COLLEGE PARK, Md. -
Maryland Head Coach DJ Durkin
Opening Statement:
“We didn’t take advantage of field position enough times. There were definitely some good individual performances but we’ll have to go back and look at the tape and take a look at it.”
On Northwestern keeping Maryland’s running backs contained:
“They were taking the running backs out of the game with what they were doing defensively. It’s similar to what they did a week ago. If you can do that in a game, you have to be able to throw the ball and execute. At times we did but we didn’t do it consistently. There were chances for some big plays with third downs that we didn’t convert.”
On Maryland not converting in big opportunities:
“You can’t credit that to experience. To win games you have to do those things. When there’s a sudden change in the game with a play on special teams or a turnover, you like to get some momentum and keep going and we just weren’t able to do that. We’ll have to go back and look at it and see what the reason is for it.”
On the time of possession:
“It’s one of the least equitable statistics there is in football. If we convert more on third down, we don’t let them have the ball more. If we got off the field on third down on defense we’d have the ball more. We’ve won plenty of games that were lopsided like that.”
On Northwestern’s passing attack:
"They were running crossing routes and rubbing guys off of in-man. In zone, they were doing a job finding the holes. I think that we got to get some sort of pass rush. All those routes take a lot of time to develop so the quarterback has five seconds to stand back there and he’s going to find someone. We got to win a matchup or get pressure with a four-man rush.”
On home field advantage:
“I thought there was good excitement out there. It’s our job to give them something to get excited about.”
On DJ Moore:
“He’s been that way pretty much every week. He’s a really talented guy that plays hard. He runs good routes and has good ball skills. We do a lot to get him the ball and design it that way and he always answers the call.”
Maryland Senior Linebacker Jermaine Carter, Jr.
On the team’s mood after the game:
“Everybody was down. We wanted to win the game. We practiced hard all week. We focused. We just didn’t come out on the right side of things today. We just have to come back next week and be ready to work.”
On Northwestern’s crossing patterns:
“With the way that we play our defense, we’re going to see a bunch of crossing routes. When they complete their passes, we have to be better at tackling. We didn’t do a very good job tackling today. That led to big plays.”
On missed opportunities:
“We can’t worry about that. We just have to focus when we’re on the field. When we’re on the field, we’re expected to make a stop. No matter what happens, we have to go out there and get a stop. We didn’t do a very good job on third down today. We just have to be better."
Maryland Junior Wide Receiver DJ Moore
On having a great performance during a loss:
“I’m at a happy medium right now. It was a career day. But, at the same time, we did lose. We have things we need to correct.”
On attracting double coverages:
“That’s all part of the game plan. We try to set up mismatches all game. Whether its motions or coming out of the backfield, we’re trying to find new ways to get me open.”
On what he took advantage of today:
“I just found some open spaces in the coverage. One play, they just dropped everybody back, and I found an open hole.”
Maryland Junior Center Brendan Moore
On DJ Moore’s big day:
“DJ is a hell of a receiver. He played his butt off today. We expect more of that in the future.”
On the mood in the locker room:
“We left a lot of plays on the field. At the end of the day, we’re not going to lie down. We’re just going to keep on fighting. Next week’s game is the most important game. We’re going to keep fighting.”
Northwestern Head Coach Pat Fitzgerald
Opening statement:
“I want to start off first of all thanking our great fans here in the DMV. To see that type of fan support that we had today, as a program we had talked about when Maryland and Rutgers were added to the Big Ten, it’s about all of alums that are here in this region. And to see the outpouring of support and the alumni association, I think we had it sold out today, 600 alums that were there. To see that type of support we’re very, very thankful and it was awesome. Our guys were fired up about it in the locker room after the game. We need them to come to Chicago next week, we’ve got a really tough opponent.
Really good team win, great job bouncing back by our offense, especially our offensive line, to get Justin Jackson to become the all-time leading rusher in our program’s history. That doesn’t happen without an O-line that’s been in front of him. That’s probably well-documented that even people in this room went after him a week ago and I think they handled it well. It’s deserved. When you don’t play well and you have high expectations, I think they shut the noise off and went to work. They did a good job today. Obviously, it’s special with Justin. It’s unbelievable. I think at times, we all take for granted special players because they’re so consistent. But it seems like yesterday that Justin came into our program and now to have him at this mark. Incredibly proud of him, honored to be his coach, and just very thankful for his production. Great team win and we’ll get back home and get ready for another big western division opponent next week.”
On Maryland’s offense:
“We knew we were going to have to weather Maryland’s storm. They obviously didn’t have the outcome they wanted a week ago and it kind of got away from them in Columbus. You come back and we’ve got to play them on the road. So you knew in that first 10 minutes there was going to be a push from them and we saw that. And I thought we weathered that pretty well. Then I think we just started clicking. We started executing, I thought our offensive line started to impose their will a little bit, looked like the line of scrimmage started to move, which then gives you those horizontal cuts and what we need to do. It’s no secret, schematically it’s no secret, we’ve got to run the ball to win. And to be able to do that today was a great credit again to our O-line, super backs and wide receivers.”
On WR DJ Moore:
“He’s pretty good. We won. There’s always guys. We lose the turnover ratio, gave some explosive pass plays. There's a ton to correct. I’m not going to nitpick anything without watching the tape.”
Northwestern Junior Quarterback Clayton Thorson
On their receiving:
“I think they won on a lot of man coverage. Our coaches did a great job calling the right plays on third down, as they usually do. Great game plan going in so credit to them.”
On fourth down conversions:
“Yeah, we love when coach gives us fourth down territory. I think he’s got a lot of faith in us. We’ve got to keep picking those up and calling them. We love that though.”
Northwestern Senior Running Back Justin Jackson
On breaking the school’s rushing record:
“No, I don’t know when exactly I broke it. First quarter early on when we were down, I definitely wasn’t thinking about that. Running behind these guys today, I think they were challenged by not only our coaches but our team. And I mean, what a response. I think they did a great job. We came in with a great plan and came out an executed. Wasn’t perfect, but we just kept playing. That’s what we were talking about in the locker room and all week. Just go out there and play.”
On what it means to him:
“It means a ton, doing it with these guys around me. It’s pretty cool to have some consistency back there and I can trust these guys, trust our work ethic, and go out there and just play. Play free, play fast, and you can do that with guys like the guys I have around me. Just means a lot.”
Northwestern Senior Linebacker Brett Walsh
On defending Ty Johnson:
“We wanted to eliminate the outside runs, they run a similar offense to last week (Penn State) so we wanted to get rid of the power read. After that we were just playing ball.”
On his fourth quarter sack:
“With that specific set, there was something we wanted to do, so I did what I was taught to do. I just took a step in and went up to the quarterback.”
Northwestern Junior Linebacker Nate Hall
On defending Ty Johnson:
“Like Brett said, they run a similar offense to Penn State, trying to get the edge, so we wanted to take that away with our fundamental base defense and do what we had to do to limit those guys.”
Northwestern Fifth-year Senior Defensive End Samdup Miller
On pressuring Bortenschlager and the pass rush:
“We knew we had to affect him, and with any good quarterback you have to affect him, and I think we did a good job of being relentless”
