Sept. 9, 2003

COLLEGE PARK, Md. - The following are University of Maryland head football coach Ralph Friedgen's comments from his weekly gathering with local media. Friedgen and the Terrapins take on The Citadel on Saturday in the first home game of the season.

On team's injury situation:
"Ed Tyler, who started for us at right guard against Florida State, is out with an injured elbow. Patterson is doubtful, he has a high ankle sprain. Bruce Perry has reinjured his ankle, he also is probably doubtful. Justin Duffie is still out. Lamar Bryant is walking but he'll be out another week."

On the Florida State game:
"I thought our players played hard especially on defense and special teams. We're struggling on offense right now, part of that is because of our injuries. We practice better than we play right now. We're better than what we've shown and we just need to get it right. I have every confidence that we will do that."

"I told our staff I don't think I've ever been in a game like Saturday night where we got beat 35-10 and I wouldn't change what we did on offense. We had a lot of things there that we just didn't take advantage of. When I watched the tape Sunday morning, I actually felt better than I did Saturday night. There were some real battles going on on the field. I saw our kids giving everything they had and that's all I really ask. Was it a lack of effort? No. As long as you play hard for me, I'm right there with you all the way."

On his team's morale:
"I watch our kids and it's almost like they're trying too hard. Our guys have never had to play with high expectations before. We have to challenge people. We have to go out and play to win, not play not to lose. It's something we need to work on. We're thinking about bad things instead of good things. We have to expect good things to happen, and right now I think our confidence is a bit down. If you're going to be successful you have to believe in yourself."

"Where do we go from here? We're not going to practice any differently and I am going to demand we do things exactly right. It can't be almost, it can't be about. And I'm going to get behind these kids, and I'm going to keep being positive and believing in them."

On Scott McBrien:
"Scott McBrien is a guy who has won a 11 games for us. I have high hopes that he could be an NFL quarterback. He has that type of arm and that type of ability. Scott has handled all of this very well and I've gained a lot of respect for him. He's showed great maturity. Quarterbacks get too much credit and too much blame, that's just the way the position is. Scott is determined to get this right and I'm going to stand right with him."

On The Citadel:
"I was at The Citadel for seven years and I've played in games like this and won some of them. Coach (Charlie) Taaffe was the winningest head coach at The Citadel. We know what it's like. They are very capable of beating us. Hopefully we'll have a good week of practice and hopefully we'll be hungry. We need to go out and play to the best of our ability and get better."

"They've got a good receiver in Scooter Johnson and their secondary is an aggressive bunch."

On comparing last year's 1-2 start to this year's start:
"We need to win this week so I can say 'We're 1-2, same place we were last year." The approach we took last year is the same, we take one game at a time. There's been so much hype after the Peach Bowl that there's an expectation level that we're not used to. We're playing too cautious, we need to go out and have fun playing and expect good things to happen."