Following the Rutgers game and ahead of the Rutgers game at SECU Stadium on Saturday, Maryland football head coach Mike Locksley met with the media to talk about the turnover struggles, development on the ground, and most importantly, the chance to secure bowl eligibility still up for grabs.
Opening statement
“Couple housekeeping things – this weekend, obviously, is our veteran appreciation game coming up with Veterans Day being [Monday]. And having spent time coaching at West Point in the Naval Academy, obviously want to give a shout out to all the men and women that have served. Shout out to Brenda Frese, big win yesterday, women's Basketball 3-0 start and then obviously field hockey has their playoffs. So we want to wish Missy [Meharg] good luck Friday in the NCAA Tournament.”
On the Oregon game
“It does us no good to worry about things that have happened in the past right now, because we've got a lot of we've got some, got some things to get accomplished this week. I thought our team competed well the way we want them to compete in a game like Oregon against a really good team. I thought our quarterback hung in there pretty well. Defensively, [I] was really impressed with the way coach [Brian] Williams and the defensive staff were able to continue to compete against a really talented offense. Dillon Gabriel, our defense held him probably to the lowest passing yardage he had. Obviously, the young guys are getting better but still lots of work to do.”
On the upcoming game vs. Rutgers
“Obviously, with Rutgers, they're coming off of a big win against Minnesota. They got the five wins. They have an opportunity, obviously, to become bowl eligible this weekend here. I know they were missing some key guys. Their running back, one of the more talented players in the country. Obviously, don't know his status but I do know that the other guys that filled in for him are really talented players. Their quarterback is kind of the guy that makes him go. If you look at the game from a week ago, and we've played against him obviously during his time at Minnesota. I got a lot of respect for Greg [Schiano] and the job he does as a coach, and over the years, really has his team always well prepared and they do all the little things the right way so those guys will be well coached coming in here.”
On the chance to secure bowl eligibility
“Obviously this is an important game for us, an opportunity for us to we've got two home games left and away game. This is playoff football is kind of what I told our team. It's our version of the playoffs meaning if we win, we advance. We lose, we make it a little tougher to advance. And so our players understand that. The pillars of our program is how we start and how we finish and obviously we've got some work to do to finish the right way, which we've been here before as a team. I feel very confident the way they got our guys prepared, that they'll put the necessary work in. And we definitely understand the importance of this game.”
On game captains vs. Rutgers
“Kellan Wyatt, Caleb Wheatland and Isaac Bunyun will serve as our game captains leading us into the Rutgers game.”
On the messaging to secure a bowl appearance
“It really did not mean. For us, we know the matrix of what it takes to get to bowl eligibility. The magic number is six. We have three opportunities left – two of them here at home and we haven't been home in about four weeks now. The importance of this game, because it's the next game, but also, like I said, it starts for us with really this playoff football meaning we have to win to be able to advance. and our guys understand that.”
On getting back on the plus side of the turnover margin
“Obviously, some of these turnovers are just tough for us. They're just really tough when you watch the play. The turnover there at the end of the game, [Kaden Prather] is getting grabbed and Billy got hit in the face after the throw and it's an interception. But most of the time, when we look at these plays – if it’s us, it’s pass interference. So we've got to do a better job of protecting the football. I mean, we understand that some of these turnovers that we've had, there's sometimes the rub of the green. What we've got to do is our margin of error is really big for us. In the last two games, we've been right at that 12% threshold where we talk about the controllable on offense. We were at 12.59% meaning we're not beating ourselves as much but these interceptions and fumbles returned for touchdowns, those are the ones that come back to get us, and then we're now getting them on the other end, I think of the opening, we put the ball down there, and the ball comes from underneath Tai Felton, our best players, and our chance to have the ball inside the seven. Those are plays we got to make.”
On the status of RB Kyle Monangai, Rutgers’ rushing attack
“They’ve got a veteran [offensive] line. If you look at their offensive line and the experience they have upfront, that to me is – a week ago, I felt like the running backs in Oregon made the O-line better. This week, I think the O-line is one of the more talented experienced lines in our league. Obviously their running back, the starter typically if not one of the best in the country, so losing that production, but they threw the ball all around the place last week against Minnesota. Kid that transferred from Minnesota is talented enough. We've seen him. He's the guy that we feel like kind of makes them go. We've got to find a way to affect them a little bit more than we have.”
On what he wants to see from QB Billy Edwards to end the season
“Protect the football. Like to see us, the explosive plays again. We're not having we're driving the ball more. I think we had six of ten drives go down the field. We're missing the explosives. We lost the explosive play battle 6-to-4. We had four explosives, they had six. And to me, what I like to see is trying to do is take advantage of – we have some plays, I think back to the [Shaleak Knotts] play, all right. It's a wheel route, the hide concept where he's behind the defense, but we have the turn, catch and fall down. I think Dylan Wade. We hit him on a little pivot route over the ball, and he catches it, and he's catching it, he's stumbling. We're getting what the plays are designed for, but we have more talented players that I feel like there's some big plays being left on the field that we've got to figure out how to make them and to me, for Billy, it's protection of the football. But as I said, two of the interceptions of just plays that are watching on tape they shouldn't happen. They're not as egregious as maybe when there are a couple – that pick six against Minnesota was egregious. The one with Kaden coming across the field and got pulled and snagged and the guy made in the play. There's not much you can do about those.”
On his experience playing against the expanded Big Ten
“I've been on the record that anytime you expand the room, anytime you make things more diverse, it makes it better because it adds to already good product. The Big Ten was already a really good product. You throw in USC and Oregon and Washington and these types of teams that have joined our league, when you expand the room and you bring diversity into anything, it just opens up for new ways of thinking, new ways of learning, new ways of doing stuff. And they've added value to our conference and both really talented programs, well supported. Obviously, the environment there in Oregon is phenomenal. It's one that I envy and I'm looking forward to building this environment to where we can become that.”
On the challenges defensively this season and confidence heading into Rutgers
“The way they continue to play. I mean, our defense played I thought well enough for us to win on Saturday. They limited one of the more explosive offenses to six explosives. They got off the field. They got us the ball back. The problem is it hasn't been complimentary. Meaning when we're playing well on offense, our defense isn't necessarily. We score right before the half, and then they go down and they get one right before the half, and it's – and then our defense really has done a good job of the adjustment piece. The biggest thing for us is the patience of allowing these guys to grow up on the perimeter and then continuing to get the consistency. Maybe a little more pass rush, affect the quarterback a little bit more than what we have.”
On what sticks out about Rutgers win vs. Minnesota
“The quarterback throwing the ball the way he did a little. And we know how talented he is when we saw him when he had Rashod Bateman and a couple of those guys in Minnesota. We've gone against them, but they have been a team that has relied on the ability to run the ball, played field position and then great on special teams. Their special teams are really, really talented. And so it's going to come down to that. Our ability, of, on special teams, finding a way to affect the game. On offense, us protecting the football the way we need to. And then on defense, we just haven't gotten the turnovers that we were getting earlier in the years. Kind of they've dried up here the last couple of games. We got to figure out how to get people to turn the ball.”
On having Rutgers and Minnesota as common opponent for Maryland’s scouting
“I don’t know if you’ve studied this league but Rutgers and Minnesota, like I don't know what's going on with the coaches are going back and forth, players. Their defenses are similarly structured. Obviously, Greg has a nest of coaches that have worked with him that kind of embraced that philosophy. I kind of came up under the Nick Saban philosophy the last few years and you can see Greg's imprint at both places, whether it's on the offense or the defense. Very similar structure. In the special teams pieces, I think the differentiator for them, because they've been really, really good on special teams with their specialists and the variety of things they do, they create advantages and that's where for us, if there's an area where we need to clean up some things fast as we've got to be able to, which I thought it did a week ago a little bit better. But it's going to come down to us in our ability in the special teams’ areas, to either generate momentum or not hurt ourselves.”
On the run game
“It is because if you watch it, the one thing that’s gone down here probably the last three weeks are a negative plays, the negative runs, meaning guys unblocked getting hit in the backfield. We haven't had a bunch of those, but I still tell you we haven't run the ball the way we want to. And that has been the missing piece. I mean, we have to find a way to always talk about balance. Balance isn’t how many times we do it. It's when we have to run it, run it efficiently. And you know what? There were times where we actually – our one back power play. We did six, seven yards twice. We just not having it consistent enough to stay on track with the run game. And that puts a lot of pressure on the young line. We had a true freshman starting up tackle last week in Terez Davis, who I think will be one hell of a player in the future and these are the growing pains that we go through. But to help us, we got to be more efficient at running the ball. That's something we got to figure out here this week.”
On the status of Andre Roye vs. Rutgers
“We’re still trying to figure it out. Andre is working himself back, obviously, from the injury in the Minnesota game. Terez, as I said, is one of the talented freshmen. He and both Michael Hershey who now is healthy and great to have that back because it creates a little more depth. We're hopeful that we can get Andre Roye back because of the experience that he had as a first-time starter this year, just having him out there gives us depth to where now we can play to Terez 30 plays and not have to play in 55 or 60 which the more plays young guys play, the more opportunities they have to get better, but also they get exposed a little bit, and that's where the depth that we had going into the season, we've struggled up front because of the some of the injuries we faced.”
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