Baylor Coach Dave Aranda Hearing Pressure to Beat Longhorns
AUSTIN, Texas -- The Texas Longhorns are facing the Baylor Bears in Waco on Saturday in what will be the final matchup between the two in-state rivals for quite some time. The Longhorns are headed for the SEC next season while the Bears will remain in the new-look Big 12.
As a result, Baylor coach Dave Aranda is hearing the noise from fans to end the series with a bang by taking down the No. 3-ranked Longhorns in what would be a big unranked upset.
"I can't tell you how many times this offseason I heard 'Dave, just win this one game. That has been brought up to me multiple times," Aranda said Monday.
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Texas and Baylor played the first game of the all-time series in 1901. The two programs have faced each other 111 times since then, with the Longhorns holding a commanding 80-28-4 series lead.
Like Aranda, Texas coach Steve Sarkisian knows things are different for the 113th meeting. The fans at McLane Stadium were already going to be greeting the Longhorns with hostility, but that's likely to be magnified this time around.
"We understand the environment we’re walking into, and we can’t be fearful of that," Sarkisian said Monday. "We have to embrace it, we have to walk in there and be ourselves, and play our brand of football, but understand what we’re going into.”
It's well documented that Sarkisian wants his team to "embrace the hate" this season. And with Big 12 play now beginning, that approach could benefit the Longhorns as they look to navigate the negativity that each road matchup will bring from here on out.
“Now more than ever are there horns down,” Sarkisian said Monday. “Now more than ever are there ‘who cares about Texas? Let’s take one more shot at them on the way out.’ We can’t sit here and be a punching bag. We have to walk in there, be in attack mode, and make sure we’re built for the environment.”
The Longhorns and Bears will kickoff from Waco on Saturday at 6:30 p.m. CT.
