The “Baylor ain’t played nobody yet” skeptics are back in full force this season, as is seemingly their tradition. The 6-0 Bears have moved all the way up to No. 8 in the AP Top 25 but have played zero games against Top-25 foes. They probably won’t face one until Nov. 12, either.

So if you’re still not totally sure how good these Bears are, that’s understandable. All will be revealed in the next six weeks. Interim coach Jim Grobe refers to his team’s second-half schedule as a gauntlet, and he’s really not exaggerating.

Baylor starts with a trio of games -- at Texas, TCU, at Oklahoma -- against the only foes they lost to in 2015. Then comes a home game against Kansas State followed by a Friday night battle with Texas Tech at AT&T Stadium in Arlington.

And after all that, if it goes well, Baylor just might be playing for a Big 12 championship against West Virginia. The regular-season finale, of course, is another road game in front of a hostile crowd.

The next six weeks should tell us just how good Seth Russell and Baylor truly are this season. Troy Taormina-USA TODAY Sports

On the bright side, before all of that, Baylor has enjoyed the luxury of a generous amount of time off. The October schedule thus far: at Iowa State, bye, Kansas, another bye. Four weeks of practice and plenty of time to get everybody refreshed and ready to make a run.

“This next stretch of six straight games is going to be really, really tough,” Grobe said Monday, “but I do think the open dates have given us a chance to kind of get fresh, not only physically but also mentally, for this stretch we’re getting ready to run into.”

If Grobe had to put out an injury report this week, freshman nose tackle Bravvion Roy (elbow) might be questionable. And ... that’s about it. Going into this defining stretch of the season, the Bears could not be any healthier.

They also have a solid streak going entering this week: The Bears have not suffered a loss the week after a bye since 2012. They’ve won eight of these post-bye games in a row, with six of the wins coming in Big 12 play.

How did they spend their time off during the last month? Grobe said the 45-42 comeback win in Ames to kick off October gave his team plenty to work on.

“I think we got our eyes opened a little bit at Iowa State,” he said. “I don’t think we looked like we played very good fundamental defense, and we weren’t very disciplined.”

They drilled on those basics during their two weeks of prep for Kansas and responded with a 49-7 win over the Jayhawks. Grobe said his approach for the bye week right after that was no different.

“It’s always good to get that time to recover a little bit, let the body get back right,” quarterback Seth Russell said. “We were able to take another week to scheme a little bit and open up the playbook a little more, do some different things depending on what they throw at us.”

Baylor has played one game in the past 24 days. During that time, the team moved up five spots in the AP poll. Its résumé features an impressive 35-24 home win over Oklahoma State in late September and also wins over four teams that are currently 1-6.

It’s fair to think that the Bears haven’t played their best football yet. The schedule didn’t require it. After nearly a month of practice, they’re ready to go find out what their best looks like.

“It’s a good time to have a fresh football team, for sure, with the six football games we’ve got remaining,” Grobe said.