Everything Dave Aranda said following Baylor's dominant win over UCF

The Baylor Bears put together their best performance of the season on Saturday. The Bears' offense started quick, scoring on their first three possessions of the day. Baylor's defense shut down UCF, allowing the lowest amount of points on the season.

Following Baylor's 30-3 win, here is everything head coach Dave Aranda had to say.

Opening Statement

It's good to see everybody. It's a happy locker room guys are feeling really really energized. It's always good to get a win like that was something that we needed. We've been really pushing hard to get it, you know, that's the team that we've seen and we've known and so to be able to have other people see it is really fulfilling. You know, I think the thing now for sure for us is like hey man, this is what it is.

This is what we know that we can meet the standard. We need to be able to meet the standard every time out, you know, and so very much that was the talk at the end of the game, but excited about our line and moving the line of scrimmage in the run game, you know, Caden Knighten had a great game and I thought a lot of it was done up front. Caden's getting better at kind of following his blocks and and not spinning out and running sideways on things.

I thought Sawyer looked really settled. I think anytime we go tempo and we have some motions and some formation on the sideline and just kind of the oddities are kind of built into tempo. I think that's probably when we're at our best. And so those first two drives were a lot of that.

I thought he was able to see stuff really clear and get us into plays. They're a big time place for us. It was really good to see Trigg from the start kind of attack the thing, you know, and not kind of have kind of get him going in the third quarter, but to get him going right off the bat. I think it -- that's a chore for a defense to have to contend with him for four quarters of Michael Trigg. And so all that was good. I thought defensively guys were playing fast and they were communicating better and they were making plays when they were coming to him. And so that was good to see.

Getting a fast start

Yeah, I think we've been working hard to get that. And so to get it, I think that shows that hey, we can do it, that you can do it, you know, this is who we are. And so that's we're going to talk about it that way anyways, but been working really hard to get it. I thought the energy from defense to offense and special teams all the way around was multiplied throughout the game. And so that was cool to be on the sidelines and feel that.

How Baylor could slow down the UCF run and what it means for the defense

I thought that we're able to simplify some things. I think, you know, if there's five calls today, there are three and then I thought that we really kind of honed in on on kind of their core stuff and they ran their core stuff, which helped. I think in the past maybe there's been probably maybe too many calls and then we hone in on core stuff and the team we play doesn't run them, you know, and so it kind of lined up today, which was good. But I thought, you know, more than that though, really more than that is that the guys woke up choosing to be great and choosing to no matter what if stuff didn't line up, you know, they were going to go attack it. I think that was the biggest thing.

Did he see anything this week to think this would've been the result

Yeah, it was a really good week. It was our best week. You know, I thought one day when we met guys were down and it was it was difficult. By the end of the day was better and then Tuesday way up Wednesday up up up, you know, Mike Allen who prior to the Texas Tech game last year, Mike spoke to the team. Mike spoke to the team last night and when I called Mike up there this -- standing ovation about for him and Mike killed it again, you know, and so you could feel there's a lot of momentum going into this one. You could feel it the whole time.

Did he expect more from UCF

No, you know, I was talking to coach prior to the game and there I you know, they're a tough team to play because they are they are a game plan outfit. And so they're going to game plan for you. And so I knew, you know with the by a man, there's all these things that they put on tape, but they, you know, our tape is probably more important than all that because they're just going to see the weaknesses of all the things and attack us that way.

But I told him that man, I see what you guys are attacking out, you know, you guys make it hard the thought I can see it. Sometimes they're able to execute it. Sometimes they're not but they're on point with like it makes it hard, you know, when you put it all on the board and you have to go through it man. They kind of got you, you know, and so I think they're a young team. They're going to get better and better and better. Coach is a great coach and so they'll be on their way.

Why do they play better with their backs against the wall

I thought, you know, they I would probably say they they play at their best when there is like a full connection between teammates and coaches and you know, some of the know if I want to call it facade or just some of the the stuff of this is who I thought I was or this is who I think I am when that kind of goes away and the real stuff is standing there and you can deal with real stuff.

That's probably when we're at our best and so you know, I think there's guys today that you know have always wanted to and needed to start faster and have been. I don't know the multiple ways we've changed practice or the multiple ways that we've talked about it. You know, they're really kind of a frontal question of man. This is or statement of hate. This is what we need to get done. I need you to do this and they made the choice to do it and I wish that be easier done than that. But that's what would happen today.

What the focus will be like on the bye week

We're going to try to build off some of the stuff we did today throughout this week. I thought that was a lot of connection with the team this week and there was a lot of emotion this week and I think we put that to good use, you know, and so we'll continue to kind of invest in that. I think we've got a few guys that need to get healthy guys that just played a bunch of football, you know in both line of scrimmages and so we can use it to get them back upright and then get some of the younger guys that played a little bit at the end of the game today, a little bit more experience and reps and working through the schemes. But we've got a great opponent, you know, coming out of the by and so we'll be prepping for them too.

How the fast start felt

Yeah, it was it's a good feeling. I thought that you know offense were able to run the ball early and that really just set up just the RPO game. And so the throws on the perimeter were there because the A GAP run game was there and then I thought defensively, you know, they ran their base play versus our base defense and I went for three yards and in the past that's gone for six or seven. And so just the math was in our favor on this one and you know, when the math's in your favor, you're able to win those early downs and win the starting fast game and win the possessions early and put you in good spots later.

Winning the turnover battle

It's been one of those things too where it's, you know, you continue to harp on it. You find different ways of trying to emphasize it. We incentivize it with what we can, you know, and so I think it's not a lack of guys trying on either side and so you keep kind of pounding the rock and so you know, your hope is that at some point that thing's going to crack and we're able to get some of that today.

I thought defensively those plays were big and you know, I'm one of my most impressive things. I think today was just the sudden change, you know, when the offense did give it up. We're able to come back and kind of or the fourth down we didn't get. Defense was able to go out there and not just fold and in the past that's been a struggle this season. So way happy about that. We must continue that.

How Caden Knighten has improved

Yeah, Caden's got a lot better. You know, he's got his instincts which you know, it's just hard because I mean his instincts partly got him here, you know, and so you know, he has to kind of there's you know, it's always hard when you just change is difficult when you're at one level and you want to get to another level, you know, how everything's set up is what it is at this level. So you have to let go of stuff and change and improve and how you think about things.

You have to kind of let that go and that's just difficult because that just got you here, you know, and so you have to kind of let that go and trust people to kind of get to a higher level. And so he's doing that. That's what that's that's hard to do.

How Baylor was so good against UCF on third and fourth down

Yeah, I think so much of what the defense needed was just something positive. Really just something to something positive something to go good. Just some type of you know, you know, they're something I mean, there's there's faith faith faith faith faith. There's got to be something on the other side of that. And so I think once there is that then all of a sudden guys kind of put their cleats in the grass and and they can they can play with a little bit more and they can react a little bit faster. And I don't know. I think that's just that's just the way we're kind of we're built and designed, you know, and so once there's a little bit of success, we're able to kind of take off with it.