Michigan State University Athletics
Photo by: Matthew Mitchell/MSU Athletic Communications
9/23/2023 7:56:00 PM | Football
Michigan State Acting Head Coach Harlon Barnett
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On the team needing to be discipline and clean up mistakes …
We had 11 penalties last week and six this week. That's better but it's not what we want. You can't play in this league and have that many penalties and turnovers. Yes, we led in yards and time of possession but those don't mean as much as the turnovers and penalties. I said, discipline is going to be the word of the season and we're going to continue to talk about it and push it. You're going to see results very soon.
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On defense facing immediate pressure due to turnovers …
We know on defense you got to go out there and put the fire out. Nobody cares what the situation is, we got to go out there and compete like Spartan Dawgs and that's the mindset. It's another chance to go out there to compete, play the game you love, that's what we tell the guys. I was encouraged by the defense in the second half, I kept telling them when they got off the field, that's defense.
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On if it was a game Maryland won or was it a game Michigan State lost with the errors …
It's a combination of both. They're a good team by putting themselves in the position to win by causing turnovers but at the same time, we helped them. Players have the opportunity to make plays but couldn't capitalize and they were making the plays and capitalizing. We can't say it was them beating us, or us beating ourselves, it was the combination of the two.
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On if it was a winnable game despite the score …
Absolutely, I will believe in that all the way to the end. It got out of hand (late), but I thought we could come back and get them.
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On quarterback switch …
It wasn't much about performance, more about trying to find a spark to get us going. Noah is our quarterback, he's our guy.
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On Noah Kim feedback from Jay Johnson …
Coach Johnson kept saying, lets stick with him, he's our guy. Nobody is perfect and he (coach Johnson) knows Kim worked hard to get in that position. It was a competition all summer long. You don't just run from it after a game or two because he's not playing the way he wants to or the way we want him too. He's a good player and he's going to get better from it.
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On Jacoby Windmon injury update …
He's day-to-day.
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On the performance of freshmen Jordan Hall and Chance Rucker …
I thought they did well today for freshmen. Chance had some deep balls thrown up and was there in coverage. He didn't panic, he's a talented young man. Jordan was running around hitting people, a very smart young man who knows the system and the future is bright with those two guys.
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On how to cut down the turnovers …
We got to value the football, we work on ball security everyday with the offense. As far as fumbles concern, the ball must be high and tight. With interceptions, I'm sure coach Johnson will get them better on not playing hero ball and just throw it away. Those guys are competitive, they're trying to win, they're trying to do the right thing and make plays. How you correct it is, just get rid of it and live to see another play.
On what he saw on the two dropped balls and the fake punt … Â
Right, that's a good question. So, the deep balls, the angle I had, I'll have to watch the film, I forget, I think that was Montorie (Foster) but one of the DBs that might've got his hand in at the last second, it was almost a good play by him one of them. The other one, we just gotta look it in. We gotta look it in and hold on to the ball. Its concentration, you know see it all the way into your hands and then tuck it away.
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As far as the fake punt, there must've been something on film that they saw, I'll end up talking to coach Els and see what that was about because we normally have somebody that's in that same position to handle that type of stuff. So, I don't know. We have to watch it and I hope we can give you a better answer after watching the film.
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On keeping the team mentally and emotionally involved in the game …
Well, we have a team of competitors, and so when you are a competitor, you are always trying to get better and to right the ship so to speak. I asked them to announce anybody that you know felt like 'Hey man, this is over, I'm out of here,' I asked them, I said, 'You can raise your hand and no love lost and then you can move on, it's no problem,' and nobody raised their hand. Nobody raised their hand. So, that's a good sign and other guys repeated, they said, 'Hey, hey man, just what he said, if anybody feel like we can't get it done and get this thing turned around, go ahead walk and leave, we like that better than you guys sticking around and whining and complaining,' so nobody raised their hand. So, competitors are going to compete, and I told them, 'I hate losing, I hate losing.' And so, we're going to do whatever we can and do whatever we have to, to get in the win column and it's going to start with discipline like I've been saying.
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On what he saw from the team throughout the week and in pregame …
I saw excitement in the guys on Friday, yesterday before practice. We do morning practice, as you guys know, and it was buzzing, it was buzzing by the end of the week, and they were excited to play, and they were prepared as well. And so, we had good practices on Thursday, you know Thursday's a walk-through, Thursday, Friday were good, not that Tuesday, Wednesday weren't, but it was towards the end of the week getting all the assignments down because sometimes early in the week you get into all the gameplan stuff and you're trying to 'Oh, this is what we're doing today, or 'This is what we're doing today,' but by the end of the week you're sharp and we were sharp at the end of the week Thursday, Friday and I felt the buzz in the meeting, before the meeting starts, guys talking and they're just ready to go so that was a big sign for me.
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On injury updates to Windmon, Brantley and Bogle …
Well, like I said, I thought we played pretty well in the second half on defense, for the most part but we definitely want those guys to come back and they should be coming back soon, I can give you a better answer later, but I think those guys will be back soon and so we're anticipating them coming back and strengthening our defense and helping the depth and all that kind of stuff. So, it was good to see Chance get out there and Jordan Hall get out there and all those guys get out there because that all strengthens the defense so when everybody's healthy. We have a unit just ready to go and anybody can go in at any time and help us out.
Michigan State redshirt sophomore running back Nathan Carter
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On if there is a galvanizing happening after losing two games and now hitting the road …
I think it just pushes us to continue to get better. At the end of the day, we're gonna do what we wanted to do today, and that was to win a football game. We have to watch the film on Monday and correct the mistakes and do what we have to do and then continue to push forward like you said. We're playing at Iowa, they're a very good football team and they have a very hostile environment, especially down there so we gotta be ready for that. And I think that we will and I think that you know these last few games are really gonna motivate us for us to go out there and move together and win games.
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On how difficult having more total yards of offense but not winning the game is …
Very difficult. You know it just leads to us finishing drives and trusting our security. At the end of the day we all have to do our jobs, and if we don't do our jobs then we won't get the ball in the end zone. That's what it comes down to, it comes down to one block, one play, you know one mishap. So, whatever we got to do, we gotta figure out how to finish drives as offense and put the ball in the end zone so we can get points.
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On if this game gave him confidence that the team can throw the football …
Most definitely. You know we have a good team. We have players that can make plays and we have coaches that put us in our positions in those plays. It's our job as players to go out there and do our job. We have to execute that, that's the bottom line. That's the one thing to execute, so that's gonna be the focus of this week really. We have to put it together on offense so we can finish those drives and get in the red zone and have that momentum and we don't take a step back, we continue to take steps forward.
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On if he feels that there have been some big opportunities that slipped away offensively...
Yeah it's hard. You know it's hard, knowing that we can make plays and we don't execute them. At the end of the day we have to never get too high, never get too low. We have to move on to the next play, move on to the next drive, we can't ponder on the past. We have to continue to focus and grind for the future. I think that's good for your mindset going forward, we still have to execute plays, we have to do what we have to do. We don't ponder on the past, you have to continue to move forward and do what we have to do each and every play, each and every drive to get the job done.
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On if he could confirm that no one said they did not want to be here anymore after the game…
Yeah most definitely. I think it's a lot of guys, everyone in that group, everybody in that locker room, including coaches, who wanna fight. Like I said, we've been through adversity for the last two to three weeks and one of the things that Coach Barnett does preach to us to keep us unified as a team, to not break. I believe that all the guys in the locker room, whenever they do that, I think it's really gonna help us to go on and finish this mission that we have as a team.
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On his fourth down stop and the fumble...
Just execution. You know at the end of the day as far as a fumble, I didn't do my job. You know it's my job to hold on to the football and I just didn't do my job. Just poor, poor ball security as far as the hand off. I was in traffic and didn't do my job. Simple as that so I gotta be able to be better, I have to be better to do my job. It wasn't the play call, it wasn't the offensive lineman, I just didn't do my job. So I have to continue to do my job on that. As far as the fourth down play, you know whatever Coach Johnson calls I have to try to have faith that he's calling the right play for the right reasons. If it doesn't work then that means that we didn't do our job as the offense. So the times where we knew we could execute, when we ran these plays, we know what looks we were gonna get, we knew 'Oh we gotta do this to get our ball in the end zone', and we simply didn't do that. So that's what happens when we don't execute and we don't do our jobs. But that's gonna be the point of us going into this next practice, and when we go to the Iowa game, is for us to be able to do our job and execute. Cause we have a good football team, we have a good offense, and we know that we can move the ball, we have to be willing to go out there and do it.
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Michigan State Redshirt Senior Center Nick Samac
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On what type of challenges he has as a leader these past few weeks…
Yeah, it's challenging. It's just a new thing. It's adversity, but like I said it's nothing that we haven't been through before. I'm just trying my best to keep myself positive and set a good example for the guys. I can't show them my weakness cause then that creates weakness as a whole as a team. You know it is challenging, but we're continuing to fight and I think we're very close to being where we wanna be. And I know we're gonna get there.
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On how he thinks Noah Kim performed and handled today…
I mean good job, you know. Things happen, things change, but we are a team. It's not an individual sport. So whatever we gotta do to win, whatever that case may be. You know I love all my guys the same so we're gonna fight whoever is out there.
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On the fourth-and-goal play, walking through his thoughts…
Yeah, I think a little bit of that was executing. They gave us a bear-front so we gotta be able to pick that up. We've done it in the past, I wouldn't say we worked on it as much this week...And I love him to death, I trust in everything he does. He's gone over these things numerous times with us. So it comes down to us as o-line executing that for him, for us, for each other. Because we've seen that before, we've seen that front, we've ran that play against that front. It's nothing new to us, we just gotta execute it better. I gotta look at the film to see exactly what happened. I know for me, the nose dove in my knees that long the goal line so I kinda took a fall, you know before I got to my backers. So I gotta see the whole play, see what happened.
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On how he handles the drives down the field…
It's up and down because you drive down the field, you show you dominated but at the same time, you didn't finish. We saw light and day like I said. We showed today, no matter what anyone says, this team is about us and that's all we care about. The guys in our room, what we're gonna do for each other, the adversity we're going through. We're going through that stuff together. We're going through that stuff together, and that's a big thing for me. We showed that we can drive down the field. You know that's a Big Ten opponent, no matter how you write it up, that's a Big Ten opponent and we showed we can drive down the field on them. Throw game and pass game, so we just need to learn to finish and execute better.
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On what things he felt he needed to improve on from the first three games…
Individually, I would say you know going into that Washington week, I knew it was going to be a big front. So I was going to have to be able to keep a good base, especially my pass rush or my pass blocking. And I felt like I did a way better job of that today, had a couple twist pick-ups, and I felt good about my pass pro for the most part of today except for probably a few plays. I got a little too head-heavy. As a team, just going into the game with a good strategy which we had. Just keeping our heads up, and knowing that adversity is gonna hit. Just finishing plays.
Michigan State sixth-year graduate linebacker Aaron Brule
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On the most difficult thing about the last couple weeks…
Keeping guys bought in. The younger guys, nobody knows where they're head is really at, they're just getting here. So, we want to keep those guys along with us and keep capitalizing. Getting those guys better each week, cause obviously people got to step up as the season goes on. We've got some tough games coming up, everybody's got to be ready to play.
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On being more disciplined going into the Iowa game…
Just assignments. Keys, making every play. We don't want to leave nothing on the field, to where we're like 'aw man, dang, if we would've done this and that.' We don't want that. We don't want any of it. We want to do everything as clean as possible.
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On Jordan Hall…
He knows he's the future of this program. So, I mean, getting his feet wet early is not only great for him and great for the team. He does a good job when he's in there, and we're looking to keep building on that each week further.
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On the second half…
We just wanted to keep tackling. We had the same plan, obviously made a few adjustments. But we had the same plan the whole game. So, I think in the second half we just came out with good energy and getting after it.
Michigan State redshirt junior linebacker Cal Haladay
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On the last couple of weeks and staying together as a team…
I think it's tough, it's definitely tough, cause losing is the worst thing in the world. You practice all week to go out Saturday and not get the job done. It hurts. But I think we have been doing pretty well and been staying together and making sure that we all focus on the mission at hand.
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On the locker room after the game…
Coach Barnett believes in us, and he believes (we can win) every game on the schedule. And we believe that too as a team. We can't have any negative energy in the room or in the program right now because we need to be positive, lift each other up, come together closer. I think that's the key with what's been going on, everything, block out the noise and just come together as a team. Stay inside the walls.
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I think we have a good group. I think the guys are bought in. I mean, losing like this is hard, it's hard on everyone, I said the same before, losing when you practice all week and you don't get the job done on Saturday, it's tough. And you kind of question what we are doing wrong. But you just go back to the guys, everyone cares about each other it's a brotherhood. We just want to get the job done.
Maryland Head Coach Mike Locksley
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Opening statement …
First of all, really proud of this team, proud of the way they responded. To the coaching, we've talked the last couple of weeks about starting fast and we were able to do that today. Any time you are able to win on the road in the Big Ten, that's huge. For us to be able to come up here and do something, I think that hasn't been done since 1950. Definitely proud of the team, happy to be 4-0. We talked all week long, and for the last couple of weeks about getting off to a fast start, and that's what we were able to do. Defense came up big early on with the turnovers, and we were able to convert those to scores. Any time you come up with turnovers like we did today, it really helps you on the offensive side of the ball. The best part of this all is that that locker room is still disappointed that we didn't finish the way we like to. As I said before it's always great to clean it up with a win. Gotta give credit to the players in terms of how they responded, and did the things necessary. We're back in the shell next week against Indiana. I hope our fans show up for these kids. They've earned the right to have you guys there to support them. Our student section has done their part. I know we're excited for the opportunity to go 5-0 at home in the shell, and the players are excited about that.
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On the defense getting turnovers …
It was big, you know. The defense, the offense, special teams all came together and came up big again today. They created some opportunities with the fumble there on the kickoff return. Our punter pulled one down and rushed for a first down to extend the drive. Offensively we were a little off today, just missing on some things. Defensively early on, the turnovers were big. What I like to see is just our guys get off the field better on third down.
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On the fast start …
Execution early on, the turnovers, we were able to finish early on. Turnovers with touchdowns, which helped us. I love to say that was the reason why, I can only speculate. We're gonna go back to some good on good stuff this week, but we also got a better look out of our development team. Their role is to prepare us for the speed of the game. I don't know if that was the fix, but I'm happy, really happy we were able to get the turnovers and convert them into scores early.
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On the interception by senior defensive back Tarheeb Still …
I saw bad field awareness. I would love to see him finish it and stay in bounds and go score. We gave up some yardage today, but as we got down in that red area, we buckled down and were able to go down and cheap them out of the endzone. Big interception there by Heeb. Big play by our defense.
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On the team not needing senior quarterback Taulia Tagovailoa to pass for 300 yards …
We all know, football is the ultimate team sport. I think we picked it up in other areas. As I said earlier, we were just a little bit off for whatever reason with our base offensive systems. Maybe it was just off on the perimeter block that allowed us to create some big plays. Maybe off on a few throws, but we showed the balance that we have and the ability that different guys have. Different opportunities and different guys make plays for us. Had some guys nicked up this week, but some other guys stepped up when we needed them to.
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On if Tagovailoa hurt his hand …
I think he just had to use the restroom. Just kidding, I don't know.
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On the complimentary football today …
That's huge. That is what we need to do. The consistency on offense. I always talk about us being a rhythm team on offense. Just for whatever reason, everything was a little off. Few steps here, few inches off there. We'll get that part fixed. It's great to fix that coming off a win, and a win on the road in the Big Ten. And this is a tough league. You give credit to Michigan State. You give credit to Harlon. The job that he's did to get his job back, his guys fought today. But our guys started fast and gave us this opportunity to come out with the W.
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On the team's offensive diversity …
Anyone that has followed us over the years understands that we play a lot of players. We recruit and add depth to get a lot of guys involved. It's great to see that type of diversity. As I said, there's still a lot of things that we gotta get cleaned up. Still some things that will be able to fixed here this week.
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On if the fake punt was a designed play …
I'm gonna take credit for that. Hopefully I'll get coach of the week because I called a punt down inside my own 20. I promise you we didn't call a fake punt down in there. Based on the scheme of the rugby stuff we do, the rules tell him if there's no contain, do pull down and go now. I looked at our special teams coordinator and said he needs to be careful running that down in our area of the field. Players make plays and Colton is one of those guys athletic enough to do it. I'm glad he did it because he was able to extend the drive for us. I cannot take credit for calling a fake punt down in there.
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On junior defensive lineman Donnell Brown's big day …
I was happy with his production. When we brought him in, we brought him in to get after the quarterback. I was joking with him as he's dropping into space and getting interceptions, and doing everything other than getting sacks. I love to see him get after the quarterback a little bit. He's one of those guys who's always around the ball. He's an athletic big guy so we utilize him a lot of different ways. What I found out is that he has a knack for the ball. We need to continue to have him make those plays.
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Maryland senior linebacker Sean Greeley
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On his touchdown …
Well, they told me that was the play going into this week, so I was prepared. Just a time and place opportunity. We were close to the goal line so they called my name, and it was a good surprise for me.
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On the play of the defense …
Like Heeb (Tarheeb Still) was saying, we put an emphasis on getting hands on the ball and taking a lot of shots on the ball so, on that one I kind of just put my head down, got lucky, and knocked the ball out.
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On the last time he scored a touchdown in a game …
Probably senior year of high school. So probably, four and a half or five years ago. Something like that.
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Maryland junior wide receiver Tai Felton
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On the play of the defense and how it helps the offense …
It helps a lot; it gives a lot of opportunities to go score so as Heeb (Tarheeb Still) said, coach had been emphasizing that. If the defense touches the ball and then offense makes a play after that. The blessing is very exciting to go see the guys catch the ball and can play like they are receiving. It's very exciting, and that's how we got the W today.
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On the fast start today …
"That's another emphasis we had, to start fast because the last two weeks we kind of started off really slow. We had a slow 14-0 start, we were losing but we kind of emphasized on it this week, starting fast and just staying with our tempo, staying with our standards all week so we can end up showing it out today at the game.
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On the offense …
I mean it's pretty exciting because you know that when I get subbed out, I have another guy behind me that can do the job too. So it's just very exciting seeing everybody move fast, and it's very exciting to see what we practice just come out and to wish for it alongside, I would say it's very exciting and its very good for the team.
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Maryland senior defensive back Tarheeb Still
On the last interception …
Well, this week we had an emphasis on getting our hands on the ball and creating turnovers and creating more opportunities for offense. On that last play when I picked up the pass, my guy he came flat down the line, I saw the tackle come out of the block, and I saw the running back right there and so I knew it was a screen. I knew to make a play; he threw it right over his head, right to me.
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On the defense …
I would say really, we got a lot of guys that are hungry to make plays, a lot of guys that want to go out there and show that they can make plays and win. And then also, the leader of the defense, Coach B-Dub (Brian Williams), he really is a guy who wanted to go out there and play hard four, and everyday guys come into the facility ready to work, ready to achieve more. So, I feel like we got good group guys that want to go out there and really just make plays, really have fun together. We have a great bond and that's something we have really built over the years.
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On the team needing to be discipline and clean up mistakes …
We had 11 penalties last week and six this week. That's better but it's not what we want. You can't play in this league and have that many penalties and turnovers. Yes, we led in yards and time of possession but those don't mean as much as the turnovers and penalties. I said, discipline is going to be the word of the season and we're going to continue to talk about it and push it. You're going to see results very soon.
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On defense facing immediate pressure due to turnovers …
We know on defense you got to go out there and put the fire out. Nobody cares what the situation is, we got to go out there and compete like Spartan Dawgs and that's the mindset. It's another chance to go out there to compete, play the game you love, that's what we tell the guys. I was encouraged by the defense in the second half, I kept telling them when they got off the field, that's defense.
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On if it was a game Maryland won or was it a game Michigan State lost with the errors …
It's a combination of both. They're a good team by putting themselves in the position to win by causing turnovers but at the same time, we helped them. Players have the opportunity to make plays but couldn't capitalize and they were making the plays and capitalizing. We can't say it was them beating us, or us beating ourselves, it was the combination of the two.
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On if it was a winnable game despite the score …
Absolutely, I will believe in that all the way to the end. It got out of hand (late), but I thought we could come back and get them.
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On quarterback switch …
It wasn't much about performance, more about trying to find a spark to get us going. Noah is our quarterback, he's our guy.
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On Noah Kim feedback from Jay Johnson …
Coach Johnson kept saying, lets stick with him, he's our guy. Nobody is perfect and he (coach Johnson) knows Kim worked hard to get in that position. It was a competition all summer long. You don't just run from it after a game or two because he's not playing the way he wants to or the way we want him too. He's a good player and he's going to get better from it.
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On Jacoby Windmon injury update …
He's day-to-day.
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On the performance of freshmen Jordan Hall and Chance Rucker …
I thought they did well today for freshmen. Chance had some deep balls thrown up and was there in coverage. He didn't panic, he's a talented young man. Jordan was running around hitting people, a very smart young man who knows the system and the future is bright with those two guys.
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On how to cut down the turnovers …
We got to value the football, we work on ball security everyday with the offense. As far as fumbles concern, the ball must be high and tight. With interceptions, I'm sure coach Johnson will get them better on not playing hero ball and just throw it away. Those guys are competitive, they're trying to win, they're trying to do the right thing and make plays. How you correct it is, just get rid of it and live to see another play.
On what he saw on the two dropped balls and the fake punt … Â
Right, that's a good question. So, the deep balls, the angle I had, I'll have to watch the film, I forget, I think that was Montorie (Foster) but one of the DBs that might've got his hand in at the last second, it was almost a good play by him one of them. The other one, we just gotta look it in. We gotta look it in and hold on to the ball. Its concentration, you know see it all the way into your hands and then tuck it away.
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As far as the fake punt, there must've been something on film that they saw, I'll end up talking to coach Els and see what that was about because we normally have somebody that's in that same position to handle that type of stuff. So, I don't know. We have to watch it and I hope we can give you a better answer after watching the film.
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On keeping the team mentally and emotionally involved in the game …
Well, we have a team of competitors, and so when you are a competitor, you are always trying to get better and to right the ship so to speak. I asked them to announce anybody that you know felt like 'Hey man, this is over, I'm out of here,' I asked them, I said, 'You can raise your hand and no love lost and then you can move on, it's no problem,' and nobody raised their hand. Nobody raised their hand. So, that's a good sign and other guys repeated, they said, 'Hey, hey man, just what he said, if anybody feel like we can't get it done and get this thing turned around, go ahead walk and leave, we like that better than you guys sticking around and whining and complaining,' so nobody raised their hand. So, competitors are going to compete, and I told them, 'I hate losing, I hate losing.' And so, we're going to do whatever we can and do whatever we have to, to get in the win column and it's going to start with discipline like I've been saying.
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On what he saw from the team throughout the week and in pregame …
I saw excitement in the guys on Friday, yesterday before practice. We do morning practice, as you guys know, and it was buzzing, it was buzzing by the end of the week, and they were excited to play, and they were prepared as well. And so, we had good practices on Thursday, you know Thursday's a walk-through, Thursday, Friday were good, not that Tuesday, Wednesday weren't, but it was towards the end of the week getting all the assignments down because sometimes early in the week you get into all the gameplan stuff and you're trying to 'Oh, this is what we're doing today, or 'This is what we're doing today,' but by the end of the week you're sharp and we were sharp at the end of the week Thursday, Friday and I felt the buzz in the meeting, before the meeting starts, guys talking and they're just ready to go so that was a big sign for me.
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On injury updates to Windmon, Brantley and Bogle …
Well, like I said, I thought we played pretty well in the second half on defense, for the most part but we definitely want those guys to come back and they should be coming back soon, I can give you a better answer later, but I think those guys will be back soon and so we're anticipating them coming back and strengthening our defense and helping the depth and all that kind of stuff. So, it was good to see Chance get out there and Jordan Hall get out there and all those guys get out there because that all strengthens the defense so when everybody's healthy. We have a unit just ready to go and anybody can go in at any time and help us out.
Michigan State redshirt sophomore running back Nathan Carter
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On if there is a galvanizing happening after losing two games and now hitting the road …
I think it just pushes us to continue to get better. At the end of the day, we're gonna do what we wanted to do today, and that was to win a football game. We have to watch the film on Monday and correct the mistakes and do what we have to do and then continue to push forward like you said. We're playing at Iowa, they're a very good football team and they have a very hostile environment, especially down there so we gotta be ready for that. And I think that we will and I think that you know these last few games are really gonna motivate us for us to go out there and move together and win games.
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On how difficult having more total yards of offense but not winning the game is …
Very difficult. You know it just leads to us finishing drives and trusting our security. At the end of the day we all have to do our jobs, and if we don't do our jobs then we won't get the ball in the end zone. That's what it comes down to, it comes down to one block, one play, you know one mishap. So, whatever we got to do, we gotta figure out how to finish drives as offense and put the ball in the end zone so we can get points.
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On if this game gave him confidence that the team can throw the football …
Most definitely. You know we have a good team. We have players that can make plays and we have coaches that put us in our positions in those plays. It's our job as players to go out there and do our job. We have to execute that, that's the bottom line. That's the one thing to execute, so that's gonna be the focus of this week really. We have to put it together on offense so we can finish those drives and get in the red zone and have that momentum and we don't take a step back, we continue to take steps forward.
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On if he feels that there have been some big opportunities that slipped away offensively...
Yeah it's hard. You know it's hard, knowing that we can make plays and we don't execute them. At the end of the day we have to never get too high, never get too low. We have to move on to the next play, move on to the next drive, we can't ponder on the past. We have to continue to focus and grind for the future. I think that's good for your mindset going forward, we still have to execute plays, we have to do what we have to do. We don't ponder on the past, you have to continue to move forward and do what we have to do each and every play, each and every drive to get the job done.
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On if he could confirm that no one said they did not want to be here anymore after the game…
Yeah most definitely. I think it's a lot of guys, everyone in that group, everybody in that locker room, including coaches, who wanna fight. Like I said, we've been through adversity for the last two to three weeks and one of the things that Coach Barnett does preach to us to keep us unified as a team, to not break. I believe that all the guys in the locker room, whenever they do that, I think it's really gonna help us to go on and finish this mission that we have as a team.
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On his fourth down stop and the fumble...
Just execution. You know at the end of the day as far as a fumble, I didn't do my job. You know it's my job to hold on to the football and I just didn't do my job. Just poor, poor ball security as far as the hand off. I was in traffic and didn't do my job. Simple as that so I gotta be able to be better, I have to be better to do my job. It wasn't the play call, it wasn't the offensive lineman, I just didn't do my job. So I have to continue to do my job on that. As far as the fourth down play, you know whatever Coach Johnson calls I have to try to have faith that he's calling the right play for the right reasons. If it doesn't work then that means that we didn't do our job as the offense. So the times where we knew we could execute, when we ran these plays, we know what looks we were gonna get, we knew 'Oh we gotta do this to get our ball in the end zone', and we simply didn't do that. So that's what happens when we don't execute and we don't do our jobs. But that's gonna be the point of us going into this next practice, and when we go to the Iowa game, is for us to be able to do our job and execute. Cause we have a good football team, we have a good offense, and we know that we can move the ball, we have to be willing to go out there and do it.
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Michigan State Redshirt Senior Center Nick Samac
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On what type of challenges he has as a leader these past few weeks…
Yeah, it's challenging. It's just a new thing. It's adversity, but like I said it's nothing that we haven't been through before. I'm just trying my best to keep myself positive and set a good example for the guys. I can't show them my weakness cause then that creates weakness as a whole as a team. You know it is challenging, but we're continuing to fight and I think we're very close to being where we wanna be. And I know we're gonna get there.
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On how he thinks Noah Kim performed and handled today…
I mean good job, you know. Things happen, things change, but we are a team. It's not an individual sport. So whatever we gotta do to win, whatever that case may be. You know I love all my guys the same so we're gonna fight whoever is out there.
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On the fourth-and-goal play, walking through his thoughts…
Yeah, I think a little bit of that was executing. They gave us a bear-front so we gotta be able to pick that up. We've done it in the past, I wouldn't say we worked on it as much this week...And I love him to death, I trust in everything he does. He's gone over these things numerous times with us. So it comes down to us as o-line executing that for him, for us, for each other. Because we've seen that before, we've seen that front, we've ran that play against that front. It's nothing new to us, we just gotta execute it better. I gotta look at the film to see exactly what happened. I know for me, the nose dove in my knees that long the goal line so I kinda took a fall, you know before I got to my backers. So I gotta see the whole play, see what happened.
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On how he handles the drives down the field…
It's up and down because you drive down the field, you show you dominated but at the same time, you didn't finish. We saw light and day like I said. We showed today, no matter what anyone says, this team is about us and that's all we care about. The guys in our room, what we're gonna do for each other, the adversity we're going through. We're going through that stuff together. We're going through that stuff together, and that's a big thing for me. We showed that we can drive down the field. You know that's a Big Ten opponent, no matter how you write it up, that's a Big Ten opponent and we showed we can drive down the field on them. Throw game and pass game, so we just need to learn to finish and execute better.
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On what things he felt he needed to improve on from the first three games…
Individually, I would say you know going into that Washington week, I knew it was going to be a big front. So I was going to have to be able to keep a good base, especially my pass rush or my pass blocking. And I felt like I did a way better job of that today, had a couple twist pick-ups, and I felt good about my pass pro for the most part of today except for probably a few plays. I got a little too head-heavy. As a team, just going into the game with a good strategy which we had. Just keeping our heads up, and knowing that adversity is gonna hit. Just finishing plays.
Michigan State sixth-year graduate linebacker Aaron Brule
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On the most difficult thing about the last couple weeks…
Keeping guys bought in. The younger guys, nobody knows where they're head is really at, they're just getting here. So, we want to keep those guys along with us and keep capitalizing. Getting those guys better each week, cause obviously people got to step up as the season goes on. We've got some tough games coming up, everybody's got to be ready to play.
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On being more disciplined going into the Iowa game…
Just assignments. Keys, making every play. We don't want to leave nothing on the field, to where we're like 'aw man, dang, if we would've done this and that.' We don't want that. We don't want any of it. We want to do everything as clean as possible.
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On Jordan Hall…
He knows he's the future of this program. So, I mean, getting his feet wet early is not only great for him and great for the team. He does a good job when he's in there, and we're looking to keep building on that each week further.
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On the second half…
We just wanted to keep tackling. We had the same plan, obviously made a few adjustments. But we had the same plan the whole game. So, I think in the second half we just came out with good energy and getting after it.
Michigan State redshirt junior linebacker Cal Haladay
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On the last couple of weeks and staying together as a team…
I think it's tough, it's definitely tough, cause losing is the worst thing in the world. You practice all week to go out Saturday and not get the job done. It hurts. But I think we have been doing pretty well and been staying together and making sure that we all focus on the mission at hand.
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On the locker room after the game…
Coach Barnett believes in us, and he believes (we can win) every game on the schedule. And we believe that too as a team. We can't have any negative energy in the room or in the program right now because we need to be positive, lift each other up, come together closer. I think that's the key with what's been going on, everything, block out the noise and just come together as a team. Stay inside the walls.
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I think we have a good group. I think the guys are bought in. I mean, losing like this is hard, it's hard on everyone, I said the same before, losing when you practice all week and you don't get the job done on Saturday, it's tough. And you kind of question what we are doing wrong. But you just go back to the guys, everyone cares about each other it's a brotherhood. We just want to get the job done.
Maryland Head Coach Mike Locksley
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Opening statement …
First of all, really proud of this team, proud of the way they responded. To the coaching, we've talked the last couple of weeks about starting fast and we were able to do that today. Any time you are able to win on the road in the Big Ten, that's huge. For us to be able to come up here and do something, I think that hasn't been done since 1950. Definitely proud of the team, happy to be 4-0. We talked all week long, and for the last couple of weeks about getting off to a fast start, and that's what we were able to do. Defense came up big early on with the turnovers, and we were able to convert those to scores. Any time you come up with turnovers like we did today, it really helps you on the offensive side of the ball. The best part of this all is that that locker room is still disappointed that we didn't finish the way we like to. As I said before it's always great to clean it up with a win. Gotta give credit to the players in terms of how they responded, and did the things necessary. We're back in the shell next week against Indiana. I hope our fans show up for these kids. They've earned the right to have you guys there to support them. Our student section has done their part. I know we're excited for the opportunity to go 5-0 at home in the shell, and the players are excited about that.
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On the defense getting turnovers …
It was big, you know. The defense, the offense, special teams all came together and came up big again today. They created some opportunities with the fumble there on the kickoff return. Our punter pulled one down and rushed for a first down to extend the drive. Offensively we were a little off today, just missing on some things. Defensively early on, the turnovers were big. What I like to see is just our guys get off the field better on third down.
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On the fast start …
Execution early on, the turnovers, we were able to finish early on. Turnovers with touchdowns, which helped us. I love to say that was the reason why, I can only speculate. We're gonna go back to some good on good stuff this week, but we also got a better look out of our development team. Their role is to prepare us for the speed of the game. I don't know if that was the fix, but I'm happy, really happy we were able to get the turnovers and convert them into scores early.
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On the interception by senior defensive back Tarheeb Still …
I saw bad field awareness. I would love to see him finish it and stay in bounds and go score. We gave up some yardage today, but as we got down in that red area, we buckled down and were able to go down and cheap them out of the endzone. Big interception there by Heeb. Big play by our defense.
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On the team not needing senior quarterback Taulia Tagovailoa to pass for 300 yards …
We all know, football is the ultimate team sport. I think we picked it up in other areas. As I said earlier, we were just a little bit off for whatever reason with our base offensive systems. Maybe it was just off on the perimeter block that allowed us to create some big plays. Maybe off on a few throws, but we showed the balance that we have and the ability that different guys have. Different opportunities and different guys make plays for us. Had some guys nicked up this week, but some other guys stepped up when we needed them to.
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On if Tagovailoa hurt his hand …
I think he just had to use the restroom. Just kidding, I don't know.
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On the complimentary football today …
That's huge. That is what we need to do. The consistency on offense. I always talk about us being a rhythm team on offense. Just for whatever reason, everything was a little off. Few steps here, few inches off there. We'll get that part fixed. It's great to fix that coming off a win, and a win on the road in the Big Ten. And this is a tough league. You give credit to Michigan State. You give credit to Harlon. The job that he's did to get his job back, his guys fought today. But our guys started fast and gave us this opportunity to come out with the W.
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On the team's offensive diversity …
Anyone that has followed us over the years understands that we play a lot of players. We recruit and add depth to get a lot of guys involved. It's great to see that type of diversity. As I said, there's still a lot of things that we gotta get cleaned up. Still some things that will be able to fixed here this week.
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On if the fake punt was a designed play …
I'm gonna take credit for that. Hopefully I'll get coach of the week because I called a punt down inside my own 20. I promise you we didn't call a fake punt down in there. Based on the scheme of the rugby stuff we do, the rules tell him if there's no contain, do pull down and go now. I looked at our special teams coordinator and said he needs to be careful running that down in our area of the field. Players make plays and Colton is one of those guys athletic enough to do it. I'm glad he did it because he was able to extend the drive for us. I cannot take credit for calling a fake punt down in there.
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On junior defensive lineman Donnell Brown's big day …
I was happy with his production. When we brought him in, we brought him in to get after the quarterback. I was joking with him as he's dropping into space and getting interceptions, and doing everything other than getting sacks. I love to see him get after the quarterback a little bit. He's one of those guys who's always around the ball. He's an athletic big guy so we utilize him a lot of different ways. What I found out is that he has a knack for the ball. We need to continue to have him make those plays.
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Maryland senior linebacker Sean Greeley
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On his touchdown …
Well, they told me that was the play going into this week, so I was prepared. Just a time and place opportunity. We were close to the goal line so they called my name, and it was a good surprise for me.
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On the play of the defense …
Like Heeb (Tarheeb Still) was saying, we put an emphasis on getting hands on the ball and taking a lot of shots on the ball so, on that one I kind of just put my head down, got lucky, and knocked the ball out.
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On the last time he scored a touchdown in a game …
Probably senior year of high school. So probably, four and a half or five years ago. Something like that.
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Maryland junior wide receiver Tai Felton
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On the play of the defense and how it helps the offense …
It helps a lot; it gives a lot of opportunities to go score so as Heeb (Tarheeb Still) said, coach had been emphasizing that. If the defense touches the ball and then offense makes a play after that. The blessing is very exciting to go see the guys catch the ball and can play like they are receiving. It's very exciting, and that's how we got the W today.
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On the fast start today …
"That's another emphasis we had, to start fast because the last two weeks we kind of started off really slow. We had a slow 14-0 start, we were losing but we kind of emphasized on it this week, starting fast and just staying with our tempo, staying with our standards all week so we can end up showing it out today at the game.
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On the offense …
I mean it's pretty exciting because you know that when I get subbed out, I have another guy behind me that can do the job too. So it's just very exciting seeing everybody move fast, and it's very exciting to see what we practice just come out and to wish for it alongside, I would say it's very exciting and its very good for the team.
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Maryland senior defensive back Tarheeb Still
On the last interception …
Well, this week we had an emphasis on getting our hands on the ball and creating turnovers and creating more opportunities for offense. On that last play when I picked up the pass, my guy he came flat down the line, I saw the tackle come out of the block, and I saw the running back right there and so I knew it was a screen. I knew to make a play; he threw it right over his head, right to me.
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On the defense …
I would say really, we got a lot of guys that are hungry to make plays, a lot of guys that want to go out there and show that they can make plays and win. And then also, the leader of the defense, Coach B-Dub (Brian Williams), he really is a guy who wanted to go out there and play hard four, and everyday guys come into the facility ready to work, ready to achieve more. So, I feel like we got good group guys that want to go out there and really just make plays, really have fun together. We have a great bond and that's something we have really built over the years.
Players Mentioned
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