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University of Minnesota Athletics
Postgame Quotes
9/30/2017 12:00:00 AM | Football
Recap | Final Stats | Notes | Photo Gallery
Sept. 30, 2017
TCF Bank Stadium
Maryland at Minnesota
P.J. Fleck, Minnesota Head Coach
On his message to the team after their first loss…
"Well the biggest message was, 'We did not deserve to win the football game.' We lost the turnover battle two to nothing. We did not tackle well in space, which was one of the biggest focuses for us this week. We did not take advantage of opportunities on special teams. When you lose all three phases, it is really hard to win a football game with a young football team. These are the scars that are going to help us fail and grow. I saw a lot of performances from a lot of young players that have to step in there and play that give us a reason to think that this thing can get really good as we go forward. But again, it is a process. It's the next right step. It's a close game against a team that has a lot of athletes and a lot of depth. We have got to be able to get to that point. Again, there is some really good but there is some really bad. We did not deserve to win the football game. Give Maryland a lot of credit. They came in here and took it. We did not play our type of football today."
On the differences in the defense from earlier in the season to today…
"The biggest thing was the first down. First and second down, they were getting seven or eight yards a play. If you go back and look at what they really do, their running back is averaging close to 10 yards a carry. They have four phenomenal athletes. You saw all four of them at some point make incredible plays in very crucial times. We forced them to be able to make some great plays and that is what you have to do is keep it sound, but also if they are going to make a play, they have to make a play to win. A bunch of their touchdowns came on plays that were defended really well. The last one obviously not. They were able to establish the run early which is against what we believe in. When you rush for 200 some yards against us, the stats of you winning go way down."
On what makes Ty Johnson such a tough running back to defend…
"He is so explosive. He is so strong. He has great vison and he is a tough back. He has incredible balance. He has the ability to go from zero to sixty, too. When you put all that together, there is a reason why they beat Texas. You can see all the athletes they have out there. We have to have our guys continue to emerge. There is a lot of good to take from it but again, you can see why we lost the football game. The ball was huge. We did not tackle well and on special teams we did not play very well. That cost us."
On the struggling running game…
"I would defend us just like they defended us. What wide outs have gone out there and made a ton of plays that expose everybody. That goes back to us. We threw the ball a little more this time because they were putting eight or nine guys in the box and loading up the box. There is a difference between loading up the box in Big Ten play and loading up the box in group of five play at times. Our guys have to be able to make plays. It might be a different story if we catch the first one and do not have the interception. Those are story changers. So again, it effects how you call the football game. It changes how they run their defense in terms of what they want to be able to stop. It comes back to the ball. We did not take good enough care of it. We were 5-of-12 on third down and that is not going to win you any football games."
On how the team is going to respond to the loss…
"We are going to respond, that is for sure. We are going to respond in an elite way. Period. I told them in there we did not deserve to win the football game. The great thing about the Big Ten is if you do not deserve to win football games, you are not going to win them. There might be two teams in the league that are good enough, with enough talent and depth, to be able to not play well and win. But where we are at, we cannot play that way and win. That is what we have to be able to clean up. That is why we play sound football. In certain areas we did not play sound football and it caught up to us when it caught up to us. I am proud of the penalties, I thought we kept that pretty low. I thought we played a clean game. We had one turnover until the last pick but that turnover cost us everything because we did not get any takeaways. That is the difference in the game."
Brandon Lingen, Minnesota TE
On what it was like getting a touchdown today…
"It's awesome. It's awesome to be back and to try to help this team win. But there's 10 other guys out on that field doing their job. I'm just the one who made the catch."
On the Gophers being banged up and what they are doing to recover from the injuries...
"It's definitely next-man-up mentality. When guys go down, the next one has to be ready to go. And that's how we practice, too."
Eric Carter, Minnesota WR
On if he felt he would catch the ball during his diving grab…
"Yes, sir. When I saw it up in the air, I thought it was going to be a little far so I was going to have to run up under it, so I picked up a little speed, and just reached out and made the catch."
On where that catch ranks in his all-time catches list…
"Besides my first touchdown at college, probably second."
On if the momentum was on Minnesota's side after his big catch and if he thought Minnesota would be able to pull out the win…
"Most definitely. We're not really big fans of momentum. We take it play by play. But after I made that catch, I knew we could punch it in."
Conor Rhoda, Minnesota QB
On potential run-option plays when he could have kept the ball…
"There may have been opportunities, but like I have said before, I'm going to make them show me a read and take what they give. A lot of the times it is fifty-fifty and if they are showing me something I may not keep it the first time. If I get the look again, then I'll keep it, but I trust 1 (Rodney Smith) and 23 (Shannon Brooks) so much. I want the ball in their hands. We will go back, watch the film and learn from it."
On Maryland's defensive ability to stop the run and how it impacted the rest of the offense…
"They played us really well. They kept Rodney, Shannon and the rest of our run game down a lot better than other teams that have come in here over the past couple years. I thought we responded well. A lot of guys stepped up. Eric (Carter) made a great play and a couple of other great catches. There were some real positive things coming away from this rough game, so we just need to get back tomorrow, watch film and see what we need to do better."
On his pass and Eric Carter's diving catch…
"I honestly got drilled so I didn't really see what happened. I threw it, took a shot, and on the ground, I heard the crowd and thought we scored a touchdown. I got up and saw one of their defensive backs by Eric and our guys running down to the ball. It was just a great opportunity for Eric and myself, who have been here for five years together, to connect on a play like that, which got us back in the game."
Jonathan Celestin, Minnesota Linebacker
On the overall performance of the defense…
"We need to tackle better. That was the biggest thing for us today. We started slow and as the game went on we got better, but we have to start off much faster."
On what Maryland's rushing attack did that gave the defense trouble…
"They were running a lot of the same type of zones, but they were just able to beat us to the sidelines. We did a poor job in setting the edge. They were able to stretch things out all day, which is why they were able to pile up so many rushing yards."
DJ Durkin, Maryland Head Coach
"Obviously a great win for our team and our program. I'm so proud of our kids. That's the one thing I can say is just how proud I am. Those guys responded. We had adversity and they responded. They rallied around Max (Bortenschlager) and thought Max played a great game… I thought the O-line and the guys around him did phenomenal… We did it. We made the plays. I'm very proud of our group."
On Max Bortenschlager's game…
"Max has a quiet confidence about him. … He doesn't say much, but he's very confident about what he does. He made some great throws on third down, some great conversions. I thought our offensive line did a tremendous job protecting him. We had zero sacks in the game. It was a big thing on the line of scrimmage going into the game. We were able to rush for over 270 yards and no sacks. That's an offensive line controlling the line of scrimmage. On the flip side, our defense held them to 80 yards rushing. I think that's the story of the game. Both teams going into it we knew both want to run the ball. It was going to be a test of will, who is going to be able to run the ball and who's going to get stopped, so that's where it was won, I believe."
On Max Bortenschlager's confidence from week to week…
"It's the same. That's Max every day. The difference was he had a team around him with a resolve, a determination about them. Just a group of guys that decided to come together and do something special."
On clock management and the play at the end of the half…
"Our offense did a great job executing. We were in that gray area of, 'Do we come out and go two-minute, or just try to run the half out?'... They used a timeout so you know we said, 'Let's go hit it'. There was six seconds on the clock and that was a huge play by our guys. We can drop back and throw a Hail Mary to the end zone, or try and get a quick one. Ty Johnson did a great job of getting down. If he tries to make one or two more moves, he probably gains eight, nine more yards, gets tackled, and the half's over. It's something we work on and talk about and to actually go execute in a game is huge. He went out there and he was open, he slid, we called timeout and then we get the field goal."
On preparing for Minnesota's defense against the run…
"We saw they're good. They play hard, they're stout in the middle. They're very sound in what they do. We also felt that there were things we can take advantage of, and our guys were good, too. We tested and really challenged our offensive line, so yeah, they are good and they're one of the best defenses in the country, statistically, so if we can't run the ball in this game, it's not gonna go well. I thought those guys, you know, they stepped up to the challenge, which is what you want to see."
On preparing despite talk about QB injuries…
"I think the proper way to live life is with an edge every day when you wake up, so that's what we're trying to pass on to our team. I definitely think those guys had something about them today, it's got to continue. It's got to be every day, every day we prepare during the week for practice. We've got a long schedule ahead of us. We have to keep understanding what helps us be successful."
On the fake field goal setting the tone early…
"I didn't do it for a statement or something, but our guys understand we're going to play aggressive, we're gonna swing… I think their guy made a heck of a play, beat a block and made a play, but the look was there. I think we score nine out of ten times on it, but either way we're going to call it. We want our guys to know if we practice something and we want to do it, we're certainly going to call it."
Ty Johnson, Maryland RB
On the game-winning run and how it was set up on the drive…
"Just following the linemen. They got a lot of push off the line and we knew we needed to get at least in the red zone and from there it was just…follow my reads and follow the linemen."
On the matchup between Minnesota's defense and Maryland's run game…
"They run to the ball a lot. …From watching from film I was kind of anxious to go against them from how they swarm to the ball and their D-linemen downfield and they're by the ball."
On quarterback, Max Bortenschlager, bouncing back from last week's loss…
"Played his heart out. During the game I told him, 'I got your back,' and I said, 'Regardless, you're going to have a great game,' and he did. It showed all through practice and it showed today."
On being tied with 4 minutes left in the game and how he communicated with Bortenschlager…
"I let him do his thing. As a quarterback he's the leader of the offense and I knew he knew what he was going to do I didn't need to say anything to him. I just need to do my job and protect him."
On preparation after last week's limited running game and motivation for this week…
"All throughout practice, we were going against the defense... seeing who's going to push back who and against a lot of competition all week, running the ball and getting it downfield."
Max Bortenschlager, Maryland QB
On having a full week of first-team reps and making a game plan…
"It was huge knowing that I was the guy going through the week. Everyone around the facility instilled a bunch of confidence in me, telling me they had my back and everything, and that was huge having that full week.
On injuries of other quarterbacks and how it pushed him to prove himself…
"Every time you have an opportunity you have to go out and prove yourself. Last week I had a bitter taste in my mouth and I didn't want to have the same feeling this week so I made it a point to focus on doing my job and everyone around the team did awesome."
On mindset during third down conversions this week…
"Our plan to win was do better on third downs, because last week we were pretty bad on third downs, so we put up great emphasis on third downs this week throughout practice and it definitely showed today.
On the attitude of the huddle with 4 minutes left in the game…
"We had a bunch of confidence and we didn't really flinch. They all came up to me and said, 'This is your time to go show it. … They all had my back so I knew I had to go have their back and make some plays. O-Line did awesome all day, no sacks… that was huge.
Cavon Walker, Maryland DT
On the last drive after the pick and the attitude of the defense…
"We told everyone when we walked on that field to just do their job. You don't have to be Superman. Just be a man and things will fall into place, and that's what happened. After the pick… I was happy, smiling, dancing. It's an amazing thing, great win.
On Bortenschlager's second career start and how he performed…
"He surprised me a lot. He did some amazing things out there, confidence was up. … The whole week we were telling him, 'You're our guy. We believe in you," and he took that and showed us on the field today. Great performance, looked calm in the pocket, did some great things out there and I'm very proud of him.
On the defense being able to shut down the Minnesota run game…
"We knew they were going to be a great team coming in, a great running team. So, we just knew we had to do our jobs and fill our gaps. You can't be out of your place. … You know those guys are smart runners and they kept their legs moving every play, and we appreciate the competition and we came out there and we were ready."
