game. But I’ll argue that the win over Kansas was the most important. The Matt Rhule era, needless to say, has started rougher than many had hoped. The Bears, now 1-8, were completely winless up until this past weekend, with losses to Liberty and UTSA and many conference foes. Many were wondering if Baylor was going to end the season without the win, cementing itself as the worst team in the Big 12. However, Baylor was able to beat Kansas on the road in a convincing fashion, 38-9.

That win was extremely important for a number of reasons. First, it cements that even in a year where nearly everything has gone wrong, they are still not the weakest link in the Big 12. They were able to blowout Kansas. This helps keep some good faith trust in Matt Rhule’s process. If the Bears had lost to Kansas, I think a winless season would have been nearly inevitable and many would have lost complete faith. Recruits might have started to jump ship, but thankfully they’re still holding on. Arguably even more important, however, is this win gave the small senior class that stuck around at least one win to hang their hats on. Yeah, it would’ve been nice for this team to have some more success this year, but getting the seniors at least one win seemed very important.

And hey, maybe the Bears will be able to surprise Texas Tech, Iowa State, or TCU in their final three games? It’s not unthinkable given that this team finally has some positive momentum. Sic ‘em!