Maryland head coach Mike Locksley took the podium to wrap up non-conference play and preview the upcoming Big Ten road game vs. Indiana:
Opening statement
“I’m gonna try to do something a little differently. I'm not gonna do the police report and kind of go through last week then this week, but hit a couple points. One, obviously, really happy with the win. As I told our team after the game, winning is hard. Any time you win, you need to be excited, happy, especially about what went right. Obviously, in every game there will be some learning opportunities, and for us, there are a lot of things that went right. We got off to a fast start, scoring on four straight drives on offense. Defensively, really played about as perfect a first half, forcing three-and-outs and really doing a great job. And then the game shifted at what I call, we call it that middle eight and that's where the learning piece for us that we'll take make some corrections. Defensively, the best thing that came out of that game is we played a lot of players. The disappointing thing was on offense, we didn't get to play as many players as I envisioned us because of how the third quarter went, that middle eight. That middle eight is the last drive of the first half and the first drive of the second half, and the long drive they had, followed that with the one-play drive with the tipped interception with the steal a series of plays with the surprise onside, [it] didn't allow us to develop our offensive players because we got nine plays in the third quarter. And we're one of those teams that we benefit mightily over having a bunch of opportunities and we lost that opportunity and it's something for me, we got to continue to work on. We didn't generate the turnovers on defense that we had typically – and it goes back to I said something out last week. Somebody said it was a lot of talk about turnovers, like saying somebody has 100% free throw percentage and the next one, they clink it off the rim. And so we did not generate the turnovers and we actually lost the turnover battle. And I know for some of you old football guys that say the turnover battle was always a big thing, but I think I've educated you guys on, the turnover battle still really important, but there's some other elements that the big play battle, and for the first time in a couple of games, we got back on the right side of the ledger winning the big play battle. Our goal is to have 12 big plays in a game. See, I'm educating. I don't want to get up here and do a police report. I want to try to educate. So I got some notes here that Dustin has just so y'all bear with me. So there's plenty of things on tape to learn from from the Villanova game. It's obviously we're better than the way we played as a team – we'll be a team that continues to get better and continues to fix things as we go along and that's the beauty, and that's what I really like about coaching, because if they did it right, they wouldn't need me and you wouldn't have anything to write about. So I like being able to correct, coach and develop and that's what Maryland football has become. Plenty of tape to learn from, but it's always better to do it after a win, and I was happy going into this game.”
On Indiana
“Going into this game, obviously Indiana man. Curt Cignetti has done a tremendous job with that team. And if you look at the way he's coached and the way he came up from Elon, goes to JMU, continued a great tradition that JMU had, and then he gets this opportunity at Indiana. I know his family. As a college player, his dad, legendary coach at the other Indiana University, the one in Pennsylvania. Playing at Towson we played them every year and he comes from a football family, and I can just tell you, man, they're well coached. He came from the same tree. He's been under Coach [Nick] Saban. And so when you watch this team, the thing that jumps out to me is they're not going to give us this game. They're the team they're going to make us beat them. And for us, that has been the challenge. We're a team that kind of makes some mistakes, but we also have shown the propensity to score points if things are going well. It also shown the ability to be explosive. And so this game is going to come down to they'll figure out who to take away from us and our complimentary players on offense, somebody's going to have to step up and play big for us in this game. If you think that Tai Felton, they're not going to try to do things to take Tai Felton out of the game, that's where I know the family he comes from as a coach, they're not going to let our best players win and they're going to try not. And that's the chess match where we've got to continue to find a way to keep Tai involved, keep Kaden [Prather] involved. But I think some of these complimentary players that maybe haven't had as big a roles, the Dylan Wade’s, the Octavian Smith’s, the Colby McDonald's, these are the types of games. Because you think two years ago when we went there, a guy named Billy Edwards, who's our starting quarterback now, came in and brought us from behind to win. These games have always been tough against Indiana and I can tell you that Coach Cignetti, his staff, I mean, I think they've got five starters on defense that transferred with him from JMU. They've got three on offense that are playing well. They've got the former MAC Player of the Year in their quarterback. Really, really talented roster and the way I see it, as I kind of look at it, as being kind of executive producing in this game, is this is almost like a combination of the three teams – the Michigan State, Virginia and Villanova that we just played. And it's like combining all three of those teams. We got a big challenge on our hands and it's on the road. And so we'll find out a lot about ourselves. I think flexibility is a big deal for us this week. As you go further into the season, people scout you. They try to get tendencies on you, and I think it's gonna be really important and this is maybe where the youth of what we have on our team, the inexperience at [offensive] line and corner and we've replaced a lot of starters. This is where I think that inexperience may benefit us because of the flexibility we have, is that we do have some pieces to the puzzle that people don't know about yet. I just mentioned three – Octavian Smith, Dylan Wade, Preston Howard, and then you throw in a Colby McDonald, which is four, they haven't been as prominent roles. And so the flexibility that we have there, and then we've played a lot of players on defense, doesn't allow people to necessarily know who we are. And that's an advantage. And then the last piece for me is the perspective. I mean, there's an element of a veteran team, because, I mean, again, they have eight starters that transferred in from JMU with them and their best players on defense, the two linebackers were with them a year ago at JMU know the system. They have a corner that knows the system. They got two guys up front. And so this isn't an Indiana team that has a bunch of people that don't know each other. And if you look at how they've been able to play in the first few games that they played, you can tell that for us, the challenge will be not Indiana, but us. Will we do the things to execute the way we have to? Because they're not going to allow the explosives down the field. We're going to have to put together some drives and block people and not just out big-play people. And that's the challenge for this week, for us. And on defense, again, best offense that we'll face. Really sound an RPO game. They got a set of backs that both are really talented. Their tight end is the guy that makes them go. And if you look at them on a stat sheet, you'd be like maybe doesn't have a bunch of stats, but he is the glue for them on offense, and this guy is really talented in the run game, and that's where sometimes, we get enamored with catches and production there. But as a coach, when you look at things as I think of them on offense, it's that tight end is the heart and soul of it, and he's effective in the run game and he plays – we call it style of play. His style of play is what you like when you respect the opponent, I respect the way he plays. And then that quarterback is tough as nails. Ohio University, MAC Player of the Year two years ago. I know he suffered an injury or something, but really talented player, and they've got him playing at a high level.”
On game captains
“Octavian Smith, Donnell Brown and Colby McDonald, wow. Figure that.”
On the improvements along the offensive line from week one to week four
“Our offensive line is a work in progress still. We're doing a great job of protecting our quarterback, but sometimes sacks, I've said this before, sacks aren't always offensive line driven, just like not giving them up. We got a quarterback that's playing at a really high level. Our coordinator is doing a really good job of not exposing some of the things. Now, the areas that we've worked to continue to improve that we we've taken some steps forward, and then we have some injuries, and now we've got to fill in some spots. The run game – we've just got to become more consistent in the run game, the ability to get the positive yardage to stay ahead of the sticks. And running the ball, not because I say we need to run it more, but we just have to be more efficient. And last week we took a step forward. I think we averaged 5.3 yards per rush, which for us, I mean, it wasn't ever like a pretty where I knew we felt like we were running the ball. It was just we got some tough yardage. Roman [Hemby], made some guys miss, and we finished some runs the right way.”
On the metrics used to assess fault in a sack
“Every play we evaluate. So if there is a sack, I mean, is it because we didn't get rid of the ball? Because there's a timing. I always say offensive football is timing and spacing. There's a timing element in the passing game and if my quarterback, which one of the sacks Billy took, the one he took, [he] should have [thrown] the ball away. Like you don't have to take a sack if nobody's open. It's okay to not get any yards and play the next play rather than wait, hold on to the ball and expose us by doing that. And then our quarterback has been playing at a high level.”
On WR Tai Felton
“Tai Felton is one of my favorite players, man. And he's my one of my favorite players because of seeing the way he has developed in our program. It's a reflection that what we talk about being a growth mindset, a developmental program – Tai embodies. Two years ago, I was doing some research for this. A couple years ago, it was written about how the ball hit off his facemask against Michigan I think in one of our papers. Talked about, a year ago, I think we wrote about he dropped a big play against Northwestern that maybe could have helped us win the game. And now everybody's like Tai Felton is the best thing since sliced bread. And you know what? He is. and I don't say his past to take away from what he's doing. But what I'm saying is Tai Felton has developed in our program. And if some people give us the ability to develop these players, you won't be as surprised about what Tai Felton does. Because nobody in our building is surprised. Because if you got to know him, if you see what I get to see every single day. This kid and Leon Haughton caught tennis balls off the tennis ball machine from 11 to 1 [AM] every night during the summer and all last season. And you know what? Tai is a byproduct of his work ethic, his effort that he puts in, and what this program kind of tries to do develop with people. So that's my soapbox.”
On Indiana QB Kurtis Rourke
“When I said it's a combination of those, like, he's a little bit of the Colandrea kid at Virginia that thing, that moxie I talked about Villanova's quarterback a week ago. Then even the Michigan State big arm, Aiden kid from Michigan [State]. He's kind of a mixture, and that's why the way our season is set up and the past three games have prepared us for this first road trip in the Big Ten. I'm looking forward to see how we respond as I continue to evaluate us as a program, as the season goes along, and this team has continued to impress me. Our team.”
On what the team has learned from the Michigan State game
“I mean, I kind of just went through a whole synopsis of all the things. I don't think – we're not still on the Michigan State, but we're in how we prepare for Indiana, we understand that the thing that showed up in the – we didn't finish well, okay, well. The Virginia game, we came back and held the ball for five minutes and nine seconds. Last week the middle eight becomes an issue for us. It's the consistency and it's always – it wasn't even about Michigan State. Everything I've talked about is about me as a coach, us as a program, and it's going to always be that way. So however you want to write it, it'll always be written like, what do we have to do? Because it's very rarely going to be about our opponent the way our program is set up. It's about us playing our best on Saturday, and me getting the best out of these guys and putting them in position to play their best. And you know what? I like this team, man. You guys just sit back. I like this team.”
On Locksley’s relationship with Johnny Holiday
“Well, I mean, it should be called the Johnny Holiday radio show. I mean, I'm kind of like his sidekick. And no man, I've known Johnny for the 16 seasons I've been here at Maryland. And I think there are very few people that love the University of Maryland the way I do. I always tell the story of how, like, where we practice right now, our practice fields used to be the area where I used to scalp tickets for Maryland games. Cole Field House was right here and you had the tennis courts, and then you had Lot Z used to have a hill, like it was kind of like a three level lot, and it is almost like Johnny Holiday was calling those games. And so to listen to him and now be sitting next to him, sometimes I pinch myself and I'm being real, because this guy embodies in what Maryland is about. And he's probably the biggest fan that I know next to me.”
On whether the defense is still the strength of the team
“We're still a defensive-led team. If you want to judge a team, look at kind of like our special teams right now, we're playing a lot of young guys on special teams because that's one of the areas where they can help us immediately. And if you look at that like we got a bunch of defensive guys that are starters on special teams – Dante Trader, Ruben Hyppolite. They're on our punt team. I know that Glen Miller's on our punt team. We've got a bunch of starters on our kickoff team running down covering kicks. And so the defensive guys are – you could tell the character of a team by their special teams. And if you look at our special teams, we have more defensive guys this year that are, they're playing prominent roles on special teams. And so that, to me, is why, when I talk about it, yeah, they still lead us. I mean, these guys got a lot of experience. You look at the first four games of our season. Our defense, minus not finishing at the end of the Michigan State game, has played really pretty, pretty well for us. It's just been the consistency and the alignment of all three phases. We're still a defensive led team, in my opinion.”
On the biggest area of improvement heading back into Big Ten
“I would say, obviously, it turns to that turnover battle. Like we protected the ball on offense. The interception we had a week ago and the fumble, tipped ball. Tip balls never end up in the right hands typically, always end up in bad places. To have to tip ball and then Colby’s touchdown, I mean, his fumble. I mean, we're in position to where that play could have very easily been a touchdown and it ends up not getting points. So I'll just say that we've done a really good job defensively with getting them and then offensively, we've protected the ball for the most part. Our margin of error. We always talk about that in here. A margin of error is the number of plays where you have self-inflicted wounds. And I would say that we've played under our goal, which our goal is to be under 12% of the plays we have on offense should contain a sack, a fumble, an interception, offensive penalty or a dropped pass. Those are five things that are self-inflicted on offense. And so if you take the number of plays we get, which we try to get, 80, if that 12% margin, if you're under 12% of those plays containing one of those five self-inflicted wounds based on Ralph Friedgen’s formula, and that's where I first learned it in 2001, you win 90% of the games because you're not beating yourself. And to me, that's where every game this year, we've been under the 12% threshold. I can tell you, I don't think there's been a run like that here. And those are little hidden things that you know now, Sam has learned some stuff. He's gonna use it against me four games later, right? You gonna be figuring out ‘your margin of error was 22% today, Coach.’ So just trying to help us out a little bit, educate us.”
On the importance of getting a Big Ten win
“If you talk about the past and then you want to talk about the future, how this helps the future. We going right back here to the moment. We got Indiana this week on the road. I was there for the first Big Ten win we ever had in 2014 and that was a dog fight. Every game against them has been a dog fight. They're a well-coached team. Indiana has all of our attention. Not one bit of Michigan State, and nothing forward is in the minds of us other than what maybe we learned, which we've already been working and correcting, and so we got enough on our hands. It's a Big Ten road game. I mean go back and check the records. Most people playing on the road, you don't have a lot of success typically but that's what I love about being able to go play and have a scoreboard and time on the clock, that if we have an opportunity, we'll have a chance. And that's what I like about this team. We'll do the work this week. Indiana's a big game because it's the next one on our schedule and it's a conference game, like you said. So I mean, that's how I've shaped it for us, and that's the direction we're moving.”
On QB Billy Edwards getting used more running the ball
“We go in every game trying to figure out what gives us the best chance to win from a menu of plays. Sometimes it may be his feet. Sometimes it's getting it to the best players. Like I told you, we have touch charts. Our quarterback has a touch chart. Typically, my goal is maybe get Billy three to five. Some of them happen organically. Some of his best runs come off of drop back passes. I don't know if I like my starting quarterback getting hit a lot. So when you say – on third medium to get a first down, yeah. Red area, yeah. Just to say we are a quarterback run based system, that's not who we are and that's not what I've been in a long time. So we utilize his skill set. Josh does a great job of kind of shaping a plan that fits what Billy does best and right now I think we've got it figured out.”
Related Links