Timing perfect for Terps' bye week

COLLEGE PARK, Md. — They say timing is everything. At least that’s how Maryland head coach Michael Locksley is viewing his team’s current bye week.

Locksley’s high-powered offense came to a screeching halt last Saturday in Maryland’s 20-17 road loss to Temple. But the week to regroup is well-timed for the Terps, who are coming off their first defeat of the season and preparing for their Big Ten opener against Penn State in College Park Sept. 27.

“I think that on offense we were off. I thought our timing was off and the bye week couldn't have come at a better time for us,” Locksley said Tuesday. “Now we are able to delve into the why and we'll use this week to figure that out, as well as get back to some of the fundamental things that we need to move forward in our journey. When you're on a journey, every step is important but no one more than the other, so we'll continue to move forward with this and utilize this bye week to get us back on track.”

Locksley elaborated on his bye week plan during his weekly press conference Tuesday afternoon. He explained how a week off during the course of a season needs to be approached strategically, with a balance between work and rest.

“To me, after three games I think this is a great opportunity to look at where we are and who we are, in all three phases, but I also think it gives us a chance to rest,” Locksley said. “These guys will have about four days of rest, as we go into the Penn State prep on Sunday. And what we want to get done the next three days for us — it’s really important to put a big emphasis on our fundamentals by position. When you get better fundamentally, you get better as a team, and so we'll use these next three days to really increase how much individual time our players will have to do the fundamental drills that we don't get to do during the course of a season. And then Sunday we’ll get really into a bunch of the scheme stuff. But we'll get a jump start on Penn State, we’ll hit the fundamental things that we need to improve, we’ll self-scout ourselves, and then we'll get a little rest at the end.”

While Maryland’s defense and special teams were far from perfect against Temple, the Terps’ step back on offense last week is the talk of the town during the bye — particularly the shaky play of the offensive line and subpar performance at quarterback by Josh Jackson.

“[Jackson] played well in the first two games. He had a setback and we all had a setback offensively this past game,” Locksley said. “But my expectation is, because of his experience, that he will bounce back. We'll get some things cleaned up this week and he'll be ready to go come Penn State week.

“This week we need to just kind of get back to some of the basics. I don't think Temple did anything that he hadn't seen, but as you said I just think he had one of those games where, you know, he kind of got off of his rhythm. When the quarterback gets that way you got to figure out how to get them back on track and that's my job is to coach to figure out how to get them back on track.”

Locksley took much of the blame upon himself for the Terps’ not coming up clutch in big moments during the loss to Temple. Even looking back to last season before he became the lead man at Maryland, Locksley sees a need for the Terps to improve on closing out games, and instilling that finishing mentality is something that’s high on his coaching priority list.

“That's on me as the head ball coach to figure out how to show our guys how to make these plays when they are there to be made,” Locksley said. “I've got to show these guys that when we get into those situations, how we need to perform and the types of habits and behaviors we need to have. I said this last week that opportunity and adversity go hand in hand. You're guaranteed those two things in life. And sometimes you don't know which one is which and we had some great opportunities in that game, and they turned into adversity. And so now what we've got to do is embrace the adversity part of it. Go back and clean up why it came up, why it happened, and then, move forward in our next step in our journey.”

The missed opportunities that Locksley has brought up most since the loss to Temple were the numerous goal line carries that Terps running back Anthony McFarland was stuffed on, including late in the fourth quarter when McFarland was hit in the backfield for a loss on fourth down with the game on the line.

“That guy's accounted for in our blocking scheme and we didn't execute the blocking scheme, so to me, that's a fundamental issue, and that's what we use this bye week to kind of get cleaned up,” Locksley said.

Maryland’s blocking was its biggest issue against the Owls. Locksley knows that’s the unit he needs to address most at the moment, and didn’t hesitate to say he’d get the ball to McFarland again in that situation “all day long.” It’s about execution up front in Locksley’s eyes, but that blocking execution will have to be performed by an offensive line that will be missing its right guard Terrance Davis for about four to six weeks.

“Terrance has an MCL sprain,” Locksley said. “Therefore, right now with where he is, it's probably a four to six-week deal, depending on how quickly the thing calms down. We're expecting him to be out at least four to six weeks with an MCL.”

The Terps are also a bit nicked up on special teams, as kicker Joseph Petrino left the Temple game with a groin injury and did not return. His outlook is a bit brighter than Davis’ at the moment, but his return for the Penn State game is still up in the air.

“[Petrino] had a groin injury and as of right now he won't kick for the next couple of days here, we're trying to let it calm down,” Locksley said. “We won't know, probably until we start preparation for Penn State on Sunday, how he feels. He didn't tear it so that's a good thing, but he has a significant pain down in that area so we're trying to let that calm down. We won't kick him here the next couple of days to give him an opportunity to heal up and then we'll see where he is.”

The bye week is certainly well-placed for Petrino, but Locksley is hoping the rest of his team can benefit from the physical and mental rest as well, as they reflect on not only a disappointing loss, but also their goals that still lie ahead.

“As I said last week, our season was going to be a journey and obviously this week we're sitting here at 2-1 in our journey,” Locksley said. “We're a little disappointed, which to me, I think it's a good thing because our team and our players have expectations and they expect that they go into this game and expected to win, so I was glad to see that our players are disappointed. As we said to our players on Saturday you know no one expects setbacks, but everyone has them, and for us it's going to be really important that we get to the crux of what created the setback for us and that's a good thing that we have a bye week this week to kind of get the answers.”