Oct. 17, 2009

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COLLEGE PARK, Md. - Postgame quotes following Maryland's 20-9 loss to Virginia.

Maryland Head Coach Ralph Friedgen
On the game:
"I thought we played very hard. Offensively we did some things that were good but they were negated by our turnovers. It's the same story over and over again. Until that gets fixed it's going to be hard to win football games. The [wet] ball was tough tonight, but Virginia did a better job of managing it."

On running game progress:
"We kind of narrowed our game plan down and tried to be good at something. If we didn't have those fumbles, I think our offense would have done more. It'll kill you field position wise; the number of plays you get to run and destroy the momentum that you have. We were lucky our defense played so well, otherwise we would have been in trouble a lot earlier."

On Bruce Campbell:
"I was surprised Bruce Campbell went the whole game. He must have done something in warm-ups because when I saw him Friday, I didn't think he would play. I think he played okay. "

On Chris Turner:
"There were tough conditions tonight. Chris' passing percentage wasn't very good and a lot of balls were dropped too. You have to make those catches or you don't win the game. "

On what he told the guys after the game:
"I told our guys we missed an unbelievable opportunity as far as the division race is concerned, but everybody has two losses right now. I told them until we stop turning the ball over we can work 24 hours a day and they can work as hard as they want to work, we are just giving games away. I don't think the teams we are playing are better than us but we just keep shooting ourselves in the foot. Until that gets corrected, it's not going to happen."

On frustrations:
"I'm frustrated, I know the fans are and I know our players are but the only solution I know is to keep working. We have to stay together as a team and not point fingers. I think everyone has to be accountable and see what we can do individually to improve. I thought we were on the right path and the elements had something to do with it, but that's a fact of life."

On concerns about team losing faith:
"I have been on other teams where the season has gone a lot better and we had to push them to get the effort up. This team hasn't been that way. It's still fun to be out on the field with them and I don't question their effort one bit. I'm going to keep working and I hope they will keep working."

Maryland Players
Quarterback Chris Turner
On the turnovers in tonight's game:
"I think the weather was definitely a factor. The balls were pretty click and that's just the way it goes sometimes. The first one was all-man coverage, Ronnie Tyler was wide open. I tried to get it over, but the defensive lineman was standing right there and it was tipped and went right into that guy's arms. Nine times out of ten that wouldn't have happened, but it did today."

On Virginia's defense:
"They played a lot more run defense than we thought they would, probably because we had some success. But for the most part we did a pretty good job moving the ball ... for the most part the offense did a pretty good job considering the weather.

On the team's frustrations:
"It is frustrating. We practice hard all week and then we come out and we played pretty well defensively. Any other day if there wasn't a torrential downpour and the balls were dry we would have had a better outcome. We should've, would've, could've, but you can't make excuses that's just the way it was. It just wasn't meant to be.

Adrian Cannon:
On if the weather had a significant impact on the outcome of the game:
"To a certain degree, but at the same time, no matter the weather, you still have to come out and do what you have to do. The thing you have to do as receivers is try to get back to our fundamentals, our mechanics, and just make sure you catch the ball before you make a move."

On if the turnovers are hurting the team:
"Definitely, that's one major aspect, our turnovers ... we're just giving it away. That's one thing you can't do is beat yourselves. Any time you fumble, whether it's a long drive or just the first play of the drive, it hurts regardless. It's just something you can't do."

Corey Ivey:
On the play of the defense:
"We obviously wanted to get the win, but the biggest thing you have to do is shut down the run. Especially when they get in the red zone they like to run the ball. We have to contain the boot and contain the quarterback. We did all those things tonight. The one thing that we still feel like we have to get better on is creating more turnovers. I think we had one turnover today. That's something we need to keep on working on. If we keep doing what we're doing, hopefully those things will come. We played pretty good tonight, but I feel like if we had more turnovers the score would have probably been different."

On the feeling in the locker room:
"Yeah we had a couple guys talking about not being down. We understand that we're hurting ourselves and at the end of the day, if we stop hurting ourselves we might be able to win more games. It's frustrating because we actually are playing good enough to win games, especially on defense, but once we stop hurting ourselves we are a lot better team."

Junior Linebacker Adrian Moten
On what the team did to improve from the Wake Forest game:
"The defense only gave up 13 points and I feel like we were playing together well. I think we concentrated on the run. We wanted to come out and eliminate the big plays on defense and I know our offense wanted to come out and create the big plays. We just had too many turnovers to win the game tonight."

Virginia Head Coach Al Groh
Opening statement:
"That was a magnificent effort by our players. They dealt with everything that we encountered today, whether it was guys having to step up, circumstances within the ballgame, they refused to be distracted by any issues. We had a target for what the mission was today. They took aim at that target and they weren't going to be distracted by anything. As a result, they did something they can be very proud of."

On the defensive effort:
"They really, really played. I have nothing but the highest level of admiration for what these kids gave tonight and how they've stuck together and kept believing and been unified. As a result, we've got a little something going now"

On Marc Verica stepping in late:
"He did a very nice job with it. Marc's been out there before, he was our man for October last year, and so he's been in a number of these games. He conducted himself like a veteran, and did a real good job and brought his team home a winner."

On forcing turnovers:
"We thought there were some opportunities in the turnover area tonight, and they were certainly as big a factor as anything. They stopped some drives, and they gave us some field position. We've been pretty good in that ratio in the last three weeks, and it would certainly be incumbent upon us to do so.

On trying to force fumbles in the rain:
"We went into the game with a big emphasis on that even if the sun had been shining, but we did emphasize that the elements might increase our opportunities to do so. The guys were on it, and they get all the credit for doing it."

Virginia Players
Senior Linebacker Darren Childs
On Nate Collins Touchdown:
"He did it. He got in. He's faster than I thought he was."

On the defensive touchdown:
"We've been emphasizing that a lot in practice. We were trying to just execute it and today it kind of showed up. I think the weather made a lot of us play a lot better. I know we have to suck it up."

Senior Cornerback Chris Cook
On the defense scoring:
"We always want to score on defense. I don't know about the defensive line. I know they love to score, but in the secondary we always have a contest about who's going to get the most picks and who is going to score on defense."

On Nate's touchdown:
"I have no idea. My back was to the play because I was in man-to-man coverage. I just turned around when I heard the crowd cheering and I saw Nate running into the end zone. That was a big play. Maybe without that play, we wouldn't be sitting here with a win right now."

Senior Fullback Rashawn Jackson
On his performance:
"I'm just going out there to play football. I'm a football player. Whether it's running the ball or blocking, doing whatever I need to do, that's what I did. So I'm happy that we were able to hang in there despite the weather, despite some of the calls and come out with a win."

On their winning streak:
"The team doesn't believe in streaks; it's only one game at a time. Now we've got to get ready for tomorrow so we can focus on the next week. The next opponent doesn't care about today. You have to take it one game at a time and prepare like it's your last so we can actually go out there and get these wins."