UCF Defensive Tackle Horace Lockett Reflects on 'Nauts' Loss to Baylor & Defensive Struggles

Of course, you guys had a chance to build some real momentum after last week. How disappointing was it to come out and have a performance like this? I feel like every loss is a disappointment. A loss, you don't understand it, that we have built in the locker room. But we just take it one game at a time, one day at a time, so we'll recoup. Of course, Scott's talked a little bit about his message this past week, is trying to keep you guys even-keeled and rounded coming off that big win. Do you think the players responded to that, or maybe it was just the fact that Baylor did some things that you guys were able to do? College football is a weird game. Those guys are on scholarship, too, so they've made plays, and we've made more plays than this, and we've got to get better. Thank you very much. Thank you very much. What about their offensive line? I see you in some of those lines. Like I said, them guys are on scholarship. They made plays when we didn't, and we just got to fix it. What about you, Jay, as a line player? You played a lot with them this season. Great player, went with a five-star coming out of high school, so great player, and we just got to step up to the plate when we play players like them. Did they ever show you something different than you guys prepared for during the week? Yeah, but, you know, it's just within the game. You got to play fast, and physically, no matter what they give you, you got to go execute call. Awesome. You guys are down in the fourth and a half. What's the conversation like at half time? What do you think we could be able to do in the second half? Just keep building, keep fighting. We know we got one goal at the end of the day. Everybody here got that one goal. So just keep trying to achieve that goal. Keep doing whatever you can do to succeed. So of course, what do you What do you learn from a game like this? Really togetherness, we just got to stick together, guys just keep playing hard through the end of the game, even though it's not our favorite right now. You know, just being able to lead on your brother to your left, to your right. That's a real good deal. Their first five drives, they're averaging starting field position with their own forty-three yard line. What makes it a challenge repeatedly to have to defend the short field in a play calling in the next few? Yeah, they started at the 42 yard line, so what makes it a challenge to have to defend a short field between the play calling and execution? I feel like we just got to, it don't matter where we are on the field, we just got to go out there and execute and do whatever the coach is going to call, so there isn't nothing. You still have multiple players out for injury, Jamari Lewis. You have Ty Bartram, you have Jalen Colbert come in, and they both end up leading the team in tackles. How's that next man up mentality able to help get over the hump of this loss? Really just being able to, you know, within the season to still compete with each other. Knowing that, you know, everything isn't secure here. We always competing and we always battling with each other. And, you know, that next man got to step up. Just like somebody else can go down, that next man got to step up and do what he got to do. So I just can't build it at all. It's good. Kind of the same though, of course, the opening two drives, you had the stop on fourth down, and then the other drive ended with a lag with the important man pinching the ground, and you had an option on the ground, which one that you can take to kind of build off this to remember, hey, you can still beat us. Yes, sir. Every time we go out on the field as a defense, we try to be fast and violent and physical, so that possession right there was just a showing what we could do every drive, so we just got to continue to do it. Of course, you guys got to go on the road this week to face Kansas. Where do you guys go from here when we go to practice on Monday? There's only one way to go up, and that's up. We gotta keep competing, we gotta get our bodies right, we gotta get healthy. We gotta go watch film and study these guys, this is a great team too. So you know conference opponent, so we just gotta go out there and go in. When the offense was having issues sustaining drives, especially in the first half, how difficult was it to continually go out there on short rests? Not difficult, like I said, These are our brothers. We done did stuff in a dirty lake with each other. We done been here in fall camp and whatever it is together. So we don't look at it like that. We're just brothers, so we go out there and fight for our brothers, so. Alex Green said all year, takeovers, take away people's victory. What else can you guys do when you're not taking the football away and finding a way to win? Socks, really. Forcing them into third and longs and going under the quarterback, really. Thank you. I appreciate you guys.