Mike Locksley after Illinois loss, two games left: "We don't win, we don't extend it, so we all understand that"

Ahmed Ghafir
6 days ago
5 min read

Everything that head coach Mike Locksley said after Maryland football’s 24-6 road loss vs. Illinois, extending the losing streak to six games:

Opening statement

“Credit Bret Bielema, Illinois, his team, good team. [We] had plenty of opportunities throughout this game in all three phases for us to give ourselves an opportunity to win. Obviously, statistically if you look at them, the run game showed up late in the game when they took control there. Late in the game, they finished their long drives with touchdowns, and we didn't store enough touchdowns. Sometimes it's just that simple. We just got to find ways to end drives with touchdowns. We'll keep pouring everything we have been to this team. There's no quit in this team. There's still a lot of fight. We're still playing for a lot. We have two opportunities left, as I just told our team, where we consider playoff football now. We don't win, we don't extend it, so we all understand that. We'll show up Monday. I know this team will keep fighting. They have all year long, have put themselves in position and we'll keep coaching them up. Have another great opportunity next week against Michigan at home, last opportunity for our seniors. And I know that our team will do a great job of playing with the right kind of effort and pride for those seniors in terms of being able to try to extend their season.”

On Illinois’ scoring TDs outside of the redzone

“We’re in man coverage, and one of them came down from the screen and go. Comes down to playing in coverage with eye discipline, keeping your eyes on your mine. Both those plays are plays where when you’re in man, those shouldn't happen. For whatever reason we didn’t play with the eye discipline and they took advantage of those opportunities.”

On QB Malik Washington’s performance

“It's always hard to say, because I get to watch the game on the iPad in between series and until I really have a chance to evaluate some of the decision making. Obviously, we all didn't play well enough whether it's us as coaches calling it, us as players executing and making plays that are there. So I don't think any of us played well enough to win the game. That includes myself as the head coach.”

On the failed redzone trip

“It's disappointing when you don't finish, if you focus on the outcome, which is the key is to end in drives with touchdowns. But I think the most encouraging for me is the tempo, the rhythm that I saw Malik get into, see the comfort level of starting to show at the end. Once we get down inside the red area, we could’ve helped ourselves with some of the calls we had there to give us. There also times where players got to make a play. [Until] I go back to evaluate exactly what happened on those two drives. I just know when we get down that far, we got to end with touchdowns.”

On LB CJ Smith

“As a young guy, sometimes freshmen hit those brick walls, and CJ is a true freshman and started a bunch of games for us. Played a lot a week ago, had to step up with some of the injuries we saw. He's one of those players that has shown up for us, consistent. He was a guy. He's going to get better. Think there's still room to grow, as there is for this team. We’ll keep pouring into him. He’s one of those guys that has an opportunity to be a special player.”

On deep shots

“Well, I think what you saw was we executed some of the slant game, the answers that we had when people want to fill the box and stop our run and Jalil [Farooq] made some plays in the quick game that maybe turned into bigger gains than normal. Most of the teams we face now trying to play coverage behind it, which means they play deep to short and I thought today with the check downs to DeJuan [Williams] where he's catching it, turning up the field, some of the underneath stuff, I saw Malik take advantage of it, especially on those drives where we had the long drives. He took what the defense gave us. And that's what for me, has been really encouraging, watching him progress and mature in that part of his game.”

On the decision to punt down 18

“We’re two scores down, pin them in and we get a short field. We can score quick, onside kick and get it back as a matter of trying to use timeouts best serve us and to use them when we had an opportunity with the ball there at the 50. I thought the way we played defense the last drive, if we could just get a stop to change the field position, it shortens our drive there for the quarterback, fast score, onside kick, go for it again. So decided that's how we wanted to play out that last drive.”

On six penalties for 40 yards

“That’s something, again, got to watch and see. Again during the course of the games, I don't even know what the penalties were. I know we had a couple of what I call non-competitive ones. 57 Bryce had a couple offside penalties where he's over the ball and, I mean, you know what, he's got to see the ball and execute the things that we asked him to do. I mean, obviously the penalties have been a problem that we've corrected at times throughout the course of the year, but it's not just on one guy. It's every time I turn around, we're plugging a hole with the young guy that's making a mistake and we're going to keep coaching them through these mistakes.”

On the messaging after a sixth straight loss

“I think the big thing is, is that we got to deal with the terrain and terrain is where we are today. We've got two games left and we got to win both of them. That's what the focus should be on. We'll have plenty of time at the end of the season to evaluate everything as a whole but for right now, we always say when the map and the terrain doesn't match we’ll go with the terrain. We've got two games, two opportunities left, one big one at home because of our seniors their last opportunity, which the good thing I do know about this team is that they’re going to show up, prepare the right way. They'll get through this, another tough loss and for a lot of these guys, it's tough because they don't come from programs where they've dealt with this. And so what we've got to do is keep coaching them up through the tough times, knowing that we got two opportunities. We'll deal with these opportunities. Keep coaching the guys that show up and that are healthy enough to play and go put our best foot forward next week at home for those seniors.”

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