Texas Football: Baylor hosts pep rally, Homecoming despite COVID-19 outbreak

First-year Baylor head coach Dave Aranda was seen speaking at a Homecoming pep rally this weekend ahead of their Oct. 24 game against Texas football.

It was an interesting weekend it looked like in Waco, TX, as the Baylor Bears had a de factor bye week in the midst of a sizable novel coronavirus case outbreak on their football team. Head coach Dave Aranda saw his squad dealing with more than 25 active COVID-19 cases earlier this week, causing them to delay their Oct. 17 home contest that was supposed to be played against the No. 7 ranked Oklahoma State Cowboys. And next up for Baylor is supposed to be a game against Texas football next weekend.

This was the third game this year for Baylor that was delayed due to COVID-19 related issues. The first was their originally scheduled season opener back in September against the Louisiana Tech Bulldogs. But that opener against Louisiana Tech had to be cancelled out due to COVID-19 cases on the Bulldogs side resulting from player movement following Hurricane Laura last month.

Then, Baylor had their de facto season opener the following weekend against head coach Dana Holgorsen and the Houston Cougars pushed thanks to COVID-19 outbreaks on their own team. Houston had a lot of trouble trying to get their season started too in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, having their first three games called off.

Baylor was at least able to get their next two teams to start off Big 12 play going. They had a win over the Kansas Jayhawks on Sep. 26 in their actual season opener. Then they fell short to the West Virginia Mountaineers in their Big 12 road opener on Oct. 3.

The next game up for Baylor was supposed to be against Oklahoma State on Oct. 17 at home at McLane Stadium. But due to that plethora of active COVID-19 cases that surfaced earlier in the week, Baylor had to push that meeting with Oklahoma State at home to Dec. 12. That also happens to be the weekend before the Big 12 Championship Game.

Yet, this weekend was still set to be the Homecoming celebration for Baylor, despite the cancelled game against Oklahoma State. Baylor did still hold their student pep rally, led by the likes of prominent athletic figures at the school like Aranda, at McLane Stadium despite the cancelled game due to the active COVID-19 cases on the football team.

It looked like Baylor had their students pack into McLane Stadium for that annual pep rally on Oct. 16. Hosting that pep rally and some crowds at Homecoming, despite their game being pushed back against Oklahoma State, led to a pretty emotional reaction from fans all over the Big 12 on social media this weekend.

Hopefully Baylor’s Oct. 24 contest in Austin against the Longhorns is able to be played on its originally scheduled date. Apparently Baylor was “close to returning to football activities” (per 247Sports report) heading into the weekend, which is a good sign for their game against Texas next weekend.

Baylor enters the matchup with Texas with a record of 1-1 (1-1 Big 12). And the Longhorns enter that game with a record of 2-2 (1-2 Big 12) after falling short in the Red River Rivalry game last weekend at the hands of the Oklahoma Sooners.

Texas is supposed to kickoff against Baylor on the afternoon of Oct. 24, specifically at 2:30 p.m. CT. That should be the first game back at home at DKR for the Longhorns since falling short to the TCU Horned Frogs in their Big 12 home opener back on Oct. 3.