WACO – Even during the most trying times in that first one-win season at Baylor – and there were more than a few – Matt Rhule believed.

He trusted his coaching skill and his staff and his bosses and the decision-making process that led him to take the football coaching job when a sexual assault scandal had some coaches keeping their distance.

After the 1-11 season, he predicted Baylor would be in a bowl game the next season, something his team fulfilled. And he was telling recruits about Baylor being on the verge of something special at this point this season.

Now No. 13 Baylor is 9-0 and with 11 straight wins facing Big 12 bell cow No. 10 Oklahoma on Saturday with ESPN’s College GameDay setting the stage.

“I had no doubt we would get here,” Rhule said this week. “When we would do it, I didn’t know when. I can’t sit here and say I knew that. But I’m a pretty impatient guy. I wasn’t planning on this being seven years of my life.”

He’s welcoming the attention now, the one that’s on Baylor for all the right reasons.

Yes, Oklahoma is a big TV draw going for a fifth consecutive Big 12 title and with another Heisman candidate in quarterback Jalen Hurts. So too, though, is Baylor, simultaneously undefeated and unappreciated, at least by the College Football Playoff selection committee.

“I think it just shows that we've gotten relevant again,” Rhule said. “You know, the players have fought all the way back and the program is back where it should be in the national spotlight. GameDay is here, not just because of the other team, but because of both teams.”

Things have changed markedly from the last GameDay visit in 2015.

On the field, the focus was on Baylor’s meteoric rise in the Big 12 that had included sustained success against Oklahoma and Texas. The discussion began with Art Briles’ proprietary version of the spread offense.

Now, Baylor is far more balanced. The Bears still average a healthy 35.3 points a game and junior quarterback Charlie Brewer – who arrived on campus never having met Rhule – has led the Bears on five game-winning drives in the fourth quarter.

The defense is just as much an equal partner. Baylor leads the Big 12 in scoring defense (19 ppg), yards allowed per play (4.62) and sacks (3.22 per game). Sophomore linebacker Terel Bernard, who stepped in for the injured Clay Johnston two games ago, is the starter who isn’t a senior or junior. He had 19 tackles in the triple-overtime win over TCU.

Oklahoma coach Lincoln Riley called Baylor “an old defense” this week, noting the number of snaps by a lot of guys.

Said linebacker Jordan Williams: “We love to have the thing on our back, the pressure, the momentum, all that, so we can go win the game.”

Linebacker Blake Lynch was a highly-ranked receiver recruit late in the Briles era.

He admits he was “a little iffy” when Rhule suggested the move to defense. The new coaching staff, he said, brought “a lot of discipline. Details and playing hard is what they preach every day. It can be a Tuesday or Wednesday practice, we’re playing like it’s a game. Every rep matters. They preach to us that everything counts.”

While Baylor has been criticized for squeaking by with four wins by 15 points, Rhule said he sees something positive in winning close games.

“How tough and resilient do you have to be to answer the call time and time again,” Rhule said. “If you’re beating people by 30 points, it’s just talent and – don’t get me wrong – there’s execution. I think there’s something to be said about going on the road and beating two top 25 teams.

“They can doubt a lot about our team. Don’t doubt the toughness and the resiliency and all that of our team. There’s a bunch of tough guys. Is that enough against Oklahoma? Let’s go play the game and see what happens.”

If anything, the transformation away from the field has been more remarkable.

While the NCAA is still debating what penalties – if any – may come down from the Briles era, Rhule dotes on things like team grade-point average and having 10 current players in grad school and Friday night community service.

“We’re doing elite things in the classroom. We’re doing elite things in the community,” Rhule said. “We’re not perfect but we’re pretty special. I want the whole world to hear that.”

The full transformation began last season with the seniors en route to a Texas Bowl win, Rhule said, and said it’s pretty much all-in now. He credits his players for doing it.

At the same time, Rhule set a high bar when he arrived from Temple after a dysfunctional 2016 season at Baylor, handpicked by new athletic director Mack Rhoades to reset the culture.

“I think young people rise or lower to the expectations set around them. It’s like anything. If you know you can get away with something, you’ll get away,” Rhule said.

Like many programs, Baylor regularly monitors class attendance. Unlike many, even being one minute late gets reported to the coaches.

“Late is late,” Rhule said. “I think the credit goes to our players but we’ve absolutely said this is how we do things. This is our standard. What happens sometimes is you start to win and you start to ease up on those things. We just won’t do that.”

Short-term, Baylor is hoping that a win over Oklahoma could give it a semblance of the CFP boost that undefeated Minnesota got last week by beating another blue-blood in Penn State.

Rhule is relishing the moment while also focused on the future behind one game.

“I guess I just thought we would get here,” Rhule said, recalling 2017. “We’re here now. Now hopefully we can stay here.”