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WACO, Texas -- As McLane Stadium filled Saturday night and players from Baylor and Oklahoma State loosened up before kickoff, a jarring message played on the large scoreboard above the south end zone.Its on us to talk when we think someone needs help, a Baylor student said as part of a 90-second video that played multiple times during the warm-up period.Produced by Baylor athletics this summer in conjunction with the schools Title IX office, the video featured students who voiced their commitment to create an environment at the school in which a culture of care exists and sexual assault is not accepted.It served as a piece of Baylors involvement in the national Its on Us program, which began in 2014 to help prevent sexual assault and encourage students, faculty and staff to make a personal pledge to be part of the solution and intervene when problems arise.It was jarring, because this is Baylor.This is Baylor, where scandal rocked the campus over the past year as several victims of sexual assault filed Title IX lawsuits against the school, accusing its administration of negligence in handling their claims.Its where Philadelphia law firm Pepper Hamilton, hired by Baylor, found wholly inadequate processes in place and specific failures among the football and athletic department leadership to account for student-athlete misconduct.All of that raises an unavoidable question: Is Baylors success on the field mutually exclusive from its failures as part of society?Barring a major upset, Baylor figures to enter a Week 9 test at Texas -- three days before the release of the first College Football Playoff rankings -- as a top-10 team and the Big 12s best hope to salvage something significant from this season.Thats a potential headache for the league, which admonished Baylor in July, and for the sport at large. But as far as College Football Playoff protocol is concerned, it should have no impact.The committees only task is to pick the best teams, CFP director Bill Hancock told ESPN.com. They do pick those teams based on what transpires on the field.Evidence lingers that Baylor and its football community struggle to grasp the magnitude of the Pepper Hamilton findings and recommendations. The staffers hired by former coach Art Briles, including his son and son-in-law, continue to call offensive and defensive plays. After the Bears Sept. 19 win at Rice, former Baylor defensive end Shawn Oakman, indicted for sexual assault in July, entered the locker room. And Saturday, former school president Kenneth Starr described Briles as a victim of grave injustice, calling him an honorable man who conducted an honorable program.At the same time, Baylor has looked like a playoff contender, with a dazzling offense (42 points and 549 yards of total offense per game) and an opportunistic defense. Quarterback Seth Russell owns one of the best stat lines in the country -- 13 touchdowns, four interceptions, and a 158.3 passer efficiency -- and is now 12-0 as a starter.Ive never been around a team that gave a better effort than we had tonight, interim coach Jim Grobe said after the victory. For me, personally, as a coach, I think the No. 1 thing you want is to think youre getting their best effort. You might not always get their best play, but if you get their best effort, you feel like youre doing something good.So is it fair to penalize current players for the schools previous transgressions?The current team and coach dont need to have that albatross hung around their neck at every occasion, said Annette Burrhus-Clay, executive director of the Texas Association Against Sexual Assault.Not every single reference to Baylor football has to include that discussion, but I dont want to see it completely go by the wayside and allow people to believe that [Baylor] has checked off a box.Brenda Tracy, an advocate for victims and rape prevention who spoke this summer to the Baylor team, said: When people say that its unfair, it is. And that was the administrations fault. They should not have put those kids in the situation to where, now, they have to deal with the backlash. They had nothing to do with it. That is unfair.Tracy said she was raped in 1998 by four men, including two Oregon State football players. She and her son petitioned the NCAA this year in an effort to ban sexually violent student-athletes from college campuses.The NCAAs board of governors last month asked a committee of leaders, on which Tracy will sit, to develop policies on violent athletes.At Baylor, Tracy said, the firing of Briles and resignations of Ian McCaw as athletic director and Starr as president and chancellor did not fix the culture.This horrible thing happened there, Tracy said. Everybodys mad, and its in the media. People got fired. But back to football. Back to winning. Back to trying to make the playoff. Where are the victims in all this? What happens to them? This was a huge, huge scandal on a national level that was exposed, but are we just going back to business as usual?Baylor players continue to field questions from the media about overcoming adversity and avoiding distractions.Meanwhile, victims voices, according to Tracy, are too often lost in this discussion.Burrhus-Clay said shes taking a wait-and-see approach on Baylors response. In other cases, she said, universities have slowly drifted back to the place at which the problems initially rooted.Im hoping that Baylor isnt just doing all this as window dressing, Burrhus-Clay said. But only time is going to tell that for me.Still, football moves forward.Linebacker Taylor Young shrugged Saturday night when asked if he considered it important for the Bears to receive recognition as a playoff contender.Hey, write us off, Young said. Write us off, then all of a sudden, we sneak up on them [and] everybodys so shocked. But this is what we talk about. Every week needs to be a win. Every play needs to be a win.I mean, thats the stuff we preach. You can write us off, but at the end of the year, if we practice -- if we keep on practicing and we having that intensity every day -- itll be great. Itll be a great thing.Great for the Bears -- but a predicament outside the Baylor locker room.For a victim, you have to understand that every time theres a story about Baylor, it opens a wound, Tracy said. And for me, personally, I dont think they should be winning right now, because I think there should be sanctions against them.Cheap NFL Jerseys China . Scott Kazmir allowed four hits in seven shutout innings, Michael Brantley hit a two-run homer in a three-run first inning and the Indians maintained their hold on an AL wild-card spot with a 4-1 win over the Houston Astros on Saturday night. Wholesale NFL Jerseys . Just as Montreal was settling into the first full working week of a new year, the Impact announced the appointment of their new head coach. https://www.nflcheapjerseysfreeshipping.com/ . I cant pinpoint a date, but I do remember a player from my youth. Brian Downing was with the Chicago White Sox at a time when I listened to every game I possibly could on the radio. That particular season the late great Harry Caray was calling the White Sox games. NFL Jerseys China . PAUL, Minn. Cheap NFL Jerseys . Robredo, ranked No. 16, bounced back from an upset loss to Leonardo Mayer in the second round of the Royal Guard Open in Chile last week to down Carreno Busta in 1 hour, 25 minutes. On a day filled mostly with qualifying matches, fifth-seeded Marcel Granollers of Spain also entered the second with a 7-5, 3-6, 6-2 win over Aljaz Bedene of Slovenia, while Guido Pella of Argentina defeated Guillermo Garcia-Lopez of Spain 7-6 (6), 6-4 to advance.CARSON, Calif. -- Peter Vagenas replaced Bruce Arena as the LA Galaxys general manager on Monday.Galaxy President Chris Klein promoted Vagenas, the captain of the Galaxys 2005 MLS championship team. Vagenas will be involved in the search for a coach to replace Arena, who was the Galaxys coach and GM while leading the club to three MLS Cup titles.Arena returned to the U.S. national team last week.Pete has been part of this club since its early years and embodies everything the Galaxy stands for, said Klein, Vagenas teammate with the Galaxy for two seasons.Vagenas also will remain the Galaxys vice president of soccer operations, his job since January. The Los Angeles-area native and UCLA graduate became the director of the LA Galaxy Academy in 2013 after playing nine of his 13 MLS seasons with the Galaxy, winning two MLS Cups.Not only does he have a deep affection for the LA Galaxy and knows what were about, but he also knows what weve been building, Klein said. Im confident in the value that he brings to the club in understanding us, and also understanding the league rules and how we can best build a team that can be successful.Klein and Vagenas will be in charge of charting the future for the Galaxy, who face major changes after the departures of Arena, Robbie Keane and Steven Gerrard over the past month.Klein intends to have a coach in place before 2017, but the Galaxy also are plotting personnel moves to bolster their roster after finishing sixth in the MLS table and losing in the Western Conference semifinalls.ddddddddddddKlein confirmed LA Galaxy II coach Curt Onalfo is the only internal candidate for the job, but the club plans to interview at least one international coach. Former Galaxy coach Sigi Schmid, another UCLA product, also could be a candidate, Klein said.A coach has to have a belief not only in our club, but in our league, Klein said. There are a number of bright soccer minds around the world that could easily translate what they do to our league, but they have to believe in it.The Galaxy are known for their high-profile signings of international stars, from David Beckham and Keane to Gerrard and Giovani Dos Santos. Yet theyve also invested in player development while producing a series of homegrown contributors in recent years, including Gyasi Zardes and defender Daniel Steres.Klein plans to continue that two-pronged approach to success after the departures of Keane and Gerrard, but the Galaxy still have the core of an MLS contender built around Dos Santos, Zardes, Sebastian Lletget and a strong back line led by Jelle Van Damme. Landon Donovan also might extend his comeback for another season.While praising their returning players, Klein indicated the Galaxy will attempt to be active in the international transfer market this winter with two designated player slots open.We have the resources, the backing from (owner) AEG, to continue aggressively in this manner, Klein said. ' ' '