Ranking the Top 100 College Football Teams for 2017: No. 51 Baylor

In the 100 days leading up to the kickoff of the college football season on Saturday, Aug. 26, HERO Sports is ranking the top 100 teams in the FBS. You can find all the rankings and previews here.

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No. 51 Baylor

Baylor averaged 10 wins between 2011-15 before winning just seven in 2016, their lowest win total since 2010, Art Briles' third year. Their off-the-field issues led to last summer's resignation of Art Briles and subsequent transformation of the program.

The once-stable Bears made a surprise non-Texas hire at head coach, lost a dozen starters and could open Week 1 with as many as nine sophomore starters. Expectations will be low for Matt Rhule in year one of a complicated job — but should they?

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2016 Record: 7-6 (3-6, Big 12)

When Baylor crushed three interior non-conference foes, beat Oklahoma State and started 6-0, it looked as if the Bears might actually contend for the Big 12 title. Then came a loss to Texas and everything fell apart. They lost six in a row, four of which came by at least 19 points, including a 40-point loss to TCU in November.

Their offense went stagnant in the second half — scoring 24 or fewer four times in a five-game stretch — and their defense was gashed — yielding an average of 43.7 points over the final six regular-season games.

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Head Coach: Matt Rhule (1st year)

Matt Rhule arrived at Baylor in December after recording back-to-back 10-win seasons at Temple, a first in program history. It was a closely watched hire — for obvious reasons — and while Rhule has repeatedly acknowledged the seriousness of the off-the-field issues, he's ready to rebuild relationships and be a leader for student-athletes.

"They've continued to get their education, they played hard last year. I think they needed some consistency, they needed some stability," Rhule said in June. "So what we tried to do when we got here is say, 'Football will be last. Let's make sure we start to build a culture of excellence. Let's make sure we make academics important.

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Key Returning Offensive Players

QB Zach Smith, RB Terence Williams, RB JaMycal Hasty, WR Chris Platt, WR Blake Lynch, WR Pooh Stricklin, WR Denzel Mims, WR Jared Atkinson, G Ishmael Wilson

Baylor's offense will have a playbook in 2017. Duh, right? Well, except that the Bears didn't use a playbook for the last decade under Art Briles. 

“These are smart guys and they’ve done a nice job of learning and memorizing and buying into the learning process,” Rhule said of his players during spring practice. “That can be voluminous for any team any time when you have to learn a new offense and defense.”

Sophomore quarterback Zach Smith will lead a new offense that will feature more pro-style sets with a tight end and fullback. He was decent in 10 appearances last year, including four late-season starts in which he threw for 11 touchdowns and seven interceptions.

There are capable options behind Smith but he is the man for now, and has the best running back duo in the Big 12 in Terence Williams and JaMycal Hasty at his disposal.

Please excuse the heavy reading at receiver, but the Bears have a terrific, deep group even with KD Cannon and Ishmael Zamora leaving early for the NFL. Five of their top five receivers are sophomores, including 6-foot-1, 185-pounder Pooh Stricklin, who averaged 17.4 yards per catch as a redshirt freshman in 2016.

Senior guard Ishmael Wilson leads a good-enough offensive line that returns two other starters.

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Key Returning Defensive Players

DT Ira Lewis, DE K.J. Smith, LB Taylor Young, CB Jameson Houston, CB Grayland Arnold, S Henry Black

Baylor hit the jackpot when Temple defensive coordinator Phil Snow agreed to join Rhule in Waco. The 61-year-old has bounced around college football — and one NFL stop — for the last three decades. He crafted a dominating defense with the Owls and will try to employ the same aggressive, advantageous schemes with the Bears.

Snow called Taylor Young their best defensive player "by far". The senior linebacker had 93 tackles, nine tackles for loss and 4.5 sacks last year and will be one of few upperclassmen on the defense after the departure of seven starters.

Questioning Snow is foolish, therefore while we won't argue his best-player proclamation for Young and not defensive end K.J. Smith, it's important know just how dominant Smith was at times last year. He registered eight tackles for loss and 4.5 sacks in their final six games. He had 10 tackles, 2.5 tackles for loss and 1.5 sacks against Oklahoma.

Three sophomores lead a secondary that replaces three starters and returns only one player who had an interception last year. Jameson Houston, a 6-foot-2, 200-pound corner flashed NFL potential as a redshirt freshman, recording four passes defended.

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Notable Player Losses

QB Seth Russell, RB Shock Linwood, WR KD Cannon, WR Ishmael Zamora, C Kyle Fuller, LB Aiavion Edwards, CB Patrick Levels, CB Ryan Reid, S Orion Stewart

Baylor suffered huge losses on both sides of the ball, particularly at the offensive skill positions. where receivers KD Cannon and Ishmael Zamora left early and running back Shock Linwood graduated after recording 4,213 career rushing yards. All-Big 12 center Kyle Fuller was their lone draft pick. 

Defensively, all-conference safety Orion Stewart is gone after a superb four-year career that included a team-high six interceptions in 2016. The most noticeable loss might be Patrick Levels, one of the most active defensive backs in the nation at the line of scrimmage.

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Notable Player Additions

QB Anu Solomon, QB Charlie Brewer, LB Deonte Williams

We'll see a lot of former backups assume prominent roles in 2017 but very few new faces. 

Anu Solomon transferred from Arizona for his senior season and gives the Bears much-needed depth but won't see the field if Zach Smith is effective and healthy. Behind Solomon is true freshman Charlie Brewer, a three-star recruit from Austin who's the program's future at quarterback. He should redshirt this year.

Redshirt freshman linebacker Deonte Williams will see snaps on special teams and could break the two-deep rotation.

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Schedule

The Matt Rhule era should begin with two wins but things get tricky in Week 3, when the Bears visit Duke for the first three of four games on the road.

They do get four of their final six at home, including Oct. 28 vs. Texas and Nov. 11 vs. Texas Tech.