BALTIMORE, Md. –
Maryland Interim Head Coach Mike Locksley
Opening statement:
“Tough loss for our guys. I want to commend them though for the effort and energy they played with. They have been through quite a bit here the last two weeks. As I told them before the game, I'm proud of the way they have responded to some adversity. They gave everything they had today. We wanted to leave everything we had out on the field and I feel like they did just that for us.”
On offensive productiveness:
“The big thing is we were able to mix some things up. We opened up the formations. Because of their blitzing in the run game, we were able to pop a few plays in the zone read game and in the option game with the quarterback. Perry [Hills] made some plays early on in the run game based off of what they do.”
On variety of play calling:
“Once we made the decision to go with Perry [Hills], because of his skillset it opens up the formations. We were able to get Will Likely involved. He's a guy that makes plays for us. We played a lot of players. I am a big believer that we have to continue to play a lot of guys. We had DeAndre Lane have his first touchdown today, a byproduct of telling our coaches to make sure we put as many guys in that can help us win and that will allow our starters to be stronger in the fourth quarter.”
On atmosphere of the game:
“I thought it was a great crowd. The ebb and flow of the game - both sides' fans being heavily involved. I enjoyed coming up here, I know our team does. We have a passionate Baltimore fan base that we need to continue to come up and have them be a part of our program and we will continue to do it as much as we can. I really enjoyed the atmosphere. I know our players enjoyed coming up and playing in this venue.”
On play of quarterback Perry Hills:
“Obviously he made some plays in the passing game then he made some plays with his feet. Where he can improve starts with decision making in the passing game. We're a team that right now, we throw the ball when we have to. We do take some shots down the field with our play action game and we were able to hit a few of those shots today. When you are able to run the ball, you create those and manufacture those big plays. When we get into those third-and-long situations when we have to drop back, protect and throw and read coverage, we still have some work to do there. That is the area that I think we need to continue to improve on, but also stay out of those situations.”
Penn State Head Coach James Franklin
Opening Statement:
“First of all I really appreciate everybody being here. Most importantly, what I just talked to the team about was that we were resilient tonight. There was adversity that we faced. There were highs and lows. There were big plays and plays that we have to clean up. We uncharacteristically fumbled the ball. That is something we haven't really done all year long. Our defense made big plays. I thought early on that they had us on our heels with some of the check-with-me and quarterback run game. We got some turnovers but we kept being in situations where our offense was backed up. We weren't able to swing the field most of the first quarter. They had a good plan. They basically said that we are going to go high-risk high-reward. Basically they said your receivers won't beat us. But we made big plays tonight and a number of guys made big plays. I thought the punting was important. We didn't allow [William] Likely to have a dramatic impact on the game, as we know he can. Great win on the road in the Big Ten. We are 1-0 this week. We are bowl eligible. We will talk about it for about 30 seconds and then move on and go back to being 1-0 again. Like I told the seniors, tonight allowed us to keep our family together for another month or so at the end of the season.”
On the defense:
“I thought early on the mobile quarterback was a pain. All the run pass options kind of get you on your heels. Because we are so aggressive on stopping the run, they pull the ball out and now the linebackers are vacated and then they throw the ball. They are also doing a quarterback running game. So you have to stop the running back, you have to stop the quarterback and you have to stop the run-pass-options. It's a challenge. The most important thing is that we held them to one less point than our offense scored.”
On Maryland's gameplan:
“If we go back and watch this film the amount of cover-zero which is man, no deep safeties, or cover-one, with pressed corners, they hadn't lived on that. Usually when you play someone like that and you burn them a couple times deep they stop. And they didn't. Good for them. Again, it was a good plan. The fact that they were able to move the ball on us and then force us to throw the vertical game like that and make plays was a good plan.”
On Hackenberg's performance:
“I think what he did was he threw balls and put balls in positions to where our guys had chances to make plays. We had another one at the end of the game.”
On the receiver's performance:
“I was big time proud of all of them. They are doing a good job, with the opportunities that they get, taking advantage of them. Geno Lewis hasn't had a lot of opportunities lately but he went up and snagged the ball. I am really proud of him and how he handled that.”
Maryland Quarterback Perry Hills
On missed opportunities:
“We had a lot of opportunities to take control of the game. They were a good team, but we left some things out there on the field that we wish we could have had back.”
On early success on offense:
“We were all communicating well. We were able to move the ball up and down the field. But you have to finish and take advantage of situations that are given to us.”
On how they can win close games:
“We just have to take it to heart. You hate to have this feeling, so you adjust and you build from it. We're going to go back and prepare like we've never prepared before, because there are still a lot of games left, and you can't let this affect you. You just have to build from it.”
On the confidence level of the offense heading into the final drive:
“We were all confident. We were moving the ball pretty well today, but things happen.”
On how they responded to recent struggles
“I felt like we responded pretty well. Our emotions were in the game. We just have to build off of this and take it to heart. We never want to feel this feeling again. We just have to prepare as hard as we can prepare, and do the things we need to do so that we never feel like this again.”
On Coach Locksley's postgame message:
“He knows that a lot of us are hurting right now because the game was there for the taking. We're just going to have to feel some pain, get over it, and build from it.”
Maryland Defensive End Yannick Ngakoue
On the team's progression
“Everyone gave 100 percent. We've definitely made a lot of progress. You have a whole team coming together and that's all you can ask for.”
On Penn State quarterback Christian Hackenberg:
“He's a great quarterback, you've got to give it to him. On defense we did a great job of bringing pressure to him. Every loss hurts but you have to move on and be prepared for what comes next week.”
On Coach Locksley's first game:
“I don't feel like we let him down, I feel that we gave 100 percent. Unfortunately the score is what it is.”
On moving forward:
“At the end of the day I just come to work. I come and do the best I can for my team and we just have to keep working. We had a great week of practice and if we continue like that things will start turning over.”
Maryland Running Back Brandon Ross
On sharing carries with Will Likely:
“He really is a weapon on both sides of the ball and that's what Coach Locksley saw. He hasn't said anything about continuing to use him but we will see as the season goes on.”
On game atmosphere
“I was really excited all game. [Having a] new coach and Penn state is our border rival. I really wanted to get a win. The team feels like it's on our shoulders why Coach Edsall got fired. We knew we had to play better on both sides of the ball. Guys took it upon themselves and looked in the mirror and decided to make some changes and give more effort. Play harder, play smarter, and really try to do everything we didn't do those first six games.”
On the team:
“I saw a different team today. There was a lot more energy and focus. Everybody noticed it. I think we just need to keep that up these last five games and see what happens.”
Penn State Defensive Back Trevor Williams
On how the defense played:
“We knew we were going to get hit with some adverse situations but we just realized that we had to have each other's backs and play for one another, and we got the win today.”
On his interception:
“I think it was 4th and 2, we were in Cover-2 and I happened to read my keys. I saw the fullback sprint out, I figured it was a pass and once the ball was in the air I got my hands on it.
On making the interception in his hometown
“It's a great feeling. I haven't played here in five years ever since high school. And just to make a play here at my hometown, in front of my family, it's just a great feeling and a moment I'll remember forever.”
Penn State Quarterback Christian Hackenberg
On the win:
“That was huge for our team. We all came in and we made plays when we needed to make plays. Defense made plays for us, offense made plays, our receiving corps, our line, they battled through a lot of stuff today. A lot of different looks that we hadn't really seen or expected them to do as much of, they came out and threw the kitchen sink at us and we were able to react and make plays and do what we needed to do to get the job done.
On how the receiving corps played today:
“They practice extremely hard and that always translates to success on Saturday's. And they've done a fantastic job each week of just getting better and better and really taking practice and using that as a tool for Saturdays. And for us, that's just breeding confidence in that room.”
On breaking Penn State passing records
“That's awesome. For me, that's something that's not going to hit me until later on down the road. But it was really cool to be able to go out and get that done today, and have my teammates around and those guys making plays. I think it's a product of a lot of things, a lot of great players coming through here helping me out. I don't ever try and make it about me.”
Penn StateWide Receiver Chris Godwin
On being a receiver going against man coverage all game:
“I think they came out and challenged us early on, and it was up to us to respond to the challenge of man-to-man coverage to go up and make plays. It's definitely awesome because you realize you have to go out and make some plays that you're capable of doing and we were able to do that today.”
On the chemistry between Hackenberg and the receivers:
“These are things that we work on every day and every week in practice. Building our chemistry each and every day so we can come out and put on performances like this. We know the talent that we have. We know the ability we have. We just have to go out and turn that into production out there, and that's what we work on each and every week.”
