![\"Sugar](\"https:\/\/www2.baylor.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/sugarbowl-jan22.jpg\")
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One could make a very good case that, in only the Bears’ second year under head coach Dave Aranda, we just saw the best Baylor football team ever<\/strong> in 2021.<\/p>\n No Bears team has ever won more games; Baylor finished 12-2 on the season, including a program-record five wins over ranked opponents<\/a>. They just won their first New Year’s Six bowl since 1957. And when all is said and done, the Bears should finish with their highest final national ranking<\/a> ever — likely either No. 5 or 6 in the nation.<\/p>\n The capper to it all was Baylor’s 21-7 Sugar Bowl victory over No. 8-ranked Ole Miss<\/a> on New Year’s Day, a win keyed by a Baylor defense that recorded three interceptions (including a 96-yard pick-six<\/a> by Al Walcott for the Bears’ first score, the longest INT return in Sugar Bowl history) and racked up a Sugar Bowl-record 10 sacks. On offense, running back Abram Smith carried the day, rushing for 172 yards on 25 carries (and along the way setting a new Baylor single-season rushing record<\/a>).<\/p>\n “This was a great team win,” Aranda said after the game<\/a>. “We\u2019ve had some team wins throughout the year, and [I\u2019m] so appreciative of the team. I\u2019m a better person for it. So, I\u2019m proud, man… Humbled, and appreciative.”<\/p>\n [WATCH: Highlights<\/a> || Sugar Bowl weekend recap<\/a> || Baylor fans #GeauxGold and make their presence known<\/a> || BUGWB’s postgame “That Good Old Baylor Line”<\/a> || Inside the Baylor Student Trip to NOLA<\/a>]<\/strong><\/p>\n The Sugar Bowl win was the exclamation point on one of the most dramatic one-year improvements in college football history. Hampered by COVID-19 during Aranda’s first season, the Bears finished just 2-7 in a limited 2020 schedule; with a program-record 12 wins this year, Baylor tied the NCAA record for largest year-over-year win improvement by a Power-5 team in the modern era.<\/p>\n And the team wasn’t only successful on the field; they were champions in the classroom, too<\/a>. By season’s end, 37 players had already earned their degrees; in fact, two had already completed master’s degrees<\/em>, and one — senior cornerback Zeke Brown — was working on his doctorate<\/em> in electrical and computer engineering. The team ranked second in the Big 12 in graduation success rate<\/a>, and set a program record for best fall-semester GPA.<\/p>\n As always, next year’s team will lose some starters to graduation and the NFL. The Sugar Bowl was the last time we’ll see such Baylor stalwarts as Smith, consensus All-American Jalen Pitre<\/a>, and wide receiver Tyquan Thornton (who ranks top-10 in BU history in career receiving yards and touchdowns) in the green and gold.<\/p>\n