Everything Dave Aranda said following Baylor's blowout loss to Cincinnati

Another game, another loss for Baylor. This time, the Bears dropped a game against Cincinnati on the road and Baylor is at a crossroads as a program. Following the game, head coach Dave Aranda was asked some tough questions.

Here's everything he had to say.

Opening statement

I'm way frustrated, way frustrated. It's angry, you know, it's a hurt locker room. The thing that strikes me is we're in a position to get a stop and get the ball back to our offense to go win the game and we just couldn't do it. Whether it's a yard short here or a guy less there or we didn't make this communication here, it's just so frustrating. And we got ourselves in position and we couldn't do it. So that falls on me

Is there a disconnect from good practices to play on the field

Yeah, I think the things that, whether it's specifically for defense, the things that we're showing them in practice are all kind of fitted up. We all walk it through. We all execute it and try to get it as fast as we can. It's not going to be ever the tempo that we're going to see today or tonight, but try to get it as fast as we can.

I mean, those things, they're positive and the practices are intense and it's like everyone comes in here at the start thinking that it ain't going to be like how this just was. So there is something that's not connecting and we've got to get it to connect because we've got a good team. I still believe in this team and we've got a lot of work still to do to get that connection.

Cincinnati scoring off of turnovers

Yeah. You talk about just not starting as fast as we need to and you talk about the turnovers. Those have been consistent with our ills. We have to get that fixed. I have to get that fixed. That's holding us back from some wins that we need and some momentum that we probably need even more. So I think we have to fix it. But I think despite all of it, the fight to kind of get into the mix at the end has been something to see. But I told them in there, you can't live the way we're living. It's not sustainable. We have to play better as a team than what we're playing right now.

On a slow start

Yeah, I think there's guys that put a lot of pressure on themselves and try to go make the play by themselves, maybe outside of this or that. I think there's guys that if there's a different look or a different wrinkle, they kind of hesitate some guys. I don't think it's really anything of a negative sort. If anything, guys are trying to do right too much. You need to have a balance of guys are doing the right thing, but they're in the lane of playing free, playing green, where they can have the confidence to go out and play aggressively fast. We have to find that balance.

Is Michael Turner providing a good balance

Yes. He's one where, hey, the lights are bright and the moment's big and he shows up even bigger. So that's really good to see. I think we've got to get some more guys in the Michael Turner category.

Next step Turner can make

I think continue to improve in pass protection. There's a few. I can think of two right now where there's pressure and he's getting threatened and he's where we need him to be. We just got to get that more consistent than what it is right now, and I think that will really improve his game. The contributions that he's having and the time that he's in there and critical moments and critical situations, he's showing up for us.

Why Sean Thompkins started at LT

We needed a spark. We needed some of the mistakes that were plaguing us in the last couple games where there was a common theme there. We weren't getting it fixed. It would be similar practice-wise. There would be some positivity and some things to look forward to. We get to a game, it would be the same thing. The last step that we got is to be able to make a change at that position. So we'll continue to look at that. Every stone will be turned over to try to get the best that we can on the field.

Did the O-line play better?

There was positive stuff on there. I'd have to look at the film. I think there's times that we got movement in the run game. I think early on we could have been better at pushing piles and getting more yards per carry that first quarter.

Is that Cincinnati D-line that good?

They're a good unit, and they've got guys that are real positive for them in the A and B gaps, meaning they take a gap and a half. But we need to block them. There's times in the end of the second and really the third where we were pushing piles and moving them. If we do it then, we can do it in the first quarter when we start the game.

Bryson Washington's health

Yeah, he's being evaluated right now. So we'll see. Bryson, this season has been very difficult for him. I think his heart and soul is out there with the guys on the field. It's been a whole bunch of injured body parts that are holding him back. So that boy's fight is something to see. We'll see kind of by Monday. We'll see where that's at.

Where does the team go from here

I think we have to look at the things that are constantly plaguing us. And we've got to look at the things that we've tried to do to fix it. And we've got to be able to say, hey, man, this is not working. Here's the things where we need to go next. Here's the attitude that we've got to demand from our players and our coaches. And we've got to be able to take that next step. This team has a lot of talent.

This team's got a lot of care factor. There's guys on this team that have just so matured from the individual that they were prior to coming here. There's guys on this team that academically are just taking off. There's guys on this team that have individual accolades. We've got to be able to get it in the team component. And it's not clicking right now. We've got to do whatever we can to get it to click because this team deserves that.

Does the leadership on the team help the locker room

Yeah, it's a pretty tight team. And I think there's guys that really, really care, and they're really devoted to each other and to Baylor and to this team. And so, you know, with Sawyer and KT and Devin and Omar and all these guys, Josh Cameron, yeah, it's going to be strong. We just need to win. We need to win pretty bad.