After dropping a disappointing game against Illinois, Maryland’s losing streak extended to three following a 33-27 loss on the road vs. Northwestern.
Maryland opened the game with a touchdown on its opening possession, but the Wildcats would outscore Maryland the rest of the way and faced a deficit for the final 50 minutes.
“Disappointing loss. Give Northwestern credit but they outplayed us. They outplayed us. They outhustled us. They out hit us. And when that happens, you gotta look at everything, including myself and all the way down our roster,” Maryland head coach Mike Locksley said following the loss. “Anybody that made this trip played a part in what happened today, and it’s really disappointing. We had some opportunities that we didn’t take advantage of. And guess what? Nobody’s gonna feel sorry for us so I don’t expect that. The only thing we can do is to get back on track is us. It starts with me, all the way down to every player on our roster to get this thing back on track. This one was really disappointing.”
Maryland’s defense was also able to generate a pair of sacks to force a punt on Northwestern’s opening drive, but four consecutive scoring possessions put early pressure on the offense.
“We didn’t tackle well. We see the same play that keeps hurting us, the flat wheel route with the post that they scored the touchdown on. We have field position where that’s advantageous to how we play defense, and they go 97 and 99 yards. Again, they outplayed us, outhustled us, outhit us. And on defense today, we waited too long. We played a little better in the second half, getting the ball back to the offense. But obviously what happened is the turnover battle they won, the big play battle they won. And those are the two winning formulas for us. And we got outplayed.”
Maryland was also called for six penalties for 68 yards, including a pair of penalties following the play. Locksley noted that was an emphasis to the team pregame, a message that fell on deaf ears.
“Going into this game, this officiating crew…they’re the leading crew in the Big Ten with flags. We talked to them prior to the game that this team is going to officiate it really close and really tight. I think a couple of times, again, we’ve made poor decisions, but after the play stuff is stuff that I don’t condone and it’s not, I mean, those are the things that are killing us right now.”
The defense was able to put together a final stop to give the ball back to the offense with minutes left in a one possession game. Yet it was the final two plays, a drop then interception outside the redzone, that told the tale for Saturday’s puzzling loss.
“It was a drop,” Locksley said on Taulia’s throw to Tai Felton. “And then the next one, the receivers falling down on the ground. Players [have] got to make plays. It’s our job as coaches to give us a scheme, put things in place, and we both have a responsibility within that relationship, coach and player. Players got to make plays and coaches got to make sure we coach better. And both those plays were plays that could and should have been made, they work. That was the story of the day for us.”
The loss comes days after news surfaced that Kevin Sumlin was away from the team following a DUI arrest, along with three days after Josh Gattis was linked to the Michigan scandal, setting the stage for a month filled with turmoil for the program.
“The things that took place, the distractions. I mean, that had no bearing how we play or how we need to play. And that’s my job. When I say I got to evaluate, I didn’t see any effect from those things. But as I go back to evaluate them, obviously it’s disappointing for us to lose the way we lost today because again, we got outplayed.”
With Penn State headed to College Park next weekend, more from Mike Locksley following the loss:
More from Locksley’s opening statement
“I don’t like the way we came out. I don’t like the way we executed. And so, when that happens, especially after coming off of a bye week, you’ve got to evaluate everything, and I’ll get that done. We’ll get back in [on] Monday. We’ve got a tough game coming up at home back in The Shell against Penn State and we’re gonna do everything we can starting Monday to get this thing back on the right track and it starts with me.”
On Taulia’s first-half turnover
“It fell out of his hand. There’s nothing I can say other than I don’t know why the ball fell out of his hand.”
On impact of losing despite returning multiple starters
“A loss is a loss. The only thing that’s disappointing is that we didn’t do the things that we’re capable of and we missed opportunities. And as I said, players have to play better, coaches have to coach better. Going into this week we got to evaluate everything that we’re doing. We did that through the bye week. Thought we put together a great plan, didn’t get executed the way it needs to be executed, and now I’ve got to get that fixed.”
On practice this week
“We got guys back healthy, we had intense practices, we were physical. We did all the things that we need to do to ramp up to play well. And we didn’t play well. So again, I have to evaluate what I’m doing to make sure we’re prepared to play well. But I also know that accountability is horizontal in our program and our players got to make plays when they’re there to be made. We’ve got to coach better and make sure that we put them in those positions and practice so they can execute when we need them to.”
On DL rotation
“If you go back and look at it, they all played a bunch of plays. We always rotate guys in there. So I can’t tell you how many plays which group played, but we played them all up front we have been playing them all.”
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