Maryland head coach Mike Locksley explained what went wrong on defense, special teams in the 27-24 home loss vs. Michigan State to open Big Ten play.
Opening statement
“Give credit to Michigan State, Jonathan Smith and his coaching staff. [They] did a tremendous job getting their team prepared for a road game. It's Big Ten football. We talked to our team about it, early conference game against a team like I talked about, that's from the status quo. They've been one of the better teams and we didn't get it done. The special teams’ penalties, the big plays on defense and then the inability to run the ball on offense. When I see that from a big picture thing, here's what I see – I see all those things are correctable. We can correct the penalties. We put ourselves in the bad position on special teams that had the type of penalties we had.
On the defensive mishaps
“The big plays on defense, that's about growing up. Those guys had opportunities and we got to do a better job of keeping the big plays in front of us and then just when we needed to be able to run the ball on offense to finish drives, we were we weren't able to which when you have opportunities like that, playing Big Ten football, you have to take them. They're not going to give them to you. And I think right now, as we talk about a player-led culture, it'll be tested this week because these guys need to get in here to get these things corrected. It's early in the year, so again, I'm not in here [saying] the season is lost because we took a tough loss here at home against a good team, as we talked about. But I think and expect this team to respond the right way. They've done the work. They continue to do things the way we need them done in practice but it has to translate the games. And when we have opportunities to win Big Ten games like we had with this one, we have to seize the opportunity.”
On Michigan State QB Aidan Chiles vs. Maryland
“Our goal was to make him beat us throwing the football, and guess what? He did. They're a team that we decided we wanted to stop the run. We know that the run and the play action pass off the run is what they do best. Today the kid showed us he can win playing drop back football. Some of the times it didn't look like we were in good coverage and we gave up some big plays. Those are some growing pains that I hate that we have to go through now, and I know for the people that support us, they don't like to hear it, but those are necessary growing pains that some of these inexperienced players are going to have to go through. We got to help them as coaches by figuring out how to protect them a little bit more, whether it's keeping a safety in the middle of the field or whether it's getting after the quarterback and forcing him to make fast decisions. But Aidan Chiles, our goal is to make him beat us throwing and he did that today. So hats off to that kid for the way he played.”
On the defense’s big plays allowed
“It’s always disappointing when you give up 350 yards pass. I don't know how many big plays total it was but it's the part of our defense that we understand and know that it’s young. And so it's not as if we were surprised that we've got young corners and some guys that are playing their first football for us. As I said before, it's a matter of one those guys growing up a little bit and learning the lessons that come along with failing like we failed today. But I also think as coaches, as we start to understand who we are, keeping us a safety in the middle of the field helps some of those young corners and maybe takes the air out of some of these deep balls. The game plan was to make them beat us during the moment, and Aidan Chiles and those receivers did a good job of winning. We had our chances and we just didn't take advantage of them. And to me, we've got to get that part fixed.”
On the play calls – no QB sneak on 3rd-and-1, kicking a FG on 4th-and-1
“What we call and how we call it is all game plan essential. The 3rd-and-1 and 4th-and-1 call sneak, handing off, we can always second-guess every call we make in terms of what we should have done. With the 4th-and-1 call last week, I punted it both times and I didn't get that question and we pinned them inside the ten. The goal was to pin them inside the ten, give them the long field, play the field position battle. It didn't work out. It didn't work out. Punted it down there and hit a big play, and they got the ball across the 50-yard line. That's where, when I talk about taking advantage of some of the opportunities, we had an opportunity to pin them in there to keep the field position in our battle to win and we didn't get it accomplished.”
“We had a chance to go up two scores. If I do kick it and miss it, you're gonna be saying, ‘why didn’t you go for it?’ And if I kick it and make it – I’m damned if I do, damned if I don't, from that standpoint. But the smart play is to go up two possessions, ten points.”
On how the early Big Ten matchup prepares his team
“This is probably the earliest we faced one. But we weren't surprised. We knew it was on our schedule. Again, Big Ten games are hard, tough battles, and today was just that. And I'm hoping this is one of those battles that is always talking about when we have failures, what's the lesson we can take from it? And one I get just off the cuff is that when we have chances to win in the Big Ten and we had our offense on the field for a drive to win it, we had our defense on the field for a drive to win it, and we had our special teams on the field to give us a chance to go up two scores. Three phases, and either of those phases were able to take the victory. The Big Ten ain't gonna give it to us so I've got to get us in the position to make those plays when we need them.”
On how Maryland uses the loss as a message
“The message is that all is not lost. I mean, this is a Big Ten game to put ourselves behind the eight ball, starting behind in Big Ten play. But we got a long season, so I'm not going to sit up here and have this the poor me, feeling sorry for ourselves. We lost a tough game at home. It's one that we had a chance to win. We got to get on the tape and I got to figure out how to get us to go win these games. I mean, Damon [Evans] said something to the head coaches the other day, said something about we got to win the games we're supposed to win. We’ll this is one we should have won. We got to find a way to win it, and it starts with us as a staff, establishing and making sure that these guys understand when all three phases have a chance to win the game for us, none of us came through. We were 0-for-3. And that's part got to get fixed.”
On the message to the team in the locker room
“I just told them. I mean, you know, ain't time to have the poor me’s. [You] see a couple of those young corners, man, with those tears in their eyes. These guys come to compete. They put a lot into the work. My message is all is not lost and if we're player-led like we say we are, then I'll see them back in here Monday with the right mindset to find a way to get prepared to go down and plant the seeds to go down in Charlottesville against another really good team, a regional, rivalry game old ACC foe. They're not going to feel sorry for so we need to get it corrected, get over it and get ready to go.”
On the lack of success running the ball
“We were on edges the whole day. We had a penetration all through the A gaps. I mean, we have to cover people up. You know, the good thing when you watch it because we get the real-time information, it wasn't scheme. It's a matter of the fundamentals being executed up front. And you know, this is a Big Ten team. We knew they played heavy handed, a very physical group that we've got to win at the line of scrimmage. And today we were on edges in the inside, and we needed to run on those 4th-and-1s that Sam asked about. I mean, when you see that type of color inside, it didn't give me confidence to say, let's line up and just knock them off the ball. We got to figure out. And there were times on those second downs where we could have got the first down if we just knife the ball vertical and not keep running lateral. So lot of good coaching, lot of good teaching we can take from it. I'm looking forward to getting on the tape and then getting these guys prepared.”
On how the secondary fared through rotation
“Perry played injured. I mean, we knew he had the hand, finger deal. That shouldn't affect corners. I mean, we we're gonna play these young guys. We have to. When you play the amount of plays and the special teams plays that they had. It's unfortunate, man. We got some talented young corners that, I mean, they got to grow up, and we got the front seven, and people understand it's going to be tough to run it against our front and so what we've got to do now is have a good mix of being able to get after the quarterback, and again today, that kid did a tremendous job of making the plays made through the deep ball down the field, and put it in position for those guys to take advantage of those opportunities, which we missed our share of those as well.”
On Glen Miller’s two interceptions
“Glendon, as I told you guys, is one of those special players that always has a knack for being around the ball and his playmaking ability. If we could just eliminate the one 15-yard penalty play. Like you're a veteran player now. We don't hit the guy out of bounds but when it comes to being around the football, being a guy that's a ball hawk and can make plays and affect the game on defense, Glendon is one of those guys. Jalen [Huskey's] interception, it was good to see him. It was one of the times where we had a safety in the middle of a field, and we played deep third coverage and the guy threw it to us, and Jalen made a play from a confidence standpoint, much needed. But we got to grow up a little bit at that position. There's no doubt in my mind we will. Those guys are resilient corners. You can't be afraid to play getting beat. As coaches again, we can help them some and I expect us to make some of those changes or make the necessary adjustments to get those guys that will help.
On WR Tai Felton’s second consecutive 100-yard receiving game
“He’s been a playmaker for us for the last couple of years. He's waited his time to kind of become the compliment. He and both Kaden Prather are both two talented receivers in this league, and there's no doubt, when
we need a play, Tai has been those guys consistently that's come through with those plays and we're going to need him. We're going to need his leadership. Locker room, I'm sure, as down as they should be, because you invest a lot of time and energy into these opportunities, you only get 12. We're down to ten. We had one taken. I mean because you’ve got to give Michigan State credit – they took the game. They drove it down, they kicked the winning field goal. They did what we didn't do. And to me, that's the part that as a player led team and me as a head coach that we got to come together and get that part fixed.”
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