Maryland controlled the second half to secure its 14th consecutive non-conference win after pulling out a 27-13 win in Charlottesville. Everything that head coach Mike Locksley said after the win:
Opening statement
“First of all, great, hard, tough, gutsy win for us in a rivalry game. The irony of it is, and I talked to our team about this, a lot of these kids don't understand the rivalry of Virginia and Maryland. Growing up in a time when we used to be in the same league together, I understood. And unfortunately, this generation of kids, they switch teams. They don't play on one team anymore like they used to. But I expected this to be a tough ass game. Tony [Elliott] had his team ready to play. They played with a lot of intensity and effort early. But I'm really, really proud of our team that there was no flinch. We faced a lot of things, a lot of momentum plays during the course of the first half and one of the things going into this game that we talked about was just staying focused on that play and not letting them become a series of plays, because you play one play and it dies. And our defense had two big stops in the first half, which gave us a chance to stay in the game and stay in the fight. And I knew at some point the offense would get going and we did the second half. To allow no points on defense, [Brian Williams] and the defensive staff did a good job of switching the looks up. I think we had only one penalty. Those penalties kept coming early in the first half, but those are the things we could control. And then to create four turnovers was huge for us. So really proud of the way Billy's played. Really, really playing at a high level for us. The leadership he's shown is really helping us on that side of the ball. Really great team win on the road together for the first time and excited to go back home and get ready for Villanova in The Shell.”
On the text he received from former head coach Ralph Friedgen before the game
“It was about cookies. He said, [he] text me, and he said, you know, my team, we always struggled when we came to Charlottesville. And he said it was something about they put something in the cookies. They said he stayed in Richmond his last game and they played pretty well. So that coach, we don't have cookies. We missed the cookies, but it was a tough, hard game is what he was trying to say. And as I know, having been a part of these games for 16 seasons, it's always tough when you play this team. I know for our fans, I'm super excited because I know it means a lot to our people.”
On what the message was at halftime
“I think the big thing is our defense has shown already – they gave up some plays early in that half, but when they needed to get stops, they got off the field and held them to field goals. And so was I disappointed in the drive before that? Of course, because that momentum swing. What I told our team at halftime is that the three things we could control was our effort. I thought that Virginia came out and out-efforted us in the first half and that's not anything that I've ever had to be concerned with our team. Then I thought the physicality in which they played, they kind of out-physical us as well. And the penalties. And so those are things that we can control. And I told us, look, if we don't look at the scoreboard – I felt last week we watched the scoreboard a little too much and that scoreboard creates anxiety. And that's the whole piece of this week was all about us, is we don't really care about the scoreboard. We don't care about the mistakes. And when you get the game to the fourth quarter and our playmakers should make plays and we were able to do that.”
On four takeaways in the win
“They just kept playing. You're going to give up plays. The two areas we’re the youngest is that corner and [offensive] line and those have been the two areas the last couple of weeks that have struggled. We struggled to run the ball on offense early and then on defense, we struggled to keep the ball over top. Today, I thought we challenged them a little bit more on the outside. Chantz Harley got some extended time and really competed. The big corners against [Malachi Fields] in the boundaries, one of those big guys that has a catch radius. I thought that we played with more confidence [at] the corner position.
And then on the [offensive] line to give them a chance to just be physical, come off the ball with our size. And that we had the push play going. We did a couple of short yardage situations and I thought Josh [Gattis] did a good job of feeding our good players the ball. Tai [Felton] came up big for us. Kaden [Prather] came up big.”
On the developments in the passing game
“They were playing deep coverage and they wanted us to run the ball. We had to figure out how to run the ball. Whether it's the interior runs, whether we popped an outside zone right near the end of the second half. We've been very A and B-gap centric in our run game. And I thought Josh did a good job today. We added some of the outside zone, the plays that we were able to crease and make a couple of plays that allowed us to get some momentum in the run game.”
On the ‘Turtle Push’ success
“It’s a play that the play that made Billy famous a year ago, where [everyone] thought that he couldn't throw or didn't have the ability to throw. But you know what? It's about, physicality, man. At some point you got to line up and not get cute and just say, hey, we're bigger. Let's show and impose our will on people. Going into this week, not getting those short yardages the last couple of weeks was something that bothered me as a head coach and an offensive guy, to not be able to line up in some big people formations and say we own the line of scrimmage. And today we did that. We pushed them through and Billy made a couple big runs.”
On having DLs Taizse Johnson, DJ Samuels in on offensive short yardage packages
“I think the big piece is obviously we've recruited skill really well and then to have athletic big guys like we do on defense and to be able to use the skill sets that they bring gives us some versatility, which allows us to line up in big people, to move people off the ball, and today we were able to get it accomplished.”
On QB Billy Edwards in the win vs. Virginia
“He has the mind of a coach. We always talk about the quarterback has to be an extension of the head coach to the play caller. And with Billy, I told the staff. I do bed checks on Friday nights, and last night when I went in to do bed check, he and MJ [Morris] are roommates, and he's at the desk, he's got his earpiece in, he's got his call sheet, he's got notes. I call it playing chess. Third meeting, what's your first call? He gives me his call. Al right, we're playing zero. Where's the ball? What's your adjustment? This kid has the mindset that we have as coaches and having him on the field now and the confidence that we have in him to be able to get us in the right situations. We're putting a lot on him and I really like the way the kid’s playing. I like the way that he continues to lead us on offense and he's doing some special things for us.”
On the development of the run game in the second half
“I thought the first outside zone play that we popped, Roman [Hemby] popped there to score the first touchdown kind of got us going, because we were able to catch them. They were pinching and moving interior wise to close those interior gaps and we finally got the ball today. We haven't run a lot of outside zones, so for Josh to have that play in, to be able to compliment what we've done and from a self-scout standpoint, to know that let's attack the C-area a little bit and get the ball on the edge. It helped us because it generated an explosive, and we're one of those teams that thrives off explosives. I'd love to see us continue to just put those ten, 11, 12-play drives together. But I also like when we feed guys like Tai and Kaden and those two big tight ends, Preston [Howard]. The one catch he had, I just think of that third down and fourth down catch and that's what those guys are capable of doing. We have to continue to find ways to get those guys involved a little bit more as well.”
On WR Tai Felton’s breakout performance
“It’s about how he practices. It really is. I mean, if you come watch Tai Felton in practice, the guy gets it. He understands the work that needs to be put in during the week, the deposits. And I mean, he's being rewarded for the work that he puts in and great example for some of those younger receivers. I see Octavian Smith following that trend. I see Kaden, even as a veteran player, starting to understand that the habits you create in practice, they show up in games. And Tai is, since the middle of this summer, he's adjusted a lot of how he prepares himself – his body, and taking care of it, from recovery, nutrition. He's being a pro and it's showing up on tape for us.”
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