Maryland coach Mike Locksley: 'This week is a good gauge'

COLUMBUS — Maryland gave Ohio State a scare last year in College Park. The Terrapins entered halftime with a 13-10 lead. Buckeyes running back Dallan Hayden, at the time a true freshman, resuscitated Ohio State to the tune of three second-half touchdowns, but the Terps — even using a returned PAT block — clawed their way back into a one-score game in the fourth quarter.

A 45-yard Noah Ruggles field goal and, ultimately, a Zach Harrison strip sack, which turned into a Steele Chambers recovery and score, spoiled the night for upset-minded Maryland.

Ohio State preserved its perfect record for one final week before losing to Michigan at home in the regular season finale.

The Buckeyes enter this year’s meeting with the Terps unblemished in the win/loss column. So does Maryland, though.

Under fifth-year head coach Mike Locksley, the Terps are 5-0 for the first time since 2001. They’re just on the outside looking in of the AP Top 25. Maryland has beaten each of its first five opponents by 18 points or more — a first for the program.

Defeating Ohio State by any margin would be an era-defining milestone for Locksley’s Terps, especially because the Buckeyes have had Maryland’s number in Columbus, and even more so since Ryan Day took over as head coach.

Here’s what Locksley said about Ohio State and Saturday’s matchup in the ‘Shoe.

Introductory statement about playing Ohio State…

LOCKSLEY: “Ohio State is up. Going to Columbus on Friday, and it’s a great opportunity for the Terps football family. Got a lot of respect for Ryan Day, his program, what he’s been able to accomplish there the last three, four years. Very balanced team. I think you look at them on offense and defense, they’re scoring, they’re keeping people out of the end zone. They had a big win a couple of weeks ago against Notre Dame. Talented players. Marvin Harrison will be the best receiver we will face all year long. He’s really talented, makes big plays, makes the contested catches. When you look at Ohio State overall, the surprising thing that jumped out to me is just how many fourth and fifth-year starters they have in their starting lineup. And typically with a place like Ohio State, guys aren’t around that long. So, to me, it’s a testament to the job that Coach Day and his staff have done to create an environment where guys are staying for four and five years, and they’ve got tremendous experience.

“I’m sure there’ll be a great atmosphere there for their Homecoming. And while we got a lot of respect for Ohio State, we also know that it’s Game Six on our schedule, it’s not the Super Bowl. As we prepare, as I say each week, it’s Terps vs. Terps more than it is about our opponent. And I think that will be even more so evident this week as we prepare. Because, as I told our staff, it’s our job to put our players in the best position with what we put together from a game plan standpoint. But, ultimately, it’s gonna come down to players making plays, and we’ve got some talented players in our locker room, and big-time players show up in big-time games. So we’re excited about it.”

What has Ohio State QB Kyle McCord been able to do through four games that concerns you?

LOCKSLEY: “I think they’re really balanced. [McCord’s] gotten better every week that he’s started. And that’s what you expect with a first-year starter at the quarterback position. And he’s taken over a system that is a quarterback-friendly system. He has the intangibles, he has the ability to make all the throws, but I thought they’ve really done a really good job of how they’ve brought him along.

“And the run game shows up. You know, 32 (TreVeyon Henderson) is a really special player. The Henderson kid is as talented a running back that we’ll face. It’s going to be important for us to do a great job of trying to make them play one handed by trying to take away the run game, which is something that we’re a work-in-progress in still … being more efficient in our run defense. We’ve not given up a bunch of yards, but some of the efficiency of how people have been able to run the ball, especially on first down. We’ve got to do a better job this week, especially against this team.”

What’s it going to take to move the ball versus this Ohio State defense?

LOCKSLEY: “The players have to make plays. They’ve got a good scheme. We’ve studied it. It’s not anything that we haven’t seen thus far. As I told our staff, again, we’ve got to put a really good plan together of how we want to attack. But, ultimately, it’s going to come down to our players making the plays that are there to be made. And it’s a player’s game. As we go into this thing, I think our players need to understand that this is why you come to Maryland — to compete against the best, and here’s an opportunity. What a gauge it’ll be for our program to see what happens as we go up there to compete.”

How have you kept your team focused on the task at hand when this game was looming on the schedule?

LOCKSLEY: “It started four years ago when we came up with ‘faceless and nameless opponents.’ We don’t adjust how we prepare. As I told our coaches, we don’t need to play the fight song in the locker room this week. This isn’t one of those weeks where gimmicks are gonna get the job done. For us, it’s about earning the respect that we feel we deserve. An opportunity to compete against one of the top teams in our conference the last few years, and I know our players are really excited about it. We’ve got some talented players in our locker room. And I think it’s all about us earning the respect that I think our players feel we deserve.”

What’s the key to finally getting over the hump against Ohio State?

LOCKSLEY: “I’m gonna keep saying it. It’s gonna come down to players making plays. Having had the opportunity to compete against Ohio State quite a bit as an assistant at Illinois and then here, whenever we’ve had success against a team like Ohio State, it comes down to the players in your program that you recruit, playing to the best of their ability on that day. And so the goal for us as a staff is to get our players prepared to play their best on Saturday in Columbus. And if we do that, we’ll leave it out on the field, and we’ll deal with whatever the repercussions are.”

How do you feel your pass rush has come along, and how do you feel it’s equipped to take on Ohio State?

LOCKSLEY: “I’ll always say I want more pressure on the quarterback. I think our guys have done a really good job of disrupting the timing. We do some things, obviously dropping eight in coverage helps sometimes, but also the pressure from winning some of the 1-on-1 battles. Guys like Quashon Fuller and Donnell Brown and Tommy Akingbesote and Taizse Johnson — all those guys have done a really good job of applying the necessary pressure. But what’s it going to take? We’re gonna have to find a way to affect the quarterback this week. And [McCord] gets it out quick. And it’s gonna be important for us to do a great job of being pass rush sound in terms of our lanes and keeping them in the pocket. But, as always, you want to see us get more sacks. I’d love to see us be more disruptive. But so far, so good. We’ve been able to affect some of the quarterbacks we’ve played. The last two we’ve played, the ball comes out really quickly, so to be able to get sacks, it’s a testament to the back end and the coverage that’s been taking place.”

What’s your assessment of your program, two games into Big Ten play and heading into your toughest test yet?

LOCKSLEY: “When I talk to our team, we talk honestly. We have really honest dialogue. And I don’t think anybody is surprised that we are where we are right now. I don’t think anybody didn’t think we could be here, and that’s half the battle because it starts with that belief — me talking about competing for Big Ten championships, as I’ve said before. I think sometimes it was maybe misconstrued that we’re here to say we’re getting ready to win a Big Ten championship. But we’re gonna compete. And I think that’s what people are starting to see, that our team is competing at a really high level. Now, this week is a good gauge. It’s a hell of an opportunity, but even a better gauge as to where we really are as a program, and our players have embraced it. As a staff, we’ve embraced it. It’s a great test, and we’ll see how we do Saturday.”

Is there anything different you do to prepare your team for the Ohio Stadium atmosphere?

LOCKSLEY: “Nothing that we don’t ordinarily do. When we played on the road against Michigan State, we pumped crowd music in on Thursday. That’s why we go indoors to the indoor facility to practice on our Thursdays, and we’ll pump the crowd noise up for where it affects our quarterback some, and it helps us with our communications. But we’re a no huddle team. We don’t use a lot of verbiage at the line of scrimmage. So noise really doesn’t affect us. As far as the environment of playing in front of that many people, if you’ve ever been inside the arena, you don’t really notice. When we were playing in a pandemic — when there were nobody in the stands — to where we play and there’s 100,000, if your focus is on the right things and where it’s supposed to be, you don’t really notice the crowd. So, as I said, the way we prepare, we don’t have to make any adjustments to go up to Columbus.”

Ohio State, uncharacteristically, is second-to-last in the Big Ten in sacks. But what sticks out about that front seven?

LOCKSLEY: “I think the thing that jumps out probably more than anything is they may not statistically have sacks, but pressure is just as advantageous as sacks are at times. There’s this big thing going on called ‘dropping eight.’ We do it quite a bit to where you rush three, and there’s eight guys in coverage. Then the quarterback is kind of holding the ball, and when you rush three, you very rarely are going to get sacks because you got five guys blocking three.

“So I think you’ll see that when we study them on defense, they’re dropping what we call ‘P coverage,’ where they’re dropping eight to cover spaces. And a lot of that is to stop RPOs, to stop the down-the-field, vertical passing game. And it affects your statistics, but let’s not get it twisted: 44 (J.T. Tuimoloau) and the Sawyer kid on the other side, 33 (Jack Sawyer), whatever number he is — those guys are pass rushers. The interior D-Line are really talented players. They’re well coached. Larry Johnson does as good a job of developing players. And their front four is the best front four we’ve faced. Statistically, it may not show up with the sacks, but they have done a good job of creating pressure. But I also think some of the defensive schematics that they do maybe have added to their inability to get the stats that you look for, but they are effective.”