If there’s one big difference in the 2024 schedule for Colorado, it’s in the conference opener.

Last year, in year one for Deion Sanders, after starting the season 3-0 with an impressive showing in the nonconference portion of the schedule, the Buffaloes opened Pac-12 play with a trip to Eugene to face an Oregon team that was in real contention for the College Football Playoff all season long.

This time around, after another tough nonconference slate, CU won’t be tasked with such a test as the program is officially welcomed back into Big 12 action in late September when Baylor comes to town in Week 4.

While no one is expecting the new-look Big 12 to be a cake walk for the Buffs — far from it, actually — Coach Prime’s team couldn’t have asked for a better start to conference play with a home game against a team that won just two games in the Big 12 in 2023.

Here’s a look at what to expect when the Bears come to Folsom Field:

Offseason storylines

In every offseason coaching cycle, there are two key categories that a few jobs in college football fall into: those that everyone expected to come open and didn’t and those that everyone didn’t expect to come open and did.

After a disappointing 3-9 season, it’s fair to say that Baylor and coach Dave Aranda fall in that first category.

Aranda rose to prominence as a highly-regarded defensive coordinator and play caller at Wisconsin and LSU, culminating in helping the Tigers win a national championship at the end of the 2019 season.

The California native got his first head coaching job after that undefeated season at LSU, being tasked with taking over at Baylor after Matt Rhule (now at Nebraska) left for the NFL.

After winning two games in the pandemic-shortened season in 2020, Aranda and the Bears were one of the stories of the 2021 season, winning an epic Big 12 championship game and then the Sugar Bowl to finish at No. 5 in the country.

Since, though, Baylor has gone 6-7 with a loss to Air Force in the 2022 Armed Forces Bowl and the 3-9 campaign last fall.

Aranda is back in 2024 and has retaken the reins on the defense, reassuming play-calling duties. The Bears also have a new offensive coordinator in Jake Spavital, who spent last season as the offensive coordinator at California but was the head coach at Texas State before that.

On offense

There’s a lot of work to be done for a Baylor offense that ranked in the bottom half of the country in both scoring and yards per game last season.

Bringing in a fresh new play caller in Spavital is a start and he’s coming off a season in which he led Cal to a top-50 finish in the country in scoring last season.

He’s also got a dynamic quarterback running the show in Toledo transfer Dequan Finn.

The dual-threat Detroit native is coming off three straight seasons where he threw for over 2,000 yards and ran for over 500 and will now spend his final season of eligibility in a power conference after an all-MAC year in 2023.

Finn’s got plenty of veterans to throw the ball to in the receiving room and all three top running backs from last year’s Baylor team are back as well.

On defense

While the offensive struggles were front and center given the conference the team plays in, Baylor’s defense wasn’t up to the caliber of a typical Aranda unit last fall, either, ranking 110th out of 133 FBS teams in yards allowed per game.

The Bears defense struggled to get to the quarterback, with no player reaching four sacks and just one reaching double digits in tackles for loss.

The team’s top two tacklers are back in linebacker Matt Jones, also the team leader in tackles for loss, and safety Devyn Bobby, so there’s reason to believe some continuity and veteran leadership could help the unit as a whole take a much-needed step forward in 2024.

The Baylor Bears file

Head coach: Dave Aranda (5th season)

Offensive coordinator: Jake Spavital (1st season)

Defensive coordinator: Matt Powledge (2nd season)

2023 record: 3-9 (2-7 Big 12)

Key returners: LB Matt Jones, S Devyn Bobby, RB Dominic Richardson, WR Monaray Baldwin

Key newcomers: QB Dequan Finn, OL Kurt Danneker