Sept. 1, 2012
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COLLEGE PARK, MD. -
Postgame quotes following Maryland's 7-6 season-opening win over William & Mary.
Maryland Head Coach Randy Edsall
Opening Statement:
"First of all, I would like to thank the crowd today. I thought we had a good crowd and I thought they were enthusiastic. They were there to the bitter end and gave us some enthusiasm and some energy during the game. That's something that this young team is going to need this year. It wasn't pretty but it's a win. That's what is most important and we've got so many things that we can take from this game to improve upon. I was very proud of the players from the standpoint that one of the things we talked about during the winter, summer and preseason was finishing. They very easily could have folded their tents, but they kept persevering, fighting, and clawing and they found a way to win. To overcome all of the adversity that we had in that game is a great credit to our players.
"Offensively we had four turnovers and we put our defense in the hole, but our defense stood up and only gave up field goals with that field position, which is huge. The young guys, you never know how they are going to play in their first game, but they are going to be better in the future.
"Defensively we played really well, except for on some third-down situations and then we have to get better at playing the ball in the air. [Punter] Nate Renfro was a player who stepped up huge today. He had a great day punting and then on that last punt, you couldn't have asked for anything better than that. All in all it was a great team victory and I don't think you ever diminish anything when you win. There are plenty of things that we can do to get better and we will, but I think all of these young kids have grown up and they will be better as we continue to go. I think [freshman receiver] Stefon Diggs really made some great contributions today as well."
On the game-winning drive:
"I think it was just a matter of putting 10 plays together back to back without having the mistakes and I think that's something that we were doing. We were always making mistakes on drives where we couldn't sustain anything. I think [freshman quarterback Perry Hills] started to settle in a bit during that drive and that was the thing that we have to continually do. We have to make him feel comfortable in terms of the things that he is doing."
On quarterback Perry Hills' turnovers:
"I think that he was trying too hard. He tried to avoid a sack one time and threw it when he shouldn't have. Sometimes a sack might be the best thing and he has to learn that. William & Mary was sending a lot of pressure and he started to settle in towards the end. But he never got rattled after any of the turnovers. He always came off the field with high spirits and wanted to get back out there."
On the defensive play:
"Defensively it is a matter of everyone doing their job. If you get everyone doing that and people swarming to the ball then you'll be able to keep the other team from making first downs and scoring a lot of points. But we still have a lot to improve upon defensively."
On the play of senior receiver Kevin Dorsey in the fourth quarter:
"That's something that you expect from a fifth-year senior. You want him to make those plays. The screen [on the game winning drive] was huge because it kept that drive alive. That's the kind of competitor that he is and we are going to need him to make more of those plays as the year continues."
On the play of the running backs:
"We made the decision with Brandon [Ross] being out to go with Albert [Reid]. I thought that Albert did a good job for being a freshman. He coughed up the ball the one time but he got hit pretty hard on that play. We also had Justus [Pickett] in there. At the end of the game I wanted to go with experience so we put Justus back in the game and his experience paid off."
Maryland Players
Sophomore Running Back Justus Pickett:
On winning by one point:
"We are always very happy with a win. Today we had to see if the young players would step up and make plays, and they did. We are very happy with the win, and we are going to move forward and correct our mistakes to prepare for next game."
On touchdown play:
"I knew a blitz was coming on before they had a pre-snap read. The offensive line did a great job picking it up and all I had to do was walk into the end zone."
On Pickett's 11 plays:
"As the game went on, the offense got stronger. In the third and fourth quarter we started moving the ball really well, but we still have a lot of things to work on."
On Stefon Diggs:
"He is always talking and motivating the team, and when it is time to make plays he is always there. Diggs can do it all, but he is really special in the return game. He can make plays happen at any time."
Senior Offensive Lineman Bennett Fulper:
On mood after tonight's win:
"Everyone was happy to have win number one. The defense played great all day, they only gave up six points."
On improving for next week's game against Temple:
"Everyone needs to focus on their assignments and limit turnovers. I think as long as we come in tomorrow and watch our film and make corrections, and Tuesday through Friday put the work in, we should be fine."
On offense's efficiency:
"When we suffered the setback of turnovers, it makes us much less efficient as an offense. We did show on that one drive just how efficient we can be as a unit."
Junior Defensive Back Dexter McDougle
On his play:
"Today I think I had some good plays out there, but ultimately I had some fundamental errors. Sometimes I'm not paying attention to my keys, trying to make a big play when I should just do my job. With that, the defense kept fighting, and ended up getting the win. That's all that really matters."
Senior Wide Receiver Kevin Dorsey:
On quarterback Perry Hills:
"I think he definitely did a better job in the second half. We kind of changed things around just to give him easier reads, as far as passes. We took some things out that we didn't think were working - basically just trying to tailor things a little more to the way he works so it's a little smoother for him."
On the offense:
"In the first quarter [we] wanted to come out and explode early, kind of get the momentum early and try to get the drives going. We had turnover and fumbles and everything, and it kind of gets you down a little bit. Seeing the guys being able to keep their heads up and push through - it wasn't a pretty one, but at the end of the day, it's still a win."
On the defense:
"I thought they played wonderfully; to give up so few points and not give up a touchdown score. The points they did give up, I would say were the offense's fault - from turnovers and putting them in a bad position. The defense played incredibly well today."
Senior Linebacker Demetrius Hartsfield:
On the defense:
"I was definitely happy with how we handled the situation because they could have scored touchdowns in every last one of those situations. We didn't let them score one touchdown, so letting them come away with a field goal isn't a bad thing."
On the team morale when down:
"You've just got to encourage everybody. You can't let them look at it like, `Oh, they got another turnover.' We've got to go out there and execute everything that we do in practice every day."
Freshman Quarterback Perry Hills:
On the game:
"I'm excited for the win. There are a lot of things I can improve on. I think the line had a great game, the receivers had a great game and William & Mary played tough. There are things we can all improve on. I look forward to next week."
On his performance:
"When I was out there, I wasn't really nervous - just a couple of silly mistakes that I shouldn't have made. That won't happen again. I'm just going to watch the film and see what I can improve on and forget about this game and look to next week."
On the change in play throughout the game:
"There's definitely the adrenaline; that always happens during a game. As the game went on, everyone started settling down, started doing some good things. The offensive line had a great game, like I said; the receivers had a great game and the running backs also. There are some things we can improve on."
William & Mary Head Coach Jimmye Laycock
Opening statement:
"We played very, very hard. We gave it everything we had and it came down to a couple plays here or there. A big holding penalty late and a missed tackle late. Things like that. We knew it was probably going to be a game like that, low scoring. We make that last field goal and who knows what would have happened. It was close... very, very close. Again, I cannot fault our players' effort. I thought our guys came in and competed like crazy."
On Raphael Ortiz:
"Raphael made some plays, scrambled, made a couple of nice throws, made a couple of misreads and made a couple mistakes...kind of inconsistent. It wasn't anything different than I've seen before in practice. He's got to keep getting better and keep working at it."
On the defense:
"I thought that defensively, we did about everything we needed to do. We got to the quarterback and made a couple of interceptions. We've got a lot of guys that are experienced defensively and we knew going in that was probably going to be our strong suit, and they played that way. You start naming guys on the defense who played well and be careful who you leave out."
On what his team take out of this game:
"I take a lot of positives out of this. These guys lined up with an ACC team and went toe-to-toe pretty well. I take a lot of things out of this. We don't have the depth they have or the size they have, but that didn't stop us from playing like we did."
William & Mary Players
Sophomore Quarterback Raphael Ortiz
On the game:
"At the end of the game we were getting a lot of opportunities to score. The defense had a lot of turnovers. They were playing really well. I think we could have executed a little better on offense. I thought the line was playing really well. The linebackers were running hard. I feel like I could have done a little better. This is my first real game time. I think a couple plays here and there and it would have been a different game. It's going to come down to execution in the rest of the season. If we execute, then we could be a really good team."
On the game's takeaways:
"It's a definitely a learning experience. This is my first game experience. Seeing defenses, especially a D1-A team, allows you to see how fast they can be. It really helps you the rest of the year with seeing coverages and schemes. I think that will help us because it's all about learning."
On the defense:
"The defense was speechless. They held a great Division 1 team to seven points the whole game. There were so many turnovers. [Bryan] Stinnie, [Mike] Reilly, George [Beerhalter] were playing really well today. Linebackers were flying across the field. They were just making plays. I think our defense played spectacularly today."
Redshirt Freshman Cornerback DeAndre Houston-Carson
On the game:
"It proves a lot about this team. We can go out and play with anyone. Everyone said that they would be too fast for us, but we came out and we went toe-to-toe with them. We did a lot of positive things and we just need to build on them."
On how this game prepares them for future games:
"We're probably not going to see another team that has that type of size. We played them well, so that will give us confidence going into FBS play. We now know we can play with ACC teams, so that means we can play with FBS teams. We just have to go out and play as hard as we did this week and take it one game at a time. Hopefully we'll do great things this year."
