• Baylor hosts West Virginia for the first of 3-straight games at McLane Stadium over the next 4 weeks.
• Baylor is 3-6 all-time against West Virginia, but the Bears are 3-1 vs. the Mountaineers in Waco.
• Four of the last five series meetings have been decided by 6 or fewer points, including Baylor's 17-14 win the last time in Waco in 2019, and WVU's 27-21 double-overtime win last season in Morgantown.
• Baylor looks to improve to 5-1 or better at the halfway point for the 6th time in the last 9 seasons since 2013 (2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2019). Prior to that stretch, the last time BU was 5-1 was 1994.
• BU lost 24-14 at No. 19 OSU on Saturday, suffering its first defeat of the season despite forcing 3 turnovers and not commiting any turnovers. BU had two possessions trailing 17-14 in the 4th quarter.
• BU beat No. 14 Iowa State in its last home game on Sept. 25, its first ranked win since 2015.
• Baylor leads the Big 12 in turnover margin (+1.0), most interceptions (7) and fewest interceptions thrown (0). BU is 1 of 5 FBS teams without an interception thrown (Auburn, WMU, Ole Miss, Liberty).
• Baylor is 1 of 4 Power-5 teams ranked top-25 nationally in scoring offense and scoring defense (Auburn, BU, Georgia, Michigan). BU is 23rd in scoring defense (17.4) and 22nd in scoring offense (37.0).
• BU is 12th nationally (7th in P5) with 238.2 rushing ypg after ranking 123rd last season (90.3 ypg).
• Baylor ranks 10th nationally with 7 interceptions. BU is 1 of 6 Power-5 teams to have 6 different players with an interception (Baylor, Iowa, Notre Dame, Georgia, Ohio State and Oregon State).
• BU's defense ranks 11th nationally (6th in P5) with only 155.6 passing yards allowed per game.
• BU has forced twice as many turnovers (26) as its has allowed (13) in 14 games under Dave Aranda.
• Baylor is tied for 7th nationally with 9 fourth-down conversions, including 4 times in its own territory.
• Gerry Bohanon is 1 of 5 QBs with 1,000+ passing yards and 0 interceptions thrown this season. He's 1 of 4 FBS players with 5+ rushing TDs and 7+ passing TDs, and he leads the Big 12 with 12 total TDs.
• Trestan Ebner ranks 7th nationally with 147.2 all-purpose yards per game. He's playing his 53rd career game on Saturday, tying Jerod Monk (2009-13) for 2nd-most in BU history behind Chris Platt (57).
• Dillon Doyle (15), Matt Jones (14) and Cole Maxwell (6) all set career-highs in tackles Saturday at OSU.

ADDITIONAL STORYLINES
• Baylor returned 17 of 22 starters and 54 of 68 letterman from last season's team.
• The Bears welcomed four new assistant coaches for 2021 – Jeff Grimes (Offensive Coordinator/TEs), Eric Mateos (Offensive Line), Chansi Stuckey (Wide Receivers) and Kevin Curtis (Cornerbacks).
• The Bears added a pair of experienced O-Line transfers with Jacob Gall (13 starts at Buffalo) and Grant Miller (16 starts at Vanderbilt). Four members of the O-Line have a combined 95 career starts.
• BU returned 7 starters on offense, led by OL Connor Galvin and Xavier-Newman Johnson with 28 starts apiece.
• Baylor's defense returned 10 starters from a unit which allowed only 203.0 passing yards per game last season, second-best in the Big 12. BU has allowed 155.6 passing ypg in 5 games this year (11th-fewest in FBS).
• Baylor's five starting defensive backs have a combined 201 career games played and 101 career starts. CB Raleigh Texada leads all BU returners with 34 career starts (28-consecutive).
• Baylor is 1 of 4 Power-5 teams ranked top-25 nationally in scoring offense and scoring defense (Auburn, BU, Georgia, Michigan). BU ranks 23rd in scoring defense (17.4) and 22nd in scoring offense (37.0).
• BU is playing its 120th season of football and holds a 613-585-44 (.511) all-time record. Baylor has scored in a school-record 179 straight games - doubling the previous record of 89 games from Dec. 31, 1979 - Oct. 23, 1987.

GRIMES BRINGS RVO TO WACO
• Offensive coordinator Jeff Grimes has brought RVO to Waco - "Reliable Violent Offense" - an attacking, multiple-formation offense that runs a few plays a lot of ways with as much misdirection as any team in the country.
• Under Grimes, Baylor's offense leads the Big 12 in yards per play (7.13), yards per rush (6.14) and fewest sacks allowed (1.2/game) and ranks 2nd in the league in total offense (448 ypg), rushing offense (238.2 ypg).
• BU is 1 of 5 teams without an interception thrown this season (120 att) – BU, Auburn, WMU, Ole Miss, Liberty.
• Grimes' 2020 BYU offense finished 3rd nationally in scoring (43.5 ppg) and 7th in total offense (522.2 ypg).
• Joining Grimes in making the move from Provo to Waco is offensive line coach Eric Mateos, who spent the past two seasons at BYU. Mateos' offensive line ranked 8th nationally in 2020 with 1.0 sacks allowed per game, and the Bears currently ranked tied for 16th nationally with only 1.2 sacks allowed per game in 2021.

SEEKING 5-1 RECORD AT HALFWAY POINT
• Baylor looks to improve to 5-1 or better at the halfway point for the 6th time in 9 seasons since 2013. BU started 6-0 in 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016 and 2019. Prior to that stretch, the last time the Bears were 5-1 was 1994.
• Baylor is also looking to win at least 3 of its first 4 games in Big 12 play for the 6th time in the last 9 seasons since 2013 (2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2019). Prior to 2013, BU was 3-1 in Big 12 play only twice (2006, 2010).

FOURTH DOWN SUCCESS
• Baylor leads the Big 12 with 9 fourth-down conversions this season. The Bears are 9-of-12 on fourth downs, and the only failed fourth-down attempts were 4th-and-17 at Texas State and 4th-and-4 and 4th-and-10 at OSU.
• BU has gone 4-for-5 on fourth downs in its own territory, converting 4th-and-1 from own 34 at TXST, 4th-and-3 from own 37 vs. TXSO, 4th-and-3 from own 46 at Kansas and 4th-and-2 from own 45 at Oklahoma State.
• BU's only failed attempt in its own territory was 4th-and-4 from own 36 at OSU, but the defense forced a 3-and-out punt.
• BU has punted only three times when facing 4th-and-4 or less this season, and those were when facing 4th-and-3 from its own 43 while leading 24-13 in the 4th quarter at Texas State and twice inside its own 15 at OSU.

RANKED IN 9 OF LAST 12 SEASONS
• With its No. 21 ranking in the Sept. 26 AP Top 25, Baylor has now been ranked in the AP Top 25 in 9 of 12 seasons since 2010, after going 17 years between national rankings (1993-2010).
• The Bears climbed from receiving no votes in the AP poll in any of the first three weeks to No. 21 after their win over No. 14 Iowa State on Sept. 25. The win was Baylor's first over a ranked opponent since 2015.

BEARS AMONG BIG 12'S BEST DEFENSES
• Baylor's defense leads the Big 12 passing defense efficiency (101.1), interceptions (7). The Bears also allow only 155.6 passing yards per game, which ranks 11th nationally and 2nd in the Big 12.
• Baylor's defense has allowed only 186.1 passing yards per game in 14 games under head coach Dave Aranda.
• BU's defense has had 3 interceptions in a game twice this season – Sept. 4 at Texas State; JT Woods, Jalen Pitre and Jairon McVea and Oct. 2 at Oklahoma State; Raleigh Texada, JT Woods and Dillon Doyle.
• The Bears held Kansas to 57 passing yards, the 2nd-fewest by a BU defense in Big 12 play in the last 20 seasons, eclipsed only by the 54 passing yards allowed to Texas in the 2013 de-facto Big 12 Championship game.