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2021 Baylor

12–⁠2 (7–⁠2 Big 12), coached by Dave Aranda, finished No. 5 in the AP poll.

Schedule and results

Baylor in 2021, game by game: won at Texas State 29–20; won vs. Texas Southern 66–7; won at Kansas 45–7; won vs. No. 14 Iowa State 31–29; lost at No. 19 Oklahoma State 14–24; won vs. West Virginia 45–20; won vs. No. 19 BYU 38–24; won vs. Texas 31–24; lost at TCU 28–30; won vs. No. 4 Oklahoma 27–14; won at Kansas State 20–10; won vs. Texas Tech 27–24; won vs. No. 5 Oklahoma State 21–16; won vs. No. 8 Ole Miss 21–7+59−10Won 29–20 at Texas State+9Texas StateWon 66–7 vs. Texas Southern+59Texas SouthernWon 45–7 at Kansas+38KansasWon 31–29 vs. No. 14 Iowa State+2No. 14 Iowa StateLost 14–24 at No. 19 Oklahoma State-10No. 19 Oklahoma StateWon 45–20 vs. West Virginia+25West VirginiaWon 38–24 vs. No. 19 BYU+14No. 19 BYUWon 31–24 vs. Texas+7TexasLost 28–30 at TCU-2TCUWon 27–14 vs. No. 4 Oklahoma+13No. 4 OklahomaWon 20–10 at Kansas State+10Kansas StateWon 27–24 vs. Texas Tech+3Texas TechWon 21–16 vs. No. 5 Oklahoma State+5No. 5 Oklahoma StateWon 21–7 vs. No. 8 Ole Miss+14No. 8 Ole Miss
Each game’s margin, wins above the line and losses below; orange marks an upset win.
DateOpponentResultElo
Sep 4atTexas StateW 29–⁠2056%
Sep 11vsTexas SouthernW 66–⁠791%
Sep 18atKansasW 45–⁠764%
Sep 25vs14Iowa StateW 31–⁠2945%
Oct 2at19Oklahoma StateL 14–⁠2432%
Oct 9vsWest VirginiaW 45–⁠2059%
Oct 16vs19BYUW 38–⁠2441%
Oct 30vsTexasW 31–⁠2455%
Nov 6atTCUL 28–⁠3058%
Nov 13vs4OklahomaW 27–⁠1434%
Nov 20atKansas StateW 20–⁠1050%
Nov 27vsTexas TechW 27–⁠2479%
Dec 4vs5Oklahoma StateBig 12 Championship GameW 21–⁠1640%
Jan 1Bowls & playoffvs8Ole MissSugar BowlW 21–⁠751%

Elo: a pregame chance from scores alone.

How it ended: Beat Ole Miss 21–⁠7 in the Sugar Bowl; No. 5 in the final AP poll; Big 12 champions.

In program history: The 4th-best season in program history by end-of-season Elo (of 121 on file).

AP poll, week by week

  1. Wk 5: 21
  2. Wk 8: 20
  3. Wk 9: 16
  4. Wk 10: 14
  5. Wk 11: 18
  6. Wk 12: 11
  7. Wk 13: 9
  8. Wk 14: 9
  9. Wk 15: 6
  10. Final: 5

Big 12 champions7–⁠2 in the conference, won the Big 12 Championship Game

Consensus All-AmericanJalen Pitre, DB

Record
12–⁠2
Conference
7–⁠2 tied for 2nd in Big 12
AP final
No. 5 peak No. 5
Points
443–⁠256
Coach
Dave Aranda
Elo
1708 +228 this season
SP+ rating
15.6 No. 15 of 130; offense No. 39, defense No. 12
SRS
12.0 No. 17 of 130 in FBS
Returning
62% of last season’s EPA, No. 88 of 128
Recruiting class
No. 44 roster talent No. 41 in FBS
Offensive coordinator
Jeff Grimes
Defensive coordinator
Ron Roberts
Offense
Multiple
Defense
Multiple

How good, play by play

  • Offense51st of 130
  • Defense21st of 130
  • Offense, opponent-adjusted50th of 130
  • Defense, opponent-adjusted13th of 130
EPA per playSuccessExplosivenessFBS rank
Offense0.1744%1.3351st of 130
Defense0.0537%1.3721st of 130
Opponent-adjusted0.17 off
0.03 def		44% off
36% def		—50th off
13th def
How these are measured

Play-weighted averages over games against FBS opponents; raw numbers, not adjusted for the strength of the opponent. EPA (expected points added) measures how much each play changed the expected score; success rate counts plays that kept the offense on schedule; explosiveness is the average EPA on successful plays. Lower is better on defense. Ranked by EPA per play among teams that were FBS that season. The opponent-adjusted row (offense / defense) is CollegeFootballData.com’s WEPA, which accounts for who each team played.

Drives and havoc

Points per trip inside the 40Average startHavoc
Offense4.0own 3115% allowed
Defense3.0own 2620% caused

CORE rating 10.5, 30th of 130 (offense -0.7, defense -11.2).

A trip inside the 40 is a drive that reaches the opponent’s 40-yard line; points per trip is how many it scored on average (allowed, on defense). Average start is where drives began (the defense’s line is where its opponents started). Havoc is the share of plays ending in a tackle for loss, a forced fumble, an interception or a pass broken up. CORE is CollegeFootballData.com’s context- and opponent-adjusted rating (points better than an average team; lower is better on defense). From CollegeFootballData.com.

Leaders

Passing yardsGerry Bohannon QB2,200 yds
Passing touchdownsGerry Bohannon QB18 TD
Rushing yardsAbram Smith RB1,601 yds
Rushing touchdownsAbram Smith RB12 TD
Receiving yardsTyquan Thornton WR948 yds
Receiving touchdownsTyquan Thornton WR10 TD
TacklesTerrel Bernard LB103 tkl
SacksTerrel Bernard LB7.5 sacks
InterceptionsJ.T. Woods S6 INT

Top recruits in the 2021 class

Kyron Drones QB★★★★No. 263
Tate Williams OL★★★★No. 338
Tevin Williams III CB★★★No. 422
Connor Heffernan OL★★★No. 467
Jordan Jenkins RB★★★No. 535

247Sports composite rankings via CollegeFootballData.com; national rank in the class.

The 2021 class by position

SignedStarsRating
Quarterbacks14.00.909
Running backs13.00.878
Receivers43.00.863
Offensive line33.30.876
Defensive line23.00.850
Linebackers23.00.861
Defensive backs43.00.870
Whole class173.10.869

High-school signees by position group, with their average stars and 247Sports composite rating (out of 1), via CollegeFootballData.com. Athletes are signees with no set position.

Drafted in 2022

The 2022 draft
Rd 2Jalen Pitre SHouston Texans
Rd 2Tyquan Thornton WRNew England Patriots
Rd 3J.T. Woods SLos Angeles Chargers
Rd 3Terrel Bernard ILBBuffalo Bills
Rd 6Trestan Ebner RBChicago Bears
Rd 7Kalon Barnes CBCarolina Panthers

Roster 103

The 2021 roster

103 players, with numbers, heights, hometowns and each player’s 2021 line; 58 have a stat line. See the roster

Transfers in 5

The 2021 portal
Siaki Ika DT★★★★from LSU
Hal Presley WR★★★from Auburn
Jacob Gall OL★★★from Buffalo
Grant Miller OL★★★from Vanderbilt
Drew Estrada WRfrom Dartmouth

Transfers out 7

Charlie Brewer PRO★★★to Utah
John Lovett RB★★★to Penn State
James Sylvester DE★★★★to Stephen F. Austin
Davis DiVall OL★★★to Arizona
Logan Compton TE★★★to New Mexico Military Institute
Solo Turner LB★★★to Hawai’i
Yusuf Terry WR★★★to South Florida

All-Big 12

5 first team, 3 second team

First team

Second team

From Wikipedia’s 2021 all-conference team article, with the selectors that named each player (AP-1: the Associated Press’s first team).

2021 Big 12 standings

Conference page
TeamConf.OverallAP final
Oklahoma State8–⁠112–⁠27
Baylor7–⁠212–⁠25
Oklahoma7–⁠211–⁠210
Iowa State5–⁠47–⁠6
Kansas State4–⁠58–⁠5
West Virginia4–⁠56–⁠7
Texas Tech3–⁠67–⁠6
Texas3–⁠65–⁠7
TCU3–⁠65–⁠7
Kansas1–⁠82–⁠10

Ordered by conference winning percentage, then conference wins. Division splits and tiebreakers aren’t applied.