Oct. 21, 2006

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COLLEGE PARK, Md. - Maryland Coach Ralph Friedgen
On today's game:
"This is really a good win. I'm very proud of our kids. I thought we played our best game. We made it close though. It doesn't have to be this hard. It would have been a shame for us to lose this game after how we played for three quarters and eight minutes. Offensively, defensively and on special teams we played really well. I thought our defense played very, very well except at the end when we gave up some passes."

On Maryland's offensive play:
"I still would like to throw the ball better. What I try to do is get our guys to play to their strengths. I think we were able to do that today. Sam [Hollenbach] made some good decisions about when to run the ball. If he can get introduce that into his game, he would add a whole new dimension. I thought he played a really good game and he made no mistakes. He managed the game really well."

On team's confidence:
"It's very hard to get up each and every week, but the team that does that is going to win the conference. I think they've got to feel better about themselves right now than they did two weeks ago. It would have been even nicer if we had beaten Georgia Tech. I think that's still in the back of their minds: we've got to finish better. It's like a mountain we're trying to climb. The good teams that are confident, they know they're going to win. I think sometimes we still think we're going to win. You can't be looking over your shoulder. You've got to believe that good things are going to happen. I think that at the end of the game we started playing tentative, and for the rest of the game we hadn't done that. We were playing aggressively. We've got finish games by playing aggressively and thinking good things are going to happen, not bad."

On team's defense:
"I thought our coverage until the end was really good. We should have had a lot more sacks. We still had problems. You stop the run, stop the run, stop the run and then all of the sudden they have a series and they run the ball like crazy. Overall, I was pleased with the way our defense played today."

On play of quarterback Sam Hollenbach:
"Sam communicated very well. I think he's getting more comfortable with me also. I see him progressing and continuing to make good decisions about where to put the ball and when to run the ball. There's no reason why he can't be a very good quarterback."

On team's mentality:
"This team doesn't quit. They just keep playing. They like to play and it's a young team, too. We have some guys who I hope are starting to hit their peak."

Senior Quarterback Sam Hollenbach
On capitalizing on NC State turnovers:
"The defense came through with some big turnovers and we were able to put up the points. That was big to help us get some momentum going into the rest of the year."

On the rest of the season:
"We're obviously not looking past Florida State [next week] right now. We just have to take the rest of the season week by week. Things are all over the place in the ACC. Anyone can beat anyone else at any time, so we just have to be ready to play."

On taking some big hits:
"If we can win games, I'll take hits all day long."

Senior Linebacker Wesley Jefferson
On the game:
"Our confidence level is very high right now. We know that we can play with anyone in the league as long as we do what we did today and force teams to do what we want them to do."

On putting pressure on NC State quarterback Daniel Evans:
"We stepped up when we needed to step up. We knew what we had to do, and we were able to stop their momentum on a few drives. We just played more aggressively. These are things we know we can do."

Senior Cornerback Josh Wilson
On containing Daniel Evans:
"We flushed him out of the pocket and he was able to get out and make a few plays, but he was running sideways a lot. He is a great quarterback and we knew coming in that NC State was a great team, but we were able to get him running and keep him flustered."

On building confidence:
"Ever since two-a-days in camp, the season has been in our hands. We control our own destiny. After the last two years, we know that we have nowhere to go but up this season."

On preventing an NC State comeback:
"We saw what happened last week when we were able to come back against Virginia. Any team can come back at any time. As a defense, we wanted to just keep us in the lead. When their offense got the ball, we told ourselves that it was on us, and we were able to stop them."

Junior Running Back Lance Ball
On the outlook from here:
"We're in the right mindset going into the Florida State game next week. We just want to keep the momentum that we've gotten over the past two weeks going. We need to keep getting better every week and keep playing hard."

NC State Coach Chuck Amato:
On the difference in the game:
"These are two evenly matched teams and when you play a game with two evenly matched teams, it comes down to protecting the football and penalties. Maryland came into this came leading the country in least number of penalties. We had some very costly penalties."

On the Maryland defense:
"Maryland came after us a lot more than they have in the past. I'm not sure it wasn't to help stop the running game as much as anything but the running game was going pretty good."

On defensive adjustments:
"The biggest plays in the first half were the screens. I'm happy we held them to two field goals. We got to the point where our kids were calling out when they were going to throw screens. Even the naked boot, we called that a couple of times."

On the rest of the season:
"We're going to go after our division championship. It's going to get real interesting. This isn't over yet. Those kids want to go practice right now."

NC State Player Quotes
Junior Wide Receiver John Dunlap
On the game:
"We hurt ourselves all the time with penalties and mistakes. We just have to execute our plays and play hard."

Junior Wide Receiver Darrell Blackman
On NC State's slow start:
"We came out fired up and ready to go, but then we turned the ball over. At the point in the game that it was 6-0, we had a chance to come back and get a big score. We fumbled the ball, then we threw an interception. That put us in the hole and then we had to fight back."

On NC State's comeback effort:
"We dug ourselves in a deep hole, but we fought back and got in the position to win the game. We got touchdowns, we got stops, we made them give us the ball back. We got back in the game. We shot ourselves in the foot again with more penalties that backed us up out of field goal range, and that was that."

On his 65-yard return:
"I saw how their punting team was playing and I knew if we could get that one guy blocked we would have the opportunity for a big return. [Isaiah Gardner] kept getting loose. At halftime, the coaches and players kept saying we needed something to turn the momentum around. I just thought about catching it and running it. I try to be the spark on our special teams to get everyone up and motivated when we're down. I made a decision and made something happen."

Senior Center Leroy Harris
On preparing for Virginia:
"We had a couple of holding penalties and had a couple of balls fall. We have a lot of work to do next week technique-wise. Virginia has a good defense also, a lot like Maryland's."