It wasn’t always pretty, but Maryland did enough on Friday afternoon to make the celebratory mayo bath a reality for head coach Mike Locksley.
“To be able to have that done because you won, as I told our team, sometimes you gotta sacrifice yourself for the good of the team and that’s what it was all about.”
Maryland defeated NC State in a 16-12 battle to secure its eighth win of the season, the most since 2010, and marking the first wins in consecutive bowl appearances since 2002-03.
“That was a classic old school, old ACC, Maryland-NC State rivalry game,” Locksley said postgame. “I mean, if you think about those games, and I took part in quite a few of them, that they’ve always come down to the end.
It never been easy. I even went a little old school Terps script out of branding. I’m sure ’em get fined on that, but I wore my Terps vest on purpose because you know what? It’s Terps versus the Wolf Pack man. And I grew up on that game. I grew up on those games. It ain’t never about me, excuse my grammar. It’s always about the players in the locker room. It’s about the past players that I’ve had to privilege the coach here.”
Maryland’s offense struggled with balance as the backfield finished with just 1.9 yards per carry on 41 attempts, but quarterbacks Taulia Tagovailoa and Billy Edwards helped the passing attack reach 266 yards as eight different receivers caught at least one pass. Maryland was able to assemble a handful of big plays, such as the 45-yard catch and run by Jeshaun Jones on the opening series, the 3rd down conversion to Corey Dyches along the sideline along with the second quarter touchdown from freshman receiver Octavian Smith. While the running back room remained the same, Smith led the freshmen with 34 yards on three catches and four targets while Shaleak Knotts came down with one catch for 18 yards on six targets. Leon Haughton was also able to play ample snaps on Friday as Locksley spoke about the future of the room.
“They’re lessons. When you lose or you don’t execute the way you should, those are the valuable lessons that go in the off season. We’ll go back, we’ll watch the tape, we’ll get ’em coached up. The fact that some of ’em made plays, you know, we had some contested catches that I thought we had a chance to come down with but they’re gonna be better next year because of the amount of snaps they were able to take this year and being thrust into meaningful roles today.”
While Jaishawn Barham and Johari Branch were also sidelined for their side’s opening series, Locksley declined to explain the reason for Tagovailoa’s absence from the game’s first series. “I’m a protective father so when we have things that are in-house we keep them house. We had games where there were other people that hadn’t started for whatever reason, and y’all don’t notice it but when it’s a quarterback, it’s a big deal and it really wasn’t. It was a coach’s decision. Sometimes you gotta do things to send a message and, and I thought the message was sent obviously. But again, it was nothing malice involved in it. It was just a coach’s decision to start Billy.”
The defense was the backbone for the Terps all day after forcing quarterback Ben Finley to a mere 46% completion as NC State finished 5-of-18 on third downs along with 27 rushing yards. NC State was also held to a pair of field goals on its two redzone attempts, but the Terps defense was able to limit the big plays all day long. Maryland’s offense had a chance to close the game late but failed to secure a first down, giving the Wolfpack one last chance. But it ended shortly after as cornerback Jakorian Bennett reeled in his second interception of the season in his final game as a Terp.
“We put ’em in some tough situations today with short fields and we oftentimes talk about holding the field goals and holding them to field goals today because we weren’t as clean as we needed to be on offense, and we had some red zone and goal line opportunities where we were just not clicking on offering. And so, you know what? Some games, it turns out the way it did today. Brian Williams, Lance Thompson, Wes Neighbors, James Thomas, Henry Baker and all those guys that work on our defensive side of the ball really did a tremendous job of what our goals are is to make kick field those in the red area and that was the difference in the game for us.”
Locksley also got a chance to take a jab back at South Carolina two weeks after Shane Beamer did the same.
“Hey, did you call South Carolina about the bowl game? Cause they won the game and he taught me that you called the team that won the game the year before,” Locksley recalled from his conversation with former head coach Ralph Friedgen. “But obviously I guess South Carolina and Maryland got some issues. That’s what I heard. Like I told Damon [Evans], line it up buddy, line it up. So [we] didn’t call South Carolina.”
Shifting gears back to his own program, Maryland’s bowl win marked a key step for the program. Maryland has now won eight games for the first time since 2010 and won consecutive bowl games for the first time since 2002-03 as Locksley moves to 10-1 over non-conference opponents. Heading into year five, Locksley has proven his team can make the bowl game the new standard.
“There is no finish line, man. We gotta move and finish line, so we’re never gonna be where we need to be. I will be remised if I didn’t talk about what this program went through with Jordan McNair and where we are today and some of these seniors that are leaving here were here during that time. To think about where the program is today or where it was then to where it is now, and it’s not about me, it’s about the resources that Damon and Colleen have provided us. It’s about the players and them in an era where it’s all about me, NIL, individual name, image, and likeness branding. You saw a group of guys that kind of put their personal things aside to do something for a greater cause.”
As for what’s next, Maryland fans will await the final decision from quarterback Taulia Tagovailoa on his 2023 plans while Locksley continues to recruit veteran receiver Jeshaun Jones. “I’m hoping that he decides to come back and add that leadership that we’ll need next year for us to take the next step for the room.” The focus remains along the offensive line as Locksley jokingly extended an open invitation.
“If they got any offensive linemen out there going into the portal, come see coach Locks. What’d Deion [Sanders] say? Come find me.”
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