Sept. 24, 2011
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COLLEGE PARK, MD. -
Postgame quotes following Maryland's 38-7 loss to Temple.
Maryland Head Coach Randy Edsall
Opening statement:
"There is no need to sugarcoat things, we got our butts kicked today. I guess I didn't get my message across this week about how physical it was going to be. I have to do a better job of letting them know exactly what they are going to be up against. To me there was no life and energy out there. We will address it, get better, and move forward."
On the team's mental state:
"I saw a little bit of lack of focus on Tuesday and addressed it. I thought a couple of guys needed to be addressed. I thought we were better on Wednesday. But on Thursday I saw the same thing. We need to be a team that doesn't want the slaps on the back. I think some of our guys felt that even though we were 1-1, we thought we were better than we were.
"I had tremendous amount of respect for Temple because I have coached against them before. I guess I didn't get that point across enough to the players. We will review it and get better from it. The players need to understand that the only friends they have now are the guys in the locker room with them. With that performance today there won't be anyone patting them on the back, only people taking jabs at them. We will find out what kind of team we are moving forward. I have to keep them together and focused."
On taking something from the loss:
"This was an experience that I am not happy with and do not want to experience again. No one said this was going to be easy. There are lessons to learn and things have to be learned. You find out a lot about your team in games like this. You find out who are the guys who will lay it on the line when the going gets tough. We won't use any excuses. We got our butts kicked pure and simple. I don't care if a freshman is out there or it's a junior or senior, whoever is out there it's their duty to play as hard as they can for every play they are out there. Same goes for me and the coaches. We have to coach hard for every play of the entire game. That is the expectation and we didn't have it today."
On Andre Monroe:
"Andre Monroe had an ankle injury. Injuries are part of the game. It is unfortunate but we have to have other guys step up. If I ever had an opportunity I know that whoever's place I took they wouldn't be getting back on the field. I have to get that attitude instilled in our players. I have to get an attitude of people who hate to lose and love to compete at a high level every time they are out there. When you go out to practice you practice at a high level. When you go out on the field we should expect to win and not take anyone for granted. This is a process we are in. It wasn't going to get changed overnight no matter how much I want it to. Games like this make me more determined to get it done. These games you find out who your leaders and competitors are. We find out who we can go with heading into next week. I am looking forward to learning who those people are."
On Danny O'Brien's play:
"We have to take a look at the film. People have to do the things they are coached to do. Wither you are a running back, quarterback or lineman just go out and execute the job you are supposed to do. If you do that you will be okay. C.J.(Brown) did a great job against their twos. But Danny is our starting quarterback. We can put that controversy to bed. C.J. did a good job when he came in."
Maryland Players
Senior Running back Davin Meggett
On the game:
"We're always ready to play. Anytime you step on the field you have to have a certain mindset. Apparently today, we weren't in the right mindset. That was evident today. Hopefully we can pack it up and try again next week."
On the physicality of the game:
"They played and executed their game plan better than we executed ours. We had a lot of mistakes and allowed a lot of things that shouldn't have happened to happen. We need to come back and start working on Towson tomorrow."
On the loss:
"We didn't play well. Any time you expect to play better and you don't, there's always a sense of embarrassment. I think there is more than the fact that we didn't play well, which was more embarrassing. We just need to come out and play better."
On lack of the will to win:
"We just need to play better and find it in ourselves to come out and play better. What we did was not anything near where we want to be. We only get a few opportunities to come out and play and we need to come out and play next week."
Senior Linebacker Kenny Tate
On what went wrong:
"We didn't come out and play from the beginning. They didn't do anything special; we knew that they were going to run the ball. They came and gave it to us. We didn't step up today."
On the lack of production:
"We did have the will to come back in the second half. Things didn't go our way. We couldn't stop the run and couldn't get the ball moving. We couldn't do anything. We didn't have any energy."
Junior Defensive Tackle Joe Vellano
On what to focus on practices this week:
"We just need to come out and practice better, obviously. We only have three days to prepare for our opponent and three days isn't much. Overall, special teams and offense and as a whole we need to get better."
On attention to detail:
"We all just need to come out and take practice more seriously. Come out and take it just as if it were a game; that's what we need to do. We need to step up in every direction."
Senior Offensive Lineman Andrew Gonnella
On what has to happen now:
"We have to come back next week. We have to practice harder. We have to execute. We have to focus more. We have to decide what kind of team we want to be and where we want to be at the end of this season."
On Temple's physical play:
"They were a good team. They were tough players and they wanted it more than we did. We have to pick ourselves back up and keep moving forward."
On what went wrong:
"We didn't come out as strong or as fast as we normally would have, and we didn't stick to our basics. Our tempo wasn't as fast as it should have been on offense, and certain things needed to be sharpened up on special teams."
Sophomore Quarterback Danny O'Brien
On the loss:
"We came into this game very confident because we prepared so hard. Right from the beginning they got some momentum and we never seemed to turn the tables... Our focus was there, but maybe not our effort, we will see on tape. But this is a tough one."
On the offensive downfall:
"We are going to have to watch the tape, but we never got into the rhythm. Our offense really depends on that because we are such a tempo offense and have to keep the defense on their heels. When we do that, we're tough to stop, but we have to do a better job of being more consistent."
Temple Head Coach Steve Addazio
Opening statement:
"I am awfully proud of our program today. We were in a very tough game last week, and we had to come back out here today and play a very talented and strong Maryland team. Coach Edsall is a great coach and this was a great challenge for us. I am very proud of these young men today. We responded well and had a great work ethic this week in practice. This is our first ACC win ever at Temple. And I am very proud of Chester Stewart and his accomplishments today. We had five touchdowns which is a record for us, and we also had 41 minutes of possession which is another great achievement. Again, against a very good Maryland team, we were able to come in here and play our game and follow our plan to win. We played great defense, ran the football and won the turnover battle. This is a great program win, and again, I am very proud of our kids because of the way they responded today."
On team growth:
"Well obviously we have a lot more football to play this season, but we could not be more proud of the way we played today. The style which we played today was Temple tough and Philadelphia proud. We are an awfully tough and competitive football team; we just have to keep growing each week. Our growth wasn't just in X's and O's, our growth was in the maturity of our team and their responding to each play."
On Chester Stewart:
"To me, without watching the tape, Chester played a fairly flawless game today. We have two quality quarterbacks, and we are going to need everyone to keep moving in a positive direction this season. We are going to need the effort and selflessness of every player on this team to achieve our goals. We need to keep our egos in check and play every game with this heart and intensity."
On Defense:
"I thought our defense played great today. We knew that we had to keep our defense off the field to keep them fresh. It was a team win today, both our offense and defense played really well. Both sides of the ball executed when they needed too, and we ran the tempo of the game."
Temple Players
Senior Quarterback Chester Stewart
On his performance:
"I'm content with my performance. It may look flawless, but I know I made some mistakes and some plays could have hit and I just messed up on them, so I'm looking forward to getting back into it and correcting those mistakes. My performance is really based on the guys up front and in the back. If you have a good running game, then you can have a good passing game, and that worked out for me today."
On running back Bernard Pierce:
"It's always good to have him. He takes a lot of pressure off me. First off, you hand him the ball and then sit there and watch him go off. A lot of times I'm impressed by some of the moves he makes to get open. Same with Matt Brown, two really good backs. They really contribute a lot to this offense."
Senior Tight End Evan Rodriguez
On running back Bernard Pierce:
"We've just got to do our part. We also have a great backup in Matt Brown, so you never know what can happen between those two. They're both extremely good running backs, especially when our line blocks well."
On quarterback Chester Stewart:
"He played a great game. He was being patient, going through his progressions, making the right moves."
Junior Running Back Bernard Pierce
On preparing for Maryland:
"I think we just needed to have a four-quarter game, no mess-ups, no mistakes, and just really outdo them. I knew it was going to be a really close game."
On his performance:
"I think I did good; still looking for improvement. I can never be the best, I can never be great. There's always room for improvement."
On quarterback Chester Stewart:
"I think his preparation is a lot more intense than it was. Before it was like, alright, you've got a couple of teams, but now that it's in the state of Maryland, you have to lock in, we have to lock in. He's a lot more serious, he didn't BS a lot; he was just strictly business. I think that really upped our performance today."
