COLLEGE PARK, Md. -
Maryland Head Coach DJ Durkin
Opening Statement:
"Give credit to UCF. They're a good ball club and they were prepared, played well and made the plays to win the game. Our guys as a team – I think – did not handle adversity well. I think so far this year in the three games we played we had adversity and had handled it. But now we had adversity and we didn't. It certainly showed when you're playing a good team like that. It was in all aspects of the game and it was all different guys. It was all over. There was a level of play that we were at and it consistently dropped off at different spots and different times. I told them you have to control what you can control. Injuries are part of this game and it is what it is. That's part of our game. When someone goes down the next guy comes in but it's also about the guys around them to step up and elevate their level of play. We did not do that today and that's why you saw the score you saw."
On running quarterbacks:
"The play Kasim Hill got hurt on was a pass and he was scrambling. It's just part of the game. There are plenty of offenses and guys out there who run. It's part of the game and it's something we talk about and have educated him on how to avoid hits. But at the end of the day he's a competitor. I have to watch the play again to see what happened but it was a drop-back pass that was covered and he scrambled and got hit."
On Kasim Hill's health:
"I don't have an update. We'll get him examined and find out more tomorrow."
On UCF focusing on Maryland's running backs:
"They were able to load up the box and that's why we talk so much about us being two-dimensional. It's something that really helps us and it's something we need to do and I think to this point we've been able to do that. It certainly wasn't because Max Bortenschlager can't execute. There were a lot of guys who had their fingerprints on that today. It starts with the offensive line, the receivers and the running backs across the board."
On UCF's offensive efficiency in the second half:
"They were a team that was executing and we were a team that wasn't. We were playing good defense for a while there but I just think we let the circumstances affect how we played and responded. We had breakdowns and lacks of communication. It was different things, not just one thing you point your finger at. That was the message to the team when I talked to them. How someone getting hurt on offense can affect our defense – I don't know. Or how it can affect our special teams. There were plays there that we didn't make. But give them credit because they did."
Maryland Player Quotes
Maryland Senior Linebacker Jermaine Carter, Jr.:
On Kasim Hill's injury:
“We just need to respond to adversity. We're always going to face some adversity. Coach [Durkin] does a good job of preparing us on how to handle these situations. We didn't do that today. We didn't handle this situation very well. We just have to be better next week. We don't know what's going to happen. We just need to be prepared for any situation."
On his message to the defense:
“We just have to keep our head up. We have to get ready. We start Big Ten play next week. We have another challenge in Minnesota next week. We're going to prepare and have a good week of practice.”
On UCF QB McKenzie Milton:
“He was able to use his feet really well. We knew he was a very capable scrambling quarterback. We didn't do a great a job of keeping him inside of the pocket. That was one of our keys coming into the game. We wanted to keep him in the pocket and make him beat us from the pocket. But, we obviously didn't do a great job."
Junior Safety Darnell Savage Jr.
On Kasim Hill's injury:
“There is a 100% chance that somebody gets hurt in a sport like football. We can't let that bother us. We just have to keep playing.”
On UCF's offense:
“We knew they were a high-tempo team. We knew their plan was to run a lot of plays.”
On UCF QB McKenzie Milton:
“He's a quarterback who is very capable of extending plays. We just have to keep playing.”
On corrections for next week:
“It's hard to say without watching the film. We'll watch the film this week and prepare for Minnesota.”
Junior Running Back Ty Johnson
On Kasim Hill's injury:
“In Texas, when we faced adversity, we handled it well. Today, when we faced adversity, we didn't handle it too well. It's just something we need to work on.”
On UCF's defensive approach:
“They did their studying. They watched their film. They saw certain formations and certain ways that we line up. They knew what to expect and they took advantage of it.”
On his words to Kasim Hill
“I just told him 'Keep your head up and we're going to get things right.'”
On the differing skillsets of Hill and Bortenschlager
“I don't think it had an impact on us. UCF did their research. They watched their film.”
UCF Head Coach Scott Frost
Opening Statement:
“I'm just proud to be the coach of these young men. They've been through a lot the last few weeks, the state of Florida has been through a lot. We've asked them to do a lot of things in our time here and they do everything we ask them. I think being able to react to having three weeks and three days without a game, being able to react to missing two games and put in the work and prepare like they did, come up here and play that kind of game speaks a lot about who we're coaching. Our staff, our coaches showed a lot of character through that whole thing and definitely showed a lot of character today."
On his postgame message to his team:
“I was ecstatic. I think the guys are happy. They're not acting like we won the Super Bowl. I think they kind of expected to win this game – and that's great to see. They came out and played harder than I think the other team did. Think we executed better, think they deserved to win this football game. I think they thought that coming in. So everybody's excited and happy, but my message to them was [that] we're not done. We got to go back to work, we got a big-time conference opponent coming in next week, we need the same kind of preparation for that one.”
On their red zone efficiency:
“Well we weren't mistake-free. We had a couple penalties that kind of set us back. I thought we played well on offense, we were a little rusty, made some mistakes. I think the first couple drives, that hurt us. I need to call a better game in the first half and put us in better situations. We worked a lot on red zone offense, in the offseason we worked a lot on third-down offense and we emphasize it more during the week now. Those things are starting to show improvement.”
On how the game was affected with QB Kasim Hill's injury:
“I'm broken-hearted for them, and Kasim. He's going to be a great player. To see anybody go down on a football field isn't what you want to see. That certainly took the wind out of their sails. We had a couple guys go down too, we'll evaluate and see how serious it is. It's just heartbreaking to see college football players or any football players get injured on the field. Our thoughts and prayers will be with him.”
On RB Jawon Hamilton's injury: “Yeah, we don't know yet. Think Jawon had a dislocation that got popped back in. I don't know the severity of it and what that means. Sometimes things can pop back in and it's like nothing ever happened – and other times there's more serious things. He's such a good kid. It speaks to who he is, looked back on the sideline in the fourth quarter and he was standing on the sidelines with crutches and smiling ear-to-ear because his team is winning. That's kind of representative of the type of kids we have.”
On RB Taj McGowan's performance in Hamilton's absence:
“I think we're going to be fine. I trust Taj McGowan a lot. A.K. [RB Adrian Killins, Jr.] is a big play waiting to happen for us, we just can't give him the ball 40 times a game. Otis [Anderson] is kind of the same player. We kind of gave him a bigger role today and he did some really good things. And Cordarrian [Richardson] keeps coming along every week, he's going to be really good eventually. Hopefully there's not much wrong with Jawon and we'll find that out. We got a lot of skill players playing pretty well right now."
On the defensive performance:
“I'm sure it took them out of their rhythm, losing their quarterback and having to put a different guy in that kind of has a different style of play. But our defense played lights out. Few penalties that we need to correct. I thought they played hard, I thought they were in the right positions. Yesterday after walkthrough we walked by the defensive meeting room and two-deep of our linebackers and DBs were in the meeting room with the call sheet making calls and watching film on their own and making all the calls they'd have to make based on what they thought Chins [Defensive Coordinator Erik Chinander] would call. That's rare. Nobody asked them to do that, they did it for two hours before they got on the bus. That's the kind of commitment level we have right now. Like I said, I'm proud to coach them."
On QB McKenzie Milton's performance:
"I thought he played really well. The stats might not play out... he didn't have as many stats as had Week 1. He had some key plays in clutch situations. I thought some of the third down completions he made were big, some of the throws he made when we needed a play, to [Michael] Colubiale, to [Jordan] Akins, to Tre'Quan [Smith]. Really changed the game. Then his runs on third down. Those are two drives we scored on that got extended because he made a play with his feet. He's playing really well right now, a lot of guys are playing well around him. We need to keep getting better."
On CB Brandon Moore's performance:
"Yeah, I think that'll be a confidence-builder for Bam. Mike Hughes is playing pretty well, so Bam's going to get a lot of balls thrown at him, and that's great. That'll help him grow up fast and get better. Got to make sure he plays his feet and not his hands – not grabbing people. Thought one of the calls was tough, but there's tough calls that go both ways. We'll go back to work and make sure that we put him in good situations and work on technique."
On UCF's fan presence:
"We must travel pretty well. I know this is a good place to come, it's a really good university and a fun trip for people to take, but I was impressed with the number of Florida people that were up here. They were loud. You really noticed them at the end of the game when the stadium cleared out, how many people were here. That's always a fun thing to see as a visiting team."
On if the win was a 'statement game':
"I think it's just another step forward. I told them at halftime, we were in that situation a few times last year. We weren't ready to finish games yet. We came out in the second half, got a big stop on defense and scored our first drive on offense. If we'd have done that a few times last year, we'd have won a few more games. That's just another step in the maturation of this football team. It's awesome to see.
On his emotions following their performance: "Yeah ecstatic might be a strong word, man. I'm proud. I'm proud of these guys. I'm not even proud, I'm happy for them. Because they've put in a lot of work, they've done absolutely everything that we've asked them. It's fun when you put a process in front of people and they follow the process and they reap the rewards for it. Like I said, our team knows we're not done. I think they're happy, but they're not celebrating like it's New Year's Eve right now. They're excited they won a football game and they want more."
UCF Player Quotes
Defensive Lineman Tony Guerad
On tackling QB Max Bortenschlager:
“We just played hard and we were watching film all week. We were studying what they do and we completed the mission and that what you saw.”
On shutting down Maryland running game:
“It feels good - we have to keep that up.”
Defensive Lineman Jamiyus Pittman
On playing again following hurricanes:
“It just feels good to play someone else. I mean, I've been going against Wyatt Miller (OL) for a while, it seems like we were back in camp honestly. But we were ready to go play somebody again.”
On the emotion of the team after the game:
“Everybody was excited, but at the same time I felt like everybody knew that we're not done. Next week we still have to scrap it up and do the same thing.”
On shutting down Maryland's running game:
“It is hard, and I can see why they do gas people because that's not a normal scheme. You have to study it and play your assignment or they will do what they've been doing to other people.”
