No. 3 and undefeated Texas will square off against unranked Baylor at McLane Stadium on Saturday night for the 113th and last time — at least for the foreseeable future. With Texas moving into the SEC next year and no future non-conference games scheduled at the moment, the in-state rivals, about 100 miles from one another, will leave it all out on the field for old times’ sake.
“I think we need to understand what we’re walking into,” said Texas head coach Steve Sarkisian in his Monday press conference. “We’re going to go into Baylor here Saturday night on the road. It’s been well documented, as of right now, this is the last time we’re going to go there. So we understand the environment we’re walking into, so we can’t be fearful of that.”
The Longhorns and Bears first faced off against each other in 1901, a 23-0 Texas win in Austin. Overall, Texas has dominated the all-time record between the two with 80 wins, 28 losses and four ties. However, the series has been almost deadlocked since 2010, with the Longhorns holding a slight 7–6 advantage.
Last year, Texas took down Baylor at Darrell K. Royal Stadium the day after Thanksgiving, coming out on top 38-27. In their final game as Longhorns, running backs Bijan Robinson and Roschon Johnson ran for two touchdowns apiece and combined for 256 yards on the ground. Linebacker Jaylan Ford helped seal the game late in the fourth quarter with an interception off of quarterback Blake Shapen as Texas finished with eight regular season wins for the first time since 2018.
Sarkisian’s first trip to Waco two years ago did not go to plan. In what became a theme of the 2021 season, Texas squandered a second-half lead to the Bears after being up 21-10 midway through the third quarter. Both teams would go on to have completely opposite seasons after the game. Texas ended up 5-7 and did not qualify for a bowl game, while Baylor won the Big 12 Championship and Sugar Bowl, finishing the year with a 12–2 record.
The highest-scoring game in the series came in 2012 when Texas outlasted Baylor 56-50 in a classic Big 12 shootout. For reference, the score was 42-31 at halftime. The two teams combined for 1,132 yards as then-Longhorn running back Joe Bergeron rushed for five touchdowns, one short of tying Ricky Williams’ record of six. The win snapped a two-game losing streak against the Bears as Texas would go on to finish the season 9–4.
With Saturday’s game likely being the last in the series for quite some time, both teams will fight for bragging rights along with a 1–0 record in Big 12 play. Baylor head coach Dave Aranda emphasized the pressure of beating the Longhorns at his press conference on Monday.
“I can’t tell you how many times this offseason I heard ‘Dave, just win this one game,’” said Aranda. “That has been brought up to me multiple times.”
