Coaches Quotes After Maryland vs. Duke Football
10/30/1999 8:00:00 AM | Football
Oct. 30, 1999
COLLEGE PARK, Md. - Postgame quotes from Maryland head coach Ron Vanderlinden and Duke coach Carl Franks.
Maryland Head Coach Ron Vanderlinden Postgame Quotes
"I'm very disappointed. This was a great opportunity to get that sixth win and put Maryland on the charts. I'm very disappointed that it didn't happen, and it didn't happen for a lot of reasons. We missed a lot of opportunities. We had a touchdown called back. We had a holding call inside the twenty, and we were still able to get it to third-and-one and we didn't convert right there on the goal line. If we just punched that thing in, the game is over. We didn't get it done. After the safety, we fumbled the punt return --- the kid boomed them all day, he finally squibbs and gets a short one and we don't get underneath it. Early on in the game we didn't get any pressure on the quarterback with our four-man rush. We had open guys that we didn't hit. It was a game we really could have won and we didn't."
"I knew this was going to be a tough game because they play tough and have good players and they throw the ball well. We needed to win this close game ... We messed it up as a team. It is a bump in the road."
"We needed to hit some plays in the air and we didn't get that done. We needed to make a play or two on defense. Our rush defense played well, but third down passing has been a nemesis for us on both sides of the ball. We're not a team that's converted well on third down and we're not a team that's been good on defense on third and long."
"There were plenty of things we could have done better at a lot of positions to have won this football game."
On Maryland's Running Game: "LaMont Jordan played well today, and Mookie [Sikyala] did a good job when he was in there. Both of those men ran the ball well today."
Duke Head Coach Carl Franks Postgame Quotes
"Any win is a nice win for us so far. We seem to play pretty well on the road in close games. We had a hard time stopping the run today and I thought that was going to cost us. Somehow our guys just found a way to hang in there and made some big, big plays. Our kickoff coverage team did a great job. They (Maryland) have the No. 1 kickoff return team in the country. Our defense did a lot of bending but fortunately they hung in there and got the ball back for the offense. Maryland had not turned the ball over very much and they had some big turnovers that gave us a chance.
"I'm just proud of these guys they way they kept hanging in there. We have to get a lot better, but I am proud of them.
"I didn't know what (type of defense they were going to play) they were going to play. I was trying to find a play that was good against zone and was good against man. Fortunately we found one that had a chance. Spencer made a great throw and Scotty ran a great route. Richmond made a heck of a play in the two-point conversion. It didn't look like is was going to be any good but Spencer just stuck it on him.
"We knew coming into the game that Maryland leads the country in turnover margin. They take the ball away and we have been giving it away. Fortunately we took care of the ball today. That was a major factor in us having the opportunity at the end. We took care of the football and got a couple of turnovers ourselves.
"Maryland is a good team. They ran it on us good. That team is going to win a few more games because they can run the ball. We had a hard time stopping it. But our defense hung in there and stopped them when they had to.
"Maryland really took away our running game. Their defense played a lot of guys up at the line of scrimmage and they did a lot of bluffing on their blitzes in the second half. We had to throw the ball to give us a chance to win the game. Spencer made a lot of really good throws and we made a lot of really good catches. For most of the day we had some great protection.
"LaMont Jordan is a tremendous, tremendous player. We had a hard, hard time tackling him. He broke a lot of tackles. It was a tremendous effort by him. I just think he is an outstanding running back."
