https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rzKQt0O78H4&feature=youtu.be
Maryland cruised by Towson in the season opener in a 38-6 win, led by Taulia Tagovailoa and Corey Dyches leading the offense. Meanwhile, Maryland’s defense wrapped up their third consecutive game without allowing a touchdown, the first time since 1976, to win its 18th consecutive home opener.
“ It's great to start off and be 1-0,” head coach Mike Locksley said following the win. “Our team, I thought came in prepared to play. We got off to the fast start that we like to get off to, scoring 21 points in the first quarter and I think you contribute some of that to our fans. You know, our student section especially gave us that energy right from the start. Obviously there's always things we need to get cleaned up, which we'll do, but it's good to be able to do it after a win. We played a lot of players and as you guys know, for me, that's huge because for us to develop our team, with the way the game of football is, we're going to need them all. And to be able to play a lot of players in game one, really will help our team as we build our depth.”
“We’ve got to turn the page on this one after 24 hours, get our minds set and prepared for Charlotte to be here in The Shell, 7:30, a national TV game with our new NBC partners. Really excited about it. Usually see your biggest jump from game one to game two, and I'm looking forward to getting us prepared to do that.”
More postgame comments from Locksley following the win.
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Locksley on TE Corey Dyches’ performance
“I think the biggest thing is when you really don't know your opponent, which, first game, a new coach coming from a different program, we made the decision as a staff and all three phases that when you don't know your opponent, focus on yourself. And over the course of our summer camp, summer training, Corey's been one of those guys that we've identified as a playmaker. So what we saw Corey do today was things he did all camp long. And it started last year with him in terms of the value he gives us in a passing game. He had a big day, executed really well and it was good to see that from Corey."
Locksley on pass-happy offense
"Pass happy, okay? Um, OK. We run our offense. When we game plan, we look to see what gives us advantages. And if it's throwing a ball because of the contour of defense they play, you know, they were one of those defenses that plays what we call zero rat, where the safeties are low at ten. They don't back up. The corners really are off and it's kind of a man coverage. And so when people play man, they get the extra guys in the box, you want to throw the ball. So going into, we want to start off fast. Our quarterback is our strength and I'm gonna keep talking about we have to play to our strengths and…our offensive strength is the type of quarterback we have, the receivers we develop. We do want to run the ball. We know there's going to be a time when we have to, and we'll continue to develop ourselves up front and get the running game going."
Locksley on improved gameday experience
"Our marketing team over there in Xfinity, they've won a ton of awards. They do their, they do their part to try to get people to want to come see us. We just need our fans to continue to come support us and do it for four quarters. But, you know, the marketing team over there, led by Carrie Blankenship and our guy Jordan Looby and that staff over there. I mean, they come up with these ideas and obviously I'm very gullible. I want to do what I can to fill The Shell. And so me singing off key, you know, the air of the night gets people in the stands, I'll do whatever I need to do."
Locksley on the OL performance
“Yeah, it was a little weird for me. We were substituting offensive linemen in the middle of series, which is not normal. But it goes back to we've got what we think are nine guys that can play winning football for us. We're trying to figure out the best five and so we’re mixing and matching. It shows the versatility that we have where guys can play guard, can play tackle, move guys in the center, so we're going to continue to try to play as many guys as we can. I'd like to get settled on an O-line and we'll get a chance to evaluate the tape and see which group and which group played the best together and take the next step next week."
Locksley on QB Taulia Tagovailoa’s performance
“I thought Taulia played really well. The things we worked on, the deep ball, he threw a pretty deep ball early in the first quarter that should have been a touchdown catch by Tai Felton who obviously, he had the drop, but I thought our quarterback played really well, made the throws he needed to make. We've got to protect him, keep him upright, but he's also got to help protect himself by, he's a guy that likes to extend plays and sometimes when he extends him, he gets himself in harm's way and we'll keep working with him to dirt the ball, not take hits, and he's such a competitor that he's going to continue to try to make something out of nothing, but we've got to keep him healthy, keep him upright.”
Locksley on Tagovailoa’s development
"Not between camp and the first game, I think, from last year to now. I don't know if you saw, but a lot of those deep balls, we had probably two or three that were right on time, had the right trajectory, went to the right guys, feet were right. We’ve just gotta finish it, finish the play."
Locksley on containing Towson’s mobile QB
"I think any time, we didn't have a lot of footage on the quarterbacks they had there. So we continue to try to make adjustments. I think the thing that jumped out, you know, when you lose contain on defense, I call it a turnover and there were a couple of times we lost contain. There are a few times that I thought we got held out on the perimeter where we got to get off blocks, but definitely, we’ve got to level rush quarterbacks like that and try to keep them in the pocket and that's one of the things when I talk about there's some things you got to get cleaned up, starts with keeping that quarterback contained in a pocket."
Locksley on what impressed him out of the defense
“We played a lot of players and if you looked out there, you saw true freshman guys that just got off the yellow school bus out there playing in the first quarter and heavy handed guys. I like the way we kind of we held them and contained them without giving up big plays. Obviously, we gave up some early four-yard rushes where they were able to stay on track. We lost containe. We didn't get the turnovers, but our defense when they needed to stop them, we got the necessary stops.
Locksley on impression of Towson
“Pete has a good team and they've got some talented players. They were well coached and I thought the quarterback, the guy, number 15, like you said, made some plays in the run game. I thought defensively, they were really sound. They tackled the ball really well. I think once they get into the league play, there'll be a team that will compete and you can tell they play hard which is a reflection of the coach.
Locksley on Evan Johnson’s late appearance
Jack started cramping a little bit in his calves. And, you know, once that happened, we had to get him out of there. We're very fortunate to have Evan Johnson come in, make a field goal, kick it off. Again, it gives us an opportunity to develop a second kicker, but Jack started cramping up there, it was a little humid. We haven't been blessed with this type of heat during training camp and so all of a sudden we show up game day and it's one of the hottest days we've had. So, it's supposed to be pretty hot this week. So we'll get some good work in the heat and continue to prepare for Charlotte.
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