Scandal will define Baylor's season to outsiders

According to Mac Engel of the Ft. Worth Star-Telegram, the recent scandal in the football program will define Baylor's season to outsiders. Here's a snippet of what he had to say:

No team in America wants to play a football game more than the Baylor Bears, whose 2015 motto is "Baylor Football: Can We Change the Subject?"

On Monday, coach Art Briles met the media for the first time since he denied knowing anything about the controversial handling of Boise State transfer Sam Ukwuachu, who was convicted of raping a former Baylor soccer player.

Kudos to Briles, his players and the staff for sticking to the script in this, the first week of the college football season. Briles said an investigation by President Ken Starr is good, the players aren't thinking about it, and the athletic director is in full support of Starr.

While everybody who spoke on Monday was polite in the face of a difficult scenario, this incident is going to leave a scar on Briles and the program that will take years to remove.

It also means Baylor is big time. You aren't big time until you have a nasty scandal on your resume, and this certainly qualifies as Baylor's arrival to the national scene.

Whatever Starr and Baylor find from the announced internal investigation into this fiasco, this much is clear - Briles is not going anywhere until he loses a lot of games, and Baylor is now just another program doing business in the big business of college football.

(h/t Ft. Worth Star-Telegram)