Sept. 17, 2011
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COLLEGE PARK, MD. -
Postgame quotes following Maryland's 37-31 loss to No. 18 West Virginia.
Maryland Head Coach Randy Edsall
Opening statement:
"I'm very disappointed in the outcome of the game. I thought that we made too many errors out there. We had a chance to win the ballgame at the end but we didn't get it done. There are things that we have to work on; every week there are going to be things that we have to work on. I'm very disappointed that we didn't come out on top because that's what we are shooting for."
On the offenses troubles:
"Missing the two receivers (Ronnie Tyler and Quintin McCree) didn't mean a thing. What happened was we turned the ball over. Once we started to spread the ball around we were better. Those are the things that we always have to do. For us to be successful we have to utilize everyone out there regardless of who is on the field for us. We put ourselves in a position there at the end, but just didn't make the plays when we had to."
On Danny O'Brien:
"I love Danny O'Brien. Danny played hard. He played his heart out, but he made a few mistakes. The quarterback is always going to get criticized. He is a great young man and he will get better from watching this film. He will make the corrections. He is out there playing as hard as anyone and I love the kid to death. I thought maybe he tried to put a little bit too much on himself. He needs to go out there and just let it happen. Once he did that in the second half, I think you saw a different guy out there compared to the first half. We did a couple of different things in the second half based on what we were seeing from them. Danny will be fine.
Danny isn't going to play fine all of the time even though everyone including myself wants him to. He is going to make mistakes at times. He did a lot of things to get us back in the game and give us the opportunity there at the end. I told him that in that situation there at the end it was third down and he probably could have taken off and run the ball and gotten a first down. He is still learning. On third down if you don't have exactly what you want, run with it or throw it out of bounds because we still have another down to play with. He will be better next week and we will all be better next week."
On the adjustments that were made at halftime:
"I thought we started to make strides in the third quarter after that first drive. We just made some adjustments at halftime both offensively and defensively. We went out and executed better. For whatever reason, when we got back into it the crowd was louder and our guys got some momentum from that. It was a great crowd and I am sorry that we disappointed them because we didn't come away with the win."
On the defense:
"The biggest thing in the secondary is that we need the guys to play with better technique. If they play with better technique they will be fine. We had another situation on third down where we got a penalty. That stuff is technique. They were on the right guys, but the technique just needs to be better. I thought that Geno Smith had a very good day. I thought he threw the ball more accurately then when I remember last playing against him. We don't have a lot of margin of error in the secondary. Those guys have to understand how important it is to play with the correct technique. If we do that, we make plays; if not, we get beat."
On the comeback:
"That's what I expect out of these kids. I don't expect anyone to quit. On a Randy Edsall-coached football team there are never going to be any quitters. If there is someone who is going to be a quitter they aren't going to be on this team. If you can't go out there each and every time you play the game and play a full 60 minutes there is no purpose to play this game. I would be very disappointed if that ever happened. I respect the game too much and I know the kids respect the game too much to do anything other than give their very best effort. I guarantee that's what you will see out of Maryland football. We didn't get it done today because West Virginia is a good team and we made some mistakes. I guarantee you every day you will get the best effort out of this program. That's what we should be doing and that's what the people who support this program deserve."
Maryland Players
Sophomore Quarterback Danny O'Brien
On the game:
"You can't turn the ball over three times at the quarterback position and expect to beat a ranked team. That's really what it comes down to. I felt like the line did great, we ran the ball well, but you just can't turn the ball over."
On the interception on the final drive:
"We had a chance to win. The defense held them to three and kept us in it. I just had to be on the same page [with my receiver] and we would have probably scored if I'd hit that."
On possible second half adjustments:
"We didn't make any adjustments [at halftime.] I felt comfortable the whole game. They got us on the second [interception] and the first one was a little mishap. You've just got to shake it off and play. I was comfortable the entire game. We didn't change a thing that we did."
Junior Safety Eric Franklin
On West Virginia's offense:
"We were expecting them to pass the ball a lot, so we weren't really surprised at how many times they threw the ball. [West Virginia's] offense gives guys a lot of space and we were just trying to get them on the ground as fast as we could."
On the game:
"Whenever you don't come out with the win, you're always disappointed. I just know that without the mistakes we probably could have gotten the win today. [West Virginia] is a very good team and they got the better of us today. We just can't have the mental errors that we had today [in the future]. We can't make the same mistakes and get behind early like we did today."
Sophomore Safety Matt Robinson
On the team's slow start:
"[The slow start] set us back a little bit. We didn't come out and play as fast as we wanted to because Coach [Edsall] has put an emphasis on starting the game fast. In early games, whoever gets out in the lead first usually hangs on to win. We didn't get a lot of stops early and they got some points on the board. That really came back to haunt us in the second half."
On his team's defense:
"We all just need to read our keys better and just have better technique. [West Virginia] got us on a couple pass interference calls and they broke some big runs because we weren't reading our keys a little bit. In coverage, sometimes [Geno Smith] got flushed out of the pocket and some people dropped off their man a little bit and that affected us on a couple of the big plays."
Junior Defensive Tackle Joe Vellano
On the team's perseverance:
"I thought everybody's attitude was good before the game, but we came out and got behind early. I think the biggest thing was going into halftime we were down and they had the momentum and everybody started fighting back, which I thought was huge. We had [West Virginia] at the end. It could have gone either way. It's still a loss, but I thought the team showed a lot of heart coming back at the end. I think that was the biggest thing to take out of this game."
Junior WR Kevin Dorsey
On offensive troubles in the first half
"Just not executing... obviously we came out the second half and was able to execute for some points and gain some momentum. It's just something we have to do in the beginning of the game."
On feeling the comeback momentum
"Definitely, especially since the crowd was into it too. That plays a huge factor. You score over and over and over and you start having definitive drives and the crowd really gets into it. That plays on the other team and you kind of notice after a while we get momentum on each drive and series and we had the opportunity to put it away. We just have to execute."
Senior Linebacker Kenny Tate
On the comeback
"I was saying on the sideline that it's going to be going down to the fourth quarter, we're going to be down 10 points and it was. We just have to keep playing when it gets down to the wire and we'll come out with a victory. Obviously, we didn't today, but we showed some growth."
On being expected by Coach Edsall to come back despite the deficit
"That's the expectation and we live up to that and that's what we want to do. He said that we're going to fight and we're going to come back and we're going to win. We definitely did fight at the end of the game today, we didn't come out with the result that we wanted. But we have definitely shown growth and we just want to look forward to the game against Temple."
West Virginia Head Coach Dana Holgorsen
Opening statement:
"You know, a big win for the Mountaineers. If there was a single thing that we tried to get accomplished, it was just to hit the field with some excitement, start the game fast. We really started good, the first half on all three sides of the ball. The second half, first run for offense, last run for defense, you know, I thought they outplayed us on all three sides of the ball. Good news is we had enough and had a good drive offensively after the third field goal where we should have gotten a touchdown. We at least got three points to make it a six-point game."
On playing Maryland:
"Maryland, they're a good program, they're well coached, they've got good players, they've got good confidence and they've had rest. I knew it was going to be a tough game. I felt like we were ready and I was happy with the way we finished the game.
"We played lights out in the first half, other than the last drive in the second quarter. They played well, and we ended up getting three turnovers, to even out the turnover margin thing."
On winning on the road:
"It's hard to win on the road. We had all the momentum in the first half of the game, and for them to have every ounce of momentum in their stadium, they pushed offensively.
Every win's a good game. I've said it all three times we've won, we don't take for granted a win."
West Virginia Players
Sophomore Wide Receiver Stedman Bailey
On his touchdown reception to start the second half
"Those guys had a lot of momentum and I feel like I had to make a play for us. I read the defense and tried to get a good beat on the ball. When a ball is thrown that perfectly, you just have to try to get under it and make the play for your team."
On the team's success
"This kind of success makes us extremely versatile... it makes it tough for defenses and makes us extremely dangerous because there is no one person to focus on. All of us are capable of making the play."
On being pressed in the second half by the Maryland defense
"They put the pressure on us in the second half and were able to stop our momentum. But luckily we were able to hold on and come out with a win."
Junior Quarterback Geno Smith
On the comeback from Maryland in the second half
"My hat goes out to Maryland; they showed us and this entire stadium how much heart they had coming out in the second half, being down 34-10. Apart from the first touchdown in the second half, we (the offense) really didn't do much and Maryland gave us everything we could take from then on."
On his confidence
"My confidence is still really high, the team still believes in me and I believe in them. I have full trust in my teammates and the coaching staff; we're in it together until the end."
Junior Running Back Shawne Alston
We have to be able to finish, coach always told us that we have to be able to finish the game. I wouldn't say we played well all four quarters, but we were good enough to come away with the win. One half of football just won't do it, especially with LSU coming in next week.
On his take in preventing the comeback
This win shows that we are strong, and that's where it starts when building a championship caliber team, we have to be able to overcome adversity in the toughest of moments in order to be successful, and that's what we did today.
