COLLEGE PARK, Md - The Maryland Terrapins just beat the Towson Tigers 28-3 on Sunday, but it wasn't nearly as easy as that final scoreline might indicate. The defense struggled to get off the field in the first half, and the offense couldn't maintain any possession themselves. But they turned it around in the second half with the help of four forced turnovers, and managed to run away from their instate rival. Here is some reaction from Coach Edsall and the players.
Randy Edsall:
On the game: That was a good win for us. Anytime you win it's good; it's hard to win. I'm very proud of our assistant coaches and our players. I want to give give Towson credit. Rob had his guys ready to play. Came out with a lot of new wrinkles in the first half that we didn't see on film, and I knew that's what he was going to do; I just didn't know what he was going to do. I really thought our defense hung in there and did a good job. We did force four turnovers which I thought was huge. I'm just very proud of our players for getting that win. Now we can stay humble, stay hungry and build on it.
On where the team is after four games: I think after four games that we have a pretty good feel of who we are and who we need to be moving forward. When you're coming in new and you're installing new systems, it takes some time to just figure out your own kids and what they can do. The bottom line is I want to do - we want to do the things they can do best. I think that looking at the game today and the other three games that we have a much better feel of what they can do now moving forward.
Kevin Dorsey:
On what he saw from Towson in the first half: They sent some blitzes on third down that we weren't used to. Some blitzes on the back side that we hadn't practiced because we had seen them coming front side. It was a little bit different, but that is something that just at half time you have to adjust for.
Demetrius Hartsfield:
On the defense in the first half: It wasn't frustrating at first. We just knew that we had to settle down because I think that we were running around a little bit in the first quarter because we didn't expect what they came out to do. But we got adjusted to it throughout the game. We definitely did better in the second half of forcing the turnovers. We just got the ball more.
Danny O'Brien:
On what the offense needs to improve on: I gotta hit the gimme throws. The throws that I need to be making and can make, and do make. Those stick out to me. Hitting the gimme throws, making the gimme catches, those are gonna come. And just being better on third down because teams have been throwing some stuff at us - I don't want to say we struggled with - but we didn't convert. Especially now, it's going to be a tough road ahead.
On Where they stand after four weeks: I think it started to show in the second half, as we kind of found out what was working and what wasn't. Like I said, we just do so many things. We go from the spread zone read, then we have a lot of pro style, pro set power downhill running game and play action. When you have all that stuff it's kind of hard to classify who you are. I think we're going to have to. You can be good at a lot of things and great at fewer things and we're trying to figure out what we're going to be great at.