{"id":24888,"date":"2025-08-27T09:25:18","date_gmt":"2025-08-27T14:25:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www2.baylor.edu\/baylorproud\/?p=24888"},"modified":"2025-08-27T09:25:18","modified_gmt":"2025-08-27T14:25:18","slug":"baylor-football-kicks-off-highly-anticipated-2025-season-this-friday","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www2.baylor.edu\/baylorproud\/2025\/08\/baylor-football-kicks-off-highly-anticipated-2025-season-this-friday\/","title":{"rendered":"Baylor football kicks off highly anticipated 2025 season this Friday"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter wp-image-24889\" src=\"https:\/\/www2.baylor.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/football-preview-aug25.jpg\" alt=\"Sawyer Robertson and Bryson Washington celebrate a touchdown\" width=\"600\" height=\"300\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www2.baylor.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/football-preview-aug25.jpg 1200w, https:\/\/www2.baylor.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/football-preview-aug25-300x150.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www2.baylor.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/football-preview-aug25-1024x512.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/www2.baylor.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/football-preview-aug25-768x384.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 600px) 100vw, 600px\" \/><\/p>\n<p>As Baylor football prepares to <a href=\"https:\/\/baylorbears.com\/news\/2025\/8\/24\/FB-Opens-the-2025-Season-with-Auburn-Tigers.aspx\">kick off the 2025 season<\/a> Friday night at McLane Stadium, the buzz surrounding the team feels elevated &#8212; and it\u2019s easy to see why. The Bears finished 2024 as one of the nation\u2019s hottest teams, winning their last six regular season games and delivering a top-20 national offense. This year\u2019s squad returns key performers on both sides of the ball, led by breakout quarterback Sawyer Robertson; his performance is just one of many reasons Baylor fans are so excited:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Elite Non-Conference Schedule &#8212;<\/strong> Opening Night at McLane is always exciting, but there\u2019s added juice this year. The Bears face SEC foe Auburn in a sold-out Friday night matchup that will have the nation\u2019s attention early. That\u2019s followed the following Saturday by a matchup against in-state rival SMU, an ACC squad who reached the College Football Playoff last year. Outlets like <a href=\"https:\/\/www.on3.com\/news\/toughest-easiest-nonconference-schedules-of-2025-season\/\">On3<\/a> have rated Baylor\u2019s opening slate among the toughest non-conference schedules in the nation.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Sawyer Robertson &#8212;<\/strong> Coming into this season, everyone recognizes QB1. After finishing the season with over 3,000 passing yards and 28 touchdowns, he\u2019s widely recognized as <a href=\"https:\/\/www.si.com\/college\/baylor\/football\/will-baylor-football-sawyer-robertson-be-the-big-12-s-best-quarterback-challenge-of-facing-auburn-tigers\">one of the best quarterbacks in the Big 12<\/a>. His return gives the Bears <a href=\"https:\/\/www.houstonchronicle.com\/sports\/college\/article\/baylor-football-preview-20801426.php\">their most experienced returning starter since the 2020 season<\/a>.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Other Returning Stars &#8212;<\/strong> Running back Bryson Washington set the Baylor freshman running back record last year, eclipsing the 1,000-yard mark. His return sets the tone for the running game. Josh Cameron, Ashtyn Hawkins and Michael Trigg are back, meaning the Bears return three of their top four receivers from last season. Four starters from last year\u2019s offensive line &#8212; recognized No. 6 nationally by Sport Source Analysis last year &#8212; return as well. Defensively, leading tackler Keaton Thomas is back at linebacker, along with defensive line starters Jackie Marshall and Cooper Lanz and interceptions leader Devyn Bobby in the secondary.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Competitive Big 12 Conference &#8212;<\/strong> While there was no Big 12 preseason poll this year, it\u2019s clear that pundits see the league as perhaps the nation\u2019s most competitive top-to-bottom. While the Bears aren\u2019t the only team to return key players, the team\u2019s continuity in key roles, most notably quarterback, could provide a competitive edge. They\u2019re recognized as <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cbssports.com\/college-football\/news\/big-12-expert-picks-2025-most-overrated-and-underrated-teams-projected-order-of-finish-bold-predictions\/\">an underrated Big 12 team<\/a> by <em>CBS Sports<\/em>, and if the Bears are flying high through their first four games, they\u2019ll be in the driver\u2019s seat to make Phil Steele\u2019s prediction of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.heartlandcollegesports.com\/2025\/07\/03\/phil-steele-big-12-preseason-top-25-2025\/\">a Big 12 title<\/a> look prescient.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Of course, all that\u2019s down the line. What we know for sure is that excitement for opening night is at a fever pitch, as long-held gameday traditions take center stage alongside new-look chrome helmets for the Blackout on the Brazos to kick off the year. Kickoff is at 7 p.m., and if you can&#8217;t make it, you can watch the game across the nation on FOX (with the added bonus of hearing Baylor\u2019s Heisman-winning quarterback, Robert Griffin III, on the call).<\/p>\n<p>We\u2019ll see you at McLane.<\/p>\n<p>Sic \u2019em, Bears!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>As Baylor football prepares to kick off the 2025 season Friday night at McLane Stadium, the buzz surrounding the team feels elevated &#8212; and it\u2019s easy to see why. The Bears finished 2024 as one of the nation\u2019s hottest teams, winning their last six regular season games and delivering a top-20 national offense. This year\u2019s [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-24888","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-athletics"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www2.baylor.edu\/baylorproud\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24888","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www2.baylor.edu\/baylorproud\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www2.baylor.edu\/baylorproud\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www2.baylor.edu\/baylorproud\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www2.baylor.edu\/baylorproud\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=24888"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www2.baylor.edu\/baylorproud\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24888\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www2.baylor.edu\/baylorproud\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=24888"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www2.baylor.edu\/baylorproud\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=24888"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www2.baylor.edu\/baylorproud\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=24888"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}