What Being Preseason Top-10 Means for Baylor
So, you absolutely love that Baylor has been named the No. 10 team in the preseason coaches poll? That would make sense. It'd be silly not to love that idea... or would it?
This distinction is completely changing Baylor's brand. The way the general public views the university is altered by a distinction. If you don't believe that, just look at Kansas and Vanderbilt — they're marred by awful football.
Moreover, Baylor was Kansas and Vanderbilt before it was even cool. The Bears were used to being bottom-feeders in the NCAA, and that's what folks thought of when they heard 'Baylor football.'
The first image that came to my mind as a child was the tarp at Floyd Casey that covered seats to make the stadium look less empty — you know the tarp I'm talking about.
That was Baylor.
Fast forward to today, the Bears are fresh off a 12-win season and now have the No. 10 monicker next to their name. That is a whole new world, one that Baylor fans have only seen as a reality for a decade.
While this seems objectively good, today's Locked On Baylor makes the case that this is not an objective good. Baylor is slowly losing its underdog role, and maybe that isn't such a good thing.
When you're a team that comes from nowhere to go 12-2 and win a Sugar Bowl, you are football's darling. When you are a preseason No. 10 team and do the same, that's what is expected of you. No one bats an eye.
With success being an expectation, the luster of winning with your back against the wall goes away.
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