Classes have just begun in Central Texas, yet a mighty test already looms Saturday — not one of academic discipline but sheer community resolve, conveying how committed we all are to the blossoming partnership of Baylor University and the city of Waco.

Mission: filling 50,000-seat Floyd Casey Stadium at the vigorous start of the 2010 Baylor football season and in the process supporting a burgeoning university whose history is tightly interwoven with Central Texas. Thus far, more than 12,000 season tickets have been sold, well ahead of last year at this time. But much more remains to be done to pack the stadium.

Frankly, we can think of far more daunting civic assignments than going to a college football game, reveling in the promise and talent of the Baylor Bears under Coach Art Briles and gifted quarterback Robert Griffin and, along the way, taking the first step in welcoming that long-awaited change of seasons.

Not quite three months ago, Baylor and those loyal to it rallied amid dark predictions that the Big 12 was finished, that cherished rivalries running as deep as our love of Texas had been uprooted, tossed to the four winds, and that Baylor was suddenly an outcast, at least in part because of a decided lack of support from the very community that so benefits from it.

The real story of how the Big 12 was brought back from the brink of death, when the University of Texas seemed sure to bolt to the Pac-10 and Texas A&M University had one foot in the Southeastern Conference, has yet to be fully told. But football pundits had written off the Big 12. Yet it was saved.

Baylor officials grasped critical lessons in what President Ken Starr called a “near-death experience.” Among them: doing more to get fans in the stands, proving that Central Texans not only take pride in Baylor’s athletic and academic presence but, yes, actually get excited about it all on occasion.

At Thursday’s Greater Waco Chamber of Commerce Kickoff Luncheon at the Ferrell Center, Starr said the time had come to prove “Baylor has the kind of culture that fans support and the Big 12 can count on.”

That means us.

“It’s very important for our fans to get to the games early, stay throughout and be there at the end to sing ‘The Old Baylor Line,’ ” Starr said as he roused one and all to fill the stands for Saturday’s season-opener against Sam Houston State at Floyd Casey. And, indeed, why not? We’d add a few other amenities to the mix, including the merriment of tailgate parties and nearby places such as George’s, or visiting the Baylor Sports Network tent for free hot dogs for the kids.

Starr, who spent his first weeks on the job working with local and state leaders, BU athletic officials and others to save the Big 12, now speaks confidently of filling the Cotton Bowl on Oct. 9 when we play Texas Tech there.

Can we not spend a few pleasant hours caught up in dreams of victory and the excitement of athletic competition as Baylor charts not only a new season but a new direction committed to the success of the reborn Big 12? Who knows? You might find it a wholesome, all-American addiction — just as we most assuredly have.

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