Mike Locksley on two point attempt decision, falling vs. Virginia Tech, fan support

8 minutes ago

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Everything that Maryland head coach Mike Locksley said after the latest deflating loss, this time a 35-26 finish vs. Virginia Tech:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dozADa5g4eY

Opening Statement

Obviously, a disappointing night for us. Got to give Virginia Tech credit. They played a good football game. When you look at this game quickly, right after two things that jump out to me obviously is time of possession and the run game, the line of scrimmage. And our inability to control the line of scrimmage, which going into this game, there were no indications for me that we would play defense the way we played in terms of not being able to get off the field or stop the run. I liked the way the team kept fighting. We'll learn from this one. Can't let this one game define us with us entering Big Ten play next week. We'll look at the film, it’s our mirror and own what we need to own and then get back to work. As I told the guys in the locker room, it's going to be about the response now. We start Big Ten play at home next week against UCLA. We’ll get in here tomorrow, much like if we had won the game. We come in the next day. We got to get rid of it, and then get ourselves ready to go play and get back to work.”

On VT QB Ethan Grunkemeyer

“I think it starts with our ability on P-and-10, is where we've got to get in front of the sticks, and a couple of those drives we did that. And then we found ourselves in second and long and third and long, especially in that first half. And their ability to execute in those long situations, we got to make a play. We had some guys in position, but didn't come up or didn't make the play. We got to do a better job, obviously, all of us. Whether it's the tackling, whether it's us getting off blocks, a lot of those things showed up. But when a team is 8-9, that's where that time of possession shows up. Probably the most disappointing thing for me was our inability to put points on board in the first quarter or the third quarter, which for me is going to be really important that we figure out what happened and get those things fixed.”

On why fans should keep coming back

“You got to give a ton of credit to our fan base, the student section. I mean, it's the type of environment that you want to have for your football team. The fans did their part. We got to do ours.”

VT’s third down success

“The missed tackles part to me is what really jumped out. Again, we had DBs in position. I mean, they made some big plays in tight situations. Our guys got to make those plays, especially on third down when we were playing man coverage. We felt going into it that we would have the ability to play man and those guys, they out-executed us at the point of attack.”

On why fans should keep supporting the team after continued losses in big games

“That’s a great question for the fans. I think for us, I’m going to go back to we deal with the things that we can control. We’ve got to own what we put out on the field. Our fans have shown up, continue to show up. We got to do our part as I said earlier.”

On the decision to go for the first two point attempt

“We were playing to win. When you’re playing to win, we were down I think 15 at that point and we go for two, we get down 13 and now we go win the game. Obviously, I'm not going to sit up here and say it's just analytics because I also make the decision. We were playing to win, and when you're down 15, you have a chance to score two. I felt really good about our two point plan that we had all week long. We didn’t get it executed.”

On why the defense played like it did without showing signs of concern

“Very few times will missed tackles be a preparation thing as we tackle, do tackle drills during the week, we thud in practice. I can’t – I haven’t watched it to say what we didn’t do great. Usually when we miss tackles, it’s closing the distance, it’s making sure we’ve got our eyes up, it’s wrapping. But also, it’s running to the football and having a bunch of guys there. So if you do miss, you have the ability to get on the ground. Today was just one of those days where we did not tackle the ball very well. And again, I got to give Virginia Tech credit, those running backs ran hard, ran through some tackles. Two good backs. But I expect us to play better. I think our players will say the same.”

Deelovesports asks about the goodness in the passing attack

“We know how talented Malik is as a quarterback. As I said, a quarterback's best friend is his ability to have the run game complemented. We know Malik throws it accurately. We feel like we have some talent at receiver. Our [offensive] line has done a better job protecting us. But this game also shows the importance of establishing the ability to run the football and stop the run, which are two things that we've emphasized from the time we got back together in January. Today we're going to get either of those things accomplished on offense or defense and that starts with me figuring out what we've got to do, whether it's a personnel thing or it's a scheme thing, and that's what we'll spend our time the next 24 hours figuring out.”

On the CB performance vs. VT

“Yeah, again, we still feel very confident about the abilities those guys have and much like all of us, we'll take the accountability that if we're going to play man coverage, we got to be able to defend man coverage and defend receivers. If you look at us in coverage, I thought we were in great situation. They made some great catches. A couple of balls on the sideline, [Luke Reynolds] made some great catches. We just got to play better man coverage if we’re going to call man or find a way to affect the quarterback a little bit, which I didn't think we did today.”

On the DMV recruiting implications of the loss

“Again, the question about this game will affect us in recruiting. Well, we're off to a great start in recruiting. I don't know if this will affect us in recruiting. We'll continue to work in the recruiting world, but I think our focus needs to be about the football for us. I can't worry about the recruiting. Got to get the football fixed and all those other things take care of themselves.”

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