Quotes From Coach Friedgen's Tuesday Press Conference
10/30/2001 7:00:00 AM | Football
Oct. 30, 2001
College Park, Md. - The following are comments which Maryland head football coach Ralph Friedgen made to the press today at his weekly conference.
(On Troy State)
"Troy State is a very formidable opponent. I looked at the tapes from their games against Miami and Mississippi State. They beat Mississippi State, they were in the game 7-0 at halftime with Miami, and I believe it was the same situation with Nebraska. I am very concerned about this team. They have a lot of team speed just like the last team we played (Florida State). They have linebackers that can run on defense, a good secondary, and they have a lot of skill on offense. They can throw the ball quite a bit and we are going to have to be ready to play in order to get this win."
(On last Saturday's Florida State game)
"We need to put it behind us, there is nothing we can do now. We have a chance to have a very fine season-something special if we can win these last three games, and we can't win the last three unless we win this next one. I am concentrating all of my energies, I am putting us in the best position to win, and I am trying to get our players to where they can focus and get the job done. I have tremendous faith in our players. We have some real character kids and after talking to them yesterday, they realized what they had a chance to do, but it is over. Now we have to go on with the rest of our season and take it one game at a time."
"I thought we had a good game plan. What happened at the end of the game was that we were trying to get the ball back and if we had double covered the wide receivers, they would have run the ball and run out the clock. I told Coach Blackney it makes no difference to me if we lose by 21 points or one point. I want to do what we have to do to win the football game. I am not working on my stats. Hindsight is always 20/20 but I have no problem with it. When you look at some of the throws, you see guys that are coming free and making plays. Florida State made plays. They are a good football team, give them credit. If they don't make the play, we look like we are pretty smart coaches. I thought a couple of their touchdown passes were just great throws and great catches."
(On cornerback Dennard Wilson)
"I talked to Dennard after the game and he was very upset. I said to him, 'Dennard, it comes with the territory. You are going to face worse things in life. This was an educational experience. We all have bad days and you went up against a very good wide receiver and a hot quarterback.' I told him I still believe in him and I do. I think the world of Dennard Wilson. He is a competitor and he will be a very fine football player. Yesterday at practice we threw a bunch of long balls at him, and he covered every one of them. There is a lot to this kid, and you are not going to see any of our coaches getting down on him."
(On the cornerbacks' confidence after the loss to Florida State)
"It's like writing a bad article. You need to get right back on the horse. You don't want to make it worse by babying the players. It is just something they have to go through. It is like the quarterback who has a bad day and throws a lot of interceptions or like the coach who makes a lot of bad calls. It is not your day and you just have to work on your mistakes, try to learn from them, and go back to work. I don't know another way to approach it. I think we all have those days, and we don't just quit. You'll never get better that way."
(On wide receiver Guilian Gary)
"Guilian has been a go-to guy. He has made plays for us, he has good hands. What he went through this fall speaks of his desire to play football. During the North Carolina game, he got hit pretty hard on a punt return and he showed me something when all of the trainers wanted him to come out but he just laughed and shrugged it off. I like that in a player. He has had a very good year for us and I am very happy that he is on our football team."
(On the projected success of the Terrapins this season)
"If we ended up 7-4 and fell on our backs the next three games, we would probably look back on our season and say we have accomplished all of our goals, but we would also be bitterly disappointed. 7-4 may or may not get you to a bowl game-in the ACC there are five teams who have a chance to win seven games or more. If you win all three games and you finish 10-1, there have only been four teams in the 109 year history of the University of Maryland that have won 10 games or more. I read where they finished in the conference and I read where they finished in the national standings. Then I said where we would be. I said, 'You still have a chance to win a conference championship, you still have an outside chance to be in a BCS game, you have a very good chance to play on New Year's Day, and you will be one of the very best teams in University of Maryland's history.' So I don't think all is lost. This team can be a special team."
