Oct. 2, 2010
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COLLEGE PARK, MD. -
Postgame quotes following Maryland's 21-16 win over Duke.
Maryland Coach Ralph Friedgen
Opening statement:
"It wasn't pretty. But a win is a win. I told our team you have to win some when you're not working on all cylinders, biorhythms are not right you just have to reach down and find a way to win. I think that's what we did tonight. I think Duke is a very good offensive football team and I thought they played very well on defense tonight. I have a tremendous amount of respect for Dave Cutcliffe and I knew that team would be ready to play.
"Offensively I thought we missed a lot of plays that were there. I thought we either dropped the ball or we didn't throw it accurately. Da'Rel [Scott] was like [Danny O'Brien's] fourth option on the play and Da'Rel made a play, made a couple guys miss, and he got the ball in the end zone.
"Defensively, and offensively also, I thought the adjustments we made at halftime, I thought both staffs, did a good job. I thought we played much better in the second half than we did first.
"Tony Logan and our special teams are playing well. We seem to still give up one big return. The one area I don't think we're doing as well as we can do is our kick-off return. I think that should be a bigger threat for us than what it is...
"We had some more injuries today... What we need to do is get well. I think it's good we go into the break 4-1. There's obviously some things we need to get better at but the biggest thing I want to do is get well. I think our kids need to get away from football for a little bit. They were here all summer, had a week off before we came back, and we've been pounding it pretty good. So they can re-energize for the last part of the season and hopefully we can improve on how we played tonight."
On the key halftime adjustments:
"I go to both places and I wanted to see the defense first. I said [Donovan Varner] is killing us. What was problematic was on 4th and 21 we had him double covered, we had two guys playing them man-to-man, vicing the guy, and he catches the ball on 4th and 21 which doesn't help my blood pressure very much. I don't know exactly what Don [Brown] did but I thought they limited him. That one drive they had was about it for the second half. I thought [Don Brown] got Kenny Tate involved in rushing the passer. I don't know how many times we should have had more sacks... but I thought [Tate] did the best job I've ever seen him do rushing the passer. That's how he is at practice but at games he always seems to be much more cautious but he was turning loose tonight. They were helping the corners like we thought. They played some cover-two and doubled Torrey [Smith] but we changed where we ran in the second half and I thought we did a little bit better.
The other positive thing was we had to make a first down to win the game and that's a positive. We haven't been doing that. To me that's another mark of a team is when you have to run the football to win the game and you can do it that gives you a chance. We haven't been able to do that and it puts a lot of pressure on our defense when you have to do that."
On game-changing plays:
"We didn't turn the ball over and it's something that we emphasize every day. If they turn it over we've probably got a chance to beat them. Penalties, I still think we have too many of those. We have to get better at that... Yet now whatever the situation is we're finding a way to make the play. [Antwine] Perez was one of the guys who was doubling [Varner] and I said it was only fitting that he broke up the last pass."
Maryland Coaches/Players
Offensive Coordinator James Franklin
On Danny O'Brien's play so far this season:
"I think that's real encouraging. He's a smart kid who makes great decisions, is very poised, very intelligent, and he prepares as well as any quarterback that I have ever been around."
On the team's play on fourth down:
"It's the converting them that matters; they were good calls now. However, if we didn't convert them, then they would have been bad calls. We found the way to make some plays. We fought through some adversity. It wasn't a perfect game but we found a way to get the win."
Defensive Coordinator Don Brown
On the team's defensive play:
"We got after the quarterback; we rotated different kinds of zone coverage behind it. We didn't play scared; we got after it. There were a couple of key blitzes that we ended up dialing up quite a bit because they didn't handle them very well. That ended up being a positive for us. I think we did a good job of tackling people in the short passing game."
Junior Wide Receiver Tony Logan:
On how his return for a touchdown developed:
"Honestly, at first I didn't think that I was going to go anywhere. I figured if I went to the left and cut back that there would be a chance. Luckily I had a good cut back and blocking and that's all she wrote."
Freshman Quarterback Danny O'Brien
On Duke's defense:
"They did a couple of things that we didn't prepare for and hadn't really seen, but for the most part I think that we were really prepared for everything that they threw at us. What hurt us was getting into third and long early. That allowed them to do some more exotic things that we weren't used to. Once we started staying on schedule, third and short, the things they were doing were more expected."
On what they changed for the second half:
"I think that we just had momentum. Tony Logan's punt return was huge for us and our defense made a big stop. I think it was momentum and the guys getting fired up."
On how big the win is in the first ACC game and going in to an off week:
"I think it's huge. We won ugly on offense, but at the end of the day we are 1-0 in the ACC. We are going to go into the bye week, get ready for Clemson and try to keep it going."
Senior Defensive Back Antwine Perez
On how his interception developed:
"First of all, we knew that the ball was going to be in the air a lot tonight. We felt that we could shut down the run and we came out and did that. I read the quarterback and it was my turn to make a play and I got my hands on it. It happened so fast that at the time I didn't know how big of a momentum swing it was for us."
On the defense's play on third down:
"It was just our will, when we brought the blitz we came with it. They had only let up four sacks coming in to the game; I don't know how many we had tonight but I know that the quarterback was on the ground a lot. We just did a really good job putting pressure on him and we came out toward the end of the second quarter and were ready to roll."
Duke Coach David Cutcliffe
Opening statement:
"Tonight we did some of the same things we've done all season and we got the same results. We lost the turnover margin and gave up points in the kicking game. You can't win football games if you lose the turnover margin and give up points in the kicking game. When you are a team like Maryland that has no turnovers and scores points in the kicking game, you have a real good chance of winning the game, even if you get outplayed. We made progress in certain areas, but we may have taken steps back in others. We continue to do the same things, regardless of results. We are going to take this season one play at a time and one drill at a time. We are going to put this one behind us and evaluate our players so we can get better."
On the defensive improvements:
"The defense played better, and that's a result of the quality of the practices and consistency. When you are hungry and you work that way, you are going to get better. We are going to continue to improve as a team."
On Duke's offensive play:
"I think we got on our heels a little bit. We let the pressure bother us, and when you get on your heels it's really difficult to run the ball. As a consequence, we only had one really good run the entire game. It is very difficult when a team is coming at you from all over the place. At some points, we were able to screen them and catch a break. We never really had that consistency, and if we catch a few more balls, it could've been a different game. It boils down to consistency and execution in every game."
On Duke's red zone offense:
"It's frustrating. We got down there four times, got three field goals and one interception. At the end, we would've liked to have that field goal opportunity. This is one of those games that could've gone differently if we had improved our execution. I can promise that everyone in this program is going to get better at executing."
On Tony Logan's punt return for a TD:
"We had a gunner down there ready to make a play, but he (Logan) made him miss and found a hole. One of the things I really think Maryland does well is that in the return game, all of the guys blocking for him really feel like he can break one at any point. They put a lot of effort into blocking for their kicking game and it paid off."
On the atmosphere:
"It was a really great crowd and our kids played into that. The fans got into the game at the right times and made the game more exciting. Even from pregame warm-ups, the fans were really into it."
Duke Players
Wide Receiver Donovan Varner
On the final drive (specifically the dropped pass):
"We were making progress and that last third down we had out there is something that's bothering me right now. I dropped the ball and I think I tried to get up field too fast before securing the catch. I definitely think that could have been a big play to spark our offense. We definitely made progress from last week, so we're excited about that, but upset at the same time."
On Maryland's defense:
"Well there were a lot of open holes in their defense, but they have some great athletes and they have a great defense. I think we were just able to find some holes on them and we exposed them when we had the chance."
On red zone difficulties:
"I think in the red zone we need to have a better mentality and know that we are going to make that play to get in the end zone."
On turnovers:
"We would definitely like to get them down to zero. They have scholarship players that make plays and they made some good plays out there. I think we made some improvements and we are excited about that."
Safety Walt Canty
On today's game:
"Of course losing a game you're going to be disappointed because you always want to win, but as a defense and also as a team we just have to continue to get better and continue to stay hungry every week in practice."
On difference between Duke's defense today than from weeks past:
"When you lose a game you always try to find things to get better at, so we just went into practice with the mindset that we have to get better this week. We had a great week of practice, and when you have a great week of practice, that is how you perform. When you don't practice during the week, you are not going to perform well."
On the Da'Rel Scott 71-yard touchdown:
"On that play he caught the pass on first down and broke a couple of tackles and he got away for the touchdown. He made a great move to get away and it was off to the races from there."
Quarterback Sean Renfree
On the difference of Duke's offense between the first and second half:
"There was nothing different, just a lack of execution. It was a combination of different things--not hitting the right people, not making different throws."
On Duke's final drive:
"We were very confident, we believed we were going to get it in there. We were moving the ball well and, once again, a lack of execution stopped us."
On the Perez interception before the end of the first half:
"I just tried to force it in there and tried to hurry myself too much."
On pass protection during game:
"Absolutely, I think our line did a fantastic job tonight. Maryland has a good front and they blocked very well."
