Post-Game Quotes: Maryland

Michigan State head coach Mel Tucker

Opening statement…
I'm really proud of the effort from our team. Tonight our guys played extremely hard, the preparation during the week was outstanding. [Which is] just so important for our players and for our staff. I just really have a lot of respect for our players and I admire how they approach these games and how much they put into it and how hard they play. It was a relentless effort, with complimentary football on offense, defense, special teams.

We've shown improvements in areas, which was much needed, we had guys really diving in this week and who made a conscious effort to get better and we had some guys step up, because we had some guys banged up and we needed some guys to step in who had the confidence to get the job done and they learn and play with a lot of effort and toughness, mental and physical toughness, and that's what it takes.

So you know, we got the result that we needed and wanted … we'll check out the film, we'll see where we need to improve, get some things cleaned up and get ready for the next one – that's what it feels like in November. This is a team that is not entitled, everything that we've gotten to get to this point we've earned, we've got to take, and that's what we have to do, we're going to have to earn it, we're going to have to work extremely hard and continue to have great effort, mental and physical toughness. That's what it's going to take to get the job done this week and down the stretch.

On Payton Thorne and Jayden Reed taking advantage of loading the box in the first half…
Yeah, obviously we knew they were going to do that and we knew that we were going to have to make some plays and [have] tight coverage … some fantastic connections and things like that. We have a really good game plan for the passing game - you have the designer, the protection, the execution, the throw, the catch, and on a consistent basis, and so we knew there was gonna be tough sledding. We had to make some placements and we did.

On the importance of preparation and feedback heading into the next game…
We've got a process, we do what we do. We have 24 hours and then we'll get ready for the next one. And it's November, and we know what's at stake and what the preparation is going to be there. Like I said, we're going to look at film and we're going to get ready for the next one, especially we'll look at things we need to clean up and we've got some guys we've got to try and get back. We'll just keep chopping. You know, two plus two is four and that's probably not going to change and we'll do what we gotta do, we've got a process.

On having other players embrace the call and step up when others are out…
'Next Man Up.' If you're in the game, you're a starter, whether somebody's helmet comes off and you're going in, or if there's an injury, or someone gets ejected or whatever, if you get in the game … [it doesn't matter], you're a starter. Offense, defense, special teams… whether you're a freshman, a senior, we're going to put you in the game if you have the competency to get the job done. That's what we tell them.

The reaction to the CFP rankings this past week…
It doesn't have to do with anything. It doesn't have anything to do with our preparation, our mindset… nothing.

What impressed you the most about the way the team bounced back from last week for tonight's win…
It was Monday through Friday preparation. The players really stepped up and did a lot of extra work in the evening after class, and between classes, just preparing for the game. And making sure that we knew what to do, how to do it and a lot of support to be able to do things a certain way. Just going through the process step by step. The Process is a series of actions or a series of steps in order to get to a result. So we do that on the weekend. We come back to the game, we're going to have to play hard, be physical all 60 minutes. [It's] November, we have good football weather, we're at the Woodshed, we're undefeated at home, it's good to be back in there. The guys are playing hard for each other, I'm really impressed with their preparation and actually taking it into the game and playing it out. Wanting to play, not looking at the scoreboard, [you] couldn't tell whether it was the first play or the last play from where I sat. Couldn't tell what the score was or anything because they were just playing, and that's what we need to do. That's how we need to play the game of football.

On defensive stops on third down efforts…
We know that they have a good offense, good players. We've made some significant improvements on third down defense. I think they were three of thirteen or something like that, that's solid and something that can help you win games. There was plenty of emphasis on third down this week. My hat goes off to Scottie [Hazelton] and staff. Diggin' in and finding solutions, honest solutions to issues. And preparing the players. And the players are really stepping up to know where they need to be in the game and get off the field and convert on the offensive front too. It was good, confident football.

The running and passing game today and potential growth for the offense...
Yeah, we have to be able to attack people in whatever ways we think is going to get the job done. You have to play the game you have to play that week. [Whether it's] offensively, defensively, on special teams, whatever the game plan calls for. I would say that we have to have balance on offense – have to be able to run and throw it. At times you gotta win one-on-one. You gotta protect. You gotta deliver the ball. You gotta go and make plays. We have our confidence in Payton [Thorne] and our pass protection, our receivers to throw the ball to. It's not a 'three yards and cloud of dust' situation. We have to be able to move the ball on scoring plays. I'm thinking we've shown that throughout the season. We're not a one-dimensional offense.

Toughness factor of the team through injuries, bumps and bruises... looking to recovery for next week …
Yeah, I just think toughness is not the issue with this ball club. That's not a question in my mind. That's never been a question. Like I said, I admire the way our guys play and I respect the way they play. Because they do play with effort and they do play with toughness, mental and physical toughness. Like I said, my hat goes off to them. They have to go out there to do it, to go out and prepare it. Going out there on Saturdays and lay it all out on the line for each other. Everybody knows we're coming in here to win games. The opponent has a goal as well. It's not like they're going to give it to you. You gotta go out there and you gotta earn it, you gotta take it. It's football, it's the name of the game and it's a physical deal out there. So it's one-on-one battles. It's nose to nose, shoes to shoes, belly button to belly button out there all over the field. You can't get it done if you don't have any toughness, the mental toughness to give yourself a chance.

Playing with injuries, Matt Coghlin not fully available…
Yeah, I mean he gave us what he had. We were evaluating him throughout the week. So we had a game plan for it and had to execute it. There's not a lot of guys, college or pro, that are going to be at 100 percent this time of year. It's a human performance business and when you're playing football, guys are going to get banged up. Guys are playing hard so there's always going to be some type of injury or guys playing less than 100 [percent] so that's where you can get the power of a team. You get a team of guys that are rallying around each other, playing for each other, guys stepping up. We're not just relying on one guy here, one guy there. It's everyone's … it's the players, it's the coaches, it's everybody. Everybody's gotta be ready to pitch in and give us what they can. In some situations, some guys can't go. The guys that can go, are going. And they're giving us what they have. It might be a couple plays here or it might be the full game. That's what it is this time of year.

How much usage of Coghlin was expected after warm-ups...
Yeah I knew going into the game and during warm ups. We communicated during warm ups and we always communicate in the locker room after we come off the field, we always communicate as a staff. We have a quick staff meeting. We talk about what we saw from the other team in warm ups, what we saw differently from what we expected, we confirm something that we've seen before, and we also always talk about injuries. Where we think guys are and then we go with that.

On Noah Harvey's interception and pressure to force [intentional] grounding [penalties] on a quick scoring team, how important the stops were…
Big stops. Their offense would score, and they would score, and they'd get a play on. They've been able to throw the ball and they could score quickly. They have good players so we knew we were going to have to get stops. We knew we were going to have to have rushing coverage working. We had pressures in there. Some guys made some plays. We were aggressive in what we were doing, and the guys carried out the game plan and played hard. It wasn't perfect by any means but it's something that got the job done and we can build upon moving forward.

Maryland Head Coach Michael Locksley

Opening Statement…
Credit to Mel and Michigan State, well deserving of the victory. As I told our team, I'm proud of the effort but obviously disappointed with some of the attention to detail. When you see the film as I kind of saw just out there live, we're really close. But for us to win against a quality opponent like we had today, there's very little margin of error for us, and so we've got to do a better job of our attention to detail and to give ourselves a chance, but really proud of the effort just disappointed in the attention to detail.

On not scoring in the red zone…
This is the second week in a row where I thought in the second half where we had some opportunities to cut it to a one possession game and kind of keep it right there in the hip pocket to give ourselves a chance late in the game. But it's our execution, you know the one that comes to mind is the interception. A couple plays before from a detail standpoint we had our outside receiver didn't flatten off the route in the end zone, our quarterback had a misread, so to me those are the things where when I talk about our attention to detail. It's going to be really important for our players, especially when you get it down to the red zone area that we do it exactly how we are coached to do it and again this is the second week in a row that our red zone offense didn't help us in terms of finishing with touchdowns.

On Taulia Tagovailoa throwing for 350 yards…
To me Lia (Taulia) has done that, has continued to execute in between the 20s, but we got to get everybody inside the 20, once we get it to the red area that's where we have to have a really high amount of attention to detail to our execution. Again, we made plays from the 20 to the 20, but it's going to be really important if you want to win against quality ranked opponents like Michigan State that when we get it down in there we got to come away with touchdowns.

On what games like this can teach you…
You know for us every game whether it's win or loss there are some teachings that goes along with it. For us as a young team that's playing a lot of young players, I think just being in this experience, we call it building a toolbox, and again when you play teams like we've had to play the last few weeks, obviously teams that are ranked, it gives our players the experience of knowing when I get put in this situation this is how I've got to respond. This is how I've got to execute it. The effort part for our team is there and they are going to get our best effort. As coaches when we come back in there Monday, we got an opportunity this weekend back at home for the last time for our seniors to find a way to get to the number six to get us to become bowl eligible and continue to build on what this senior class has kind of done for us the last couple of years.

On what you think of Kenneth Walker…
I think he is as advertised. He's a guy that makes guys miss. I mean we tracked it going into this game that he had 1,300 yards rushing and 900 of it came from yards after contact, so it's not a surprise that one guy has a tough time getting him down. He has a great contact balance, runs with good power, and does a really good job of finishing, but I thought in the first half we had more guys running to the football, when we talk about bringing a bunch of guys to the party. In the second half, as we started to try and blitz and get the ball back for our offense, a couple of times they were able to bounce the ball and we lost leverage defensively and good backs will make you pay if you do that.

Senior safety Xavier Henderson

On Noah Harvey's impact plays..
I can't explain how happy I was for Noah. He puts in so much work into his game and into this team. His play last week helped him become captain this week. It shows what kind of leader he is. Noah gives so much to this program.

Speak to the opportunity you've created for yourselves...
My first two seasons we went 7-6, and it feels like we were in so many games with that defense with Raequan (Williams) and Kenny (Willekes). I feel like we just found ways to win those tight games. November is Championship football. We've put ourselves in good position, especially with the big one coming up next weekend.

Thoughts heading into next week...
Our defense does a good job of making a point of emphasis on something, then executing it well the next time. I think Maryland's offense was 3-for-13 on 3rd down. We put in time in the film room, how to get better on third down.

How did the week go leading up...
We didn't play good enough last week. We came in we watched so much film. We put in so much extra work. We executed well this week; I messed up on that over route I should have been on it.

Redshirt sophomore quarterback Payton Thorne

On playing Ohio State next week...
We have to have a great week of preparation. Obviously, we know who we are playing. We know where we are going. It is at their place. On our side of the division, in order to get to Indianapolis, you have to go through Columbus. It is going to be a huge game for us. We are going to have to put a great week of practice together.

On CFP rankings...
At the end of the day, if we just focus on these last two games, then we will be putting ourselves in a good position.

On the defense against Maryland...
I thought that our defense played well today. It was a nice play by Noah getting the interception in the end zone. I know that Coach Tucker preaches this all the time, 'rush and coverage work together.' It was a unit effort tonight, and I thought they finished well.

On Noah Harvey's play...
Noah is a great teammate, and he is nothing but that. Our team knew that he would be ready whenever he needed to get in there. He played well, didn't skip a beat and had a couple key plays.

Redshirt junior wide receiver Jayden Reed

On playing Ohio State next week...
New opportunity every week. I think every week you got to respect the opponent and I think that goes both ways for each team. We have a 24-hour rule, enjoy this win and then we will work on Ohio State.

On Noah Harvey's performance...
Noah has been staying poised all year. He played his role. On special teams he had made a bunch of big hits last week and that played a role in earning his first start on the defensive side of the ball this week.

Junior running back Kenneth Walker III...

On Heisman pressure...
I don't feel any pressure. I'm just focusing on us winning together.

On flea flickers...
I do expect it to work a lot of the time. A lot of defenses focus on the run, and I think that opens up the flea flicker.

On playing Ohio State next week...
We know they are a great team. I know that next week we will watch the film and get prepared for them.

Players Mentioned

Matt Coghlin

Noah Harvey

Xavier Henderson

Jayden Reed

Payton Thorne

Kenneth Walker III

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