Shortly before this season's opener with Abilene Christian, Baylor coach Matt Rhule texted the seniors from the 2017 team that won just one game.
He said he was thanking them en masse "because they're the guys that stood in the gap last year" when Baylor won one game.
Now the Bears have a chance to exceed that win total in Week 2 and get perhaps a better idea of how much improvement it has made in one year under Rhule. A season ago, Baylor lost at home to Texas-San Antonio 17-10, which only deepened the slide from the opening loss to Liberty.