2020 Baylor Bears football team


The 2020 Baylor Bears football team represented Baylor University in the 2020 NCAA Division I FBS football season. They played their home games at McLane Stadium in Waco, Texas, as a member of the Big 12 Conference and were led by first-year head coach Dave Aranda in the Bears' 122nd overall season.

Offseason

Offseason departures

One Baylor player with remaining eligibility, James Lynch, declared early for the 2020 NFL draft. In addition, 18 seniors from the 2019 team graduated.
NameNumberPos.HeightWeightYearHometownNotes
James Lynch93DT6’4295JuniorRound Rock, TXDeclared for NFL Draft
Chris Platt24WR5’11172GraduateWillis, TXGraduated
Blake Lynch2LB6’3224SeniorGilmer, TXGraduated
Chris Miller3S6’0191SeniorFrisco, TXGraduated
Clay Johnston4LB6’1232SeniorAbilene, TXGraduated
Denzel Mims5WR6’3215SeniorDaingerfield, TXGraduated
JaMycal Hasty6RB5’9205SeniorLongview, TXGraduated
Henry Black8S6’0206SeniorShreveport, LAGraduated
James Lockhart9DE6’2263SeniorEnnis, TXGraduated
Jameson Houston11CB5’11200SeniorDadeville, ALGraduated
Owen Rogers34LB6’2211SeniorPhoenix, AZGraduated
Cody George37TE6’2256SeniorLorena, TXGraduated
Jordan Williams38LB6’0223SeniorParis, TXGraduated
Ross Matiscik46LS6’0235SeniorMcKinney, TXGraduated
Sam Tecklenburg52OL6’4310SeniorPlano, TXGraduated
Johncarlo Valentin57OL6’4320SeniorPhiladelphia, PAGraduated
Jake Fruhmorgen63OL6’6305SeniorTampa, FLGraduated
Marques Jones84WR6’2211SeniorMcKinney, TXGraduated
Bravvion Roy99DT6’1333SeniorSpring, TXGraduated

2020 NFL draft

Team players drafted into the NFL

259Denzel MimsWRNew York Jets
4130James LynchDTMinnesota Vikings
6184Bravvion RoyDTCarolina Panthers
7234Clay JohnstonLBLos Angeles Rams

Preseason

Big 12 media poll

The Big 12 media days were held on July 21–22, 2020 in a virtual format due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Big 12 media poll--
1Oklahoma80
2Oklahoma State6
3Texas4
4Iowa State
5Baylor
6TCU
7Kansas State
8West Virginia
9Texas Tech
10Kansas

Schedule

Spring game

The Bears planned to hold spring practices in March and April 2020. The Baylor football spring "Green and Gold game" was to take place in Waco, TX on April 18, 2020. The team's spring practices as well as the spring game were canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Regular season

Baylor initially released its 2020 schedule on October 21, 2019. An updated Big 12 schedule was released on August 12, 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. With the updated schedule, the Bears will host one non-conference games against [2020 2020 Louisiana Tech Bulldogs football team|Louisiana Tech Bulldogs football team|Louisiana Tech]. Baylor will host Kansas, Oklahoma State, TCU, and Kansas State and travel to West Virginia, Texas, Iowa State, Texas Tech, and Oklahoma in regular season conference play. On September 8, the Louisiana Tech game was postponed indefinitely. On September 12, a new game against [2020 2020 Houston Cougars football team|Houston Cougars football team|Houston] was announced in its place. On September 18, Baylor announced that the Houston versus Baylor game would be postponed due to Baylor not meeting the Big 12 Conference COVID-19 game cancellation thresholds.
The Bears had games against Ole Miss and Incarnate Word, which were canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Game summaries

Vs. Kansas

StatisticsKANBAY
First downs2024
Total yards328352
Rushes/yards43/16943/'203
Passing yards159149
Passing: Comp–Att–Int19–33–016–24–0
Time of possession31:30'28:30

At West Virginia

StatisticsBAYWVU
First downs1518
Total yards256345
Rushes/yards33/2739/'134
Passing yards229211
Passing: Comp–Att–Int23–38–230–42–2
Time of possession28:0731:53'

At Texas

StatisticsBAYTEX
First downs2219
Total yards316429
Rushes/yards21/6447/'159
Passing yards252270
Passing: Comp–Att–Int31–44–015–23–1
Time of possession27:5332:07'

Vs. TCU

StatisticsTCUBAY
First downs2015
Total yards385278
Rushes/yards44/'24733/75
Passing yards138203
Passing: Comp–Att–Int14–23–017–37–1
Time of possession31:23'28:37

At Iowa State

StatisticsBAYISU
First downs1723
Total yards366362
Rushes/yards27/7141/'198
Passing yards295164
Passing: Comp–Att–Int22–33–215–24–3
Time of possession26:5533:05'

At Texas Tech

StatisticsBAYTTU
First downs2019
Total yards360381
Rushes/yards48/'20739/124
Passing yards153257
Passing: Comp–Att–Int17–26–123–38–1
Time of possession33:27'26:33

Vs. Kansas State

StatisticsKSUBAY
First downs1421
Total yards344420
Rushes/yards35/25636/71
Passing yards88349
Passing: Comp–Att–Int9–18–231–39–0
Time of possession25:4234:18

At Oklahoma

StatisticsBAYOKLA
First downs1916
Total yards288269
Rushes/yards26/2531/'76
Passing yards263193
Passing: Comp–Att–Int30–56–220–28–1
Time of possession29:5030:10'

Vs. Oklahoma State

StatisticsOKSTBAY
First downs2712
Total yards608156
Rushes/yards47/'26131/70
Passing yards34786
Passing: Comp–Att–Int20–30–218–34–0
Time of possession33:45'26:15