|
|||
|
|||
|
 |
|
|
TOSTITOS FIESTA BOWL: CENTRAL FLORIDA v BAYLORDecember 28, 2013Eddie LackeyGLENDALE, ARIZONA THE MODERATOR: Questions, please. Q. How is this different from junior college? EDDIE LACKEY: You've got to control these types of situations maturely, be able to focus on the task at hand, not get caught up in what's going on. I think it's just the next chapter for us as a university. It's a blessing to be here. We're all really excited to play on January 1st. Q. How confident do you think this team is right now? EDDIE LACKEY: I think we're really confident. I think that's a good thing, too. We're confident, but we're not cocky about it. I think we have a little bit of a swagger to us. We're really, you know, just an overall team‑oriented type team. We're surrounded by great team, great coaches. We're surrounded by phenomenal coaches. We're able to represent them and our university just the way they want us to. Q. You mentioned West Virginia last year. From that point to where you are now, what are the biggest things that make this defense so much better? EDDIE LACKEY: You know, I've said it from it the beginning: I think it's just the maturity of our defense, the growth in Coach Bennett's system. We've really turned it around from just the little mistakes.  Everything that could have went wrong in that West Virginia game went wrong. That's from fundamentals to mental errors to all those little things. I think when you can get a team that can buy into the system, any type of system, it really just speaks volumes of how far a program or just a defense can come. I think that's just what we've done. You can see the maturity from us as the seniors down to the youngest guys coming in as freshmen. Q. What can you take from the last couple games that you can apply to this game? EDDIE LACKEY: I think we got caught up too much in what was going on. I think we just got to be able to focus on us, focus on Baylor football, treat it like any other game prior to that. These last two games, we finished out really well. As long as we can keep that mentality, keep the focus, we can hone in on what they're doing, execute our game plan really well. Q. You got caught up in the magnitude of those games? EDDIE LACKEY: Our game plan, understanding what was going on, we really just needed to be a little bit more knowledgeable out there on the field. That's on us as players. Be a little bit more conscious of what's going on, I think. Just be focused at all times. We can't relax at all with these guys. We're in the Fiesta Bowl for a reason. We're going to be ready to play come Wednesday. Q. Coming into this Fiesta Bowl game, what challenges do you see that presents for Baylor? EDDIE LACKEY: They have a little bit of approach, I guess you could say, than any other Big 12 team. They have a little bit slower of a pace. We just got to be able to prepare and use that to our advantage. They have a couple great players in their runningback and in their quarterback. If we can stop them, we can stop a lot on their offense. We just got to put pressure on them. They bring a lot to the table with their offense. They have a lot of patience. They're really good on third down. They have a lot of things they're good at. We have to be able to minimize that. Q. For you, what is the thing you're really working on? EDDIE LACKEY: Just being assignment sound, not getting out of position, just playing our role, playing our assignment, just being where I need to be to make the plays. Q. At the beginning of the season, did you think this is where you would be? EDDIE LACKEY: I think we all believed it. Maybe the media, maybe other people, the average person, might not have believed we would have made it this far. But when we were breaking out of our lifts or our practices, we would say, Big 12 champs. Back in our mind, that implied we would be going to a BCS bowl game as well. We envisioned that at the beginning of the season. We really surpassed what we expected. We're here in this great moment, playing in a big BCS bowl game. Q. Was there anything on your mind when you found out you made it? EDDIE LACKEY: Happiness. It was a great time. We worked so hard. All the different types of lifts, conditioning workouts, spring practices, it all led to this. It's just really gratifying to have heard the news, being able to come play in this BCS bowl. Q. This is your last one? EDDIE LACKEY: I'm a senior. This is my last time suiting up in a Baylor uniform one more time. I'm not going to be thinking about that too much. I think I'm going to have a lot more going through my head during the game. It's a wild thing to think this is going to be my last time playing as a Baylor Bear. Q. A little bitter sweet? EDDIE LACKEY: A little bittersweet. It's been a blessing to be here at Baylor. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
|
||||||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
About ASAP Sports •
FastScripts Archive •
Recent Interviews •
Captioning •
Upcoming Events •
Contact Us
FastScripts | Events Covered | Our Clients | Other Services | ASAP in the News | Site Map | Job Opportunities | Links |
|
ASAP Sports, Inc. | T: 1.212 385 0297
|