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RUTGERS UNIVERSITY FOOTBALL MEDIA CONFERENCE

November 4, 2017

Coach Ash

Piscataway, New Jersey

Maryland - 24, Rutgers - 31

COACH ASH: Go ahead and get started. Just want to start by just thanking the fans that showed up today. Created a tremendous environment in the stadium and when we needed them most there on that last drive, they are were loud. Just really appreciate the fans and the students that showed up to support us tonight.

Really proud of our players, our staff. They put a lot no this. This was a big game for us. It's one that we needed and they worked really hard and we knew it was going to be hard. It was going to be a four quarter game. We were going to have to make plays at the end on either side or either phase and we did that and came out with the victory. The team just never quit. Keep fighting and keep getting better and they keep believing in himself each other and that's why we won a game. With that, I'll go ahead and open it up for questions.

Q. The defensive stand at the end, and the whole stand -- especially for Isaiah Wharton to be in on that last play after some plays he probably wanted some redemption?
COACH ASH: You know what, I'm happy for the defense. We scored a touchdown earlier in the game that obviously was the difference in the score. But to all those guys, just really fought hard.

You know, with what we do defensively with our corners, pass interference calls are going to happen. Whether we agree with them or don't agree with them, they are called and if they are called, that's what they are.

But we have to have thick skin. We have to be able to bounce back and Isaiah did that, and we had another opportunity to make a play. He did it, you know, and it was a critical one obviously to win the game. Really happy with all those guys on defense.

Q. Do you feel that everyone was prepared and ready to go when they had to make that quarterback change at the end?
COACH ASH: Yeah, we had to go play. We didn't know anything about the kid other than where he's from and where he's at on the depth chart. Our guys continue to execute our calls and play with great effort and be in the right spots.

You know, obviously that kid had been well trained. Came in and executed some calls and made some plays and so hats off to him. But we made the plays that we needed to.

Q. Certainly looked like that fourth and one play was movement on the line --
COACH ASH: You want me to get in trouble here?

Q. Was saying to myself -- that's the part of play that might have made your team collapse last year. What does it say about the ability to stop them from the field goal?
COACH ASH: Might have made us collapse earlier in the year to be honest. That was a big call. The good thing is, though, it didn't go our way, but our players responded, held them to the field goal. And obviously, we give up a touchdown there, and it's going to look a little bleak. The outcome might be a little bit different.

The fact that we were able to hold it together and overcome it and hold them to a field goal was huge. That was a huge swing in the game right there.

Q. The feedback off that, went down for a touchdown, 11 plays, did you sense that really swung the momentum, the touchdown to tie the game?
COACH ASH: Yeah, it did. I think it did. I think our offensive line played outstanding today. I think our running backs ran exceptionally hard today. O-Line ran blocked. They protected quarterback pretty well today.

But honestly, I never felt like at any point in that game that we couldn't go down and score -- if we didn't make mistakes and we protected the football. A couple drives where we had things going, we made a mistake or two, that stalled a drive, but those last two drives, obviously to tie and to take the lead, they were very well executed, very well called. And just so happy with the O-Line and all the offensive players to be able to do that.

Q. Then you win the game, basically on a passing play to Gus Edwards. What about that call, in particular, and do you think the run almost set up that pass there?
COACH ASH: Yeah, you know, again, it just comes down to execution more than anything, you know. We call a particular play, defenses are in certain calls and sometimes they work and sometimes they don't.

Obviously when they work, it looks like a great call and everybody's happy and you know, everyone's a genius when they work and when they don't, everyone's wondering what the hell you did.

But I thought it was a good call, well executed call. It happened to be matched up against the right defensive call that Maryland had, and you know, Gio -- we protected Gio, threw the ball, Gus caught it, made a guy miss and went for a touchdown. Yeah, great call. Well executed.

Q. Kiy Hester made a couple more big plays today. How big has he been, especially with all the injuries to the secondary?
COACH ASH: Well, just -- I'll single him out. He got obviously huge interception. He's had opportunities for some really big ones and could have had an unbelievable year statistically right now from interception standpoint.

But he's a guy that's been around here a lot. He's played a lot of football. He made some really key plays in critical situations for us and to be able to do what he did today was outstanding.

The secondary, I can't say enough about those guys. You know, to be where we're at from an injury standpoint and to be able to play the way that we've been able to play; it's not always pretty and it's not always perfect, but we're doing what we need to to give yourselves a chance to win. So that whole group is really outstanding. I can't say enough about what they have done.

Q. Do you start thinking about possibly contending for a Bowl game?
COACH ASH: I don't even want to talk about that. I can't want to hear about that. I'm worried about letting our players celebrate this victory. We've got a huge game next week. We go play a really good team next Saturday in a really tough environment, a team that just obliterated us last year.

We've got to worry about getting better. That's our focus. That's been our focus. And I know fans and media want to talk about that stuff. We are not talking about that one bit here. It's about celebrate this one, show up tomorrow, reset our focus and just try to keep getting better.

Q. What does it say about your secondary that you are able to go to guys and trust guys like Zane Campbell, Dacoven Bailey, Jawuan Harris, guys that were not really in the mix a couple months ago?
COACH ASH: It's about preparation. It says a lot about their preparation, their focus. We talk about game reps and mental reps. They may not get a lot of game reps in practice with the first or second team, but they are getting mental reps. They are playing attention in meetings and when their opportunity comes, they are ready to go.

It does say a lot about those kids that they really care about their performance, and they really are concerned about when they get their opportunity, that they are ready to go, and they have done an outstanding job with that.

Q. What are your first impressions of Gio's performance, the numbers aren't great but --
COACH ASH: You know what, we needed to run the ball; we did that. We knew we had to pass some, and we did that. There were a few drops today, too. There was some huge plays out there that late in the first half, you know, Jerome dropped a really big play that may have put points on the board there at the end, so it's not all the quarterback. But he managed the game, protected the ball and did what we needed to do.

I don't know, we didn't have any turnovers today, did we -- I don't count that. I count that as no turnovers again today. So that's three in a row in my opinion. You guys may write differently, but that's three games in a row and we won the turnover take away battle today in my opinion.

Big shout out to the kickoff coverage team. Those guys came to play. That was a really good kickoff return team. They have some dangerous returners back there. I keep talking about our kickoff return team is really a microcosm of our culture. We've got offensive players, defensive players, freshmen, older guys that come together and know how important that one rep is. They flew down the field today and they were physical today, and they changed the field position with that unit. I was so proud of those guys.

Q. From an injury standpoint, Janarion, later in the week, did something change where he couldn't go, and any update on K.J. Gray?
COACH ASH: No update on K.J. Gray. Took obviously a pretty big hit and was out. I don't know what that will mean for the future.

Janarion went out of the Michigan game last week. Was not able to get game ready as we went through the week and Kemoko was kind of the same thing. Kemoko suffered an injury during the week. It was really a game-time decision on whether he could go or not. He gave it a try, went out and had some reps and was unable to go a whole lot today.

So we're a little banged up, but everybody is. And again, next man up. Thought Elorm came in and did a real nice job; CJ Onyechi played today, some at that position. Hopefully we get him back.

Q. You guys were 8-for-14 on third downs today. How important is that to sustaining drives and wearing down the Maryland defense, especially late in the game?
COACH ASH: Yeah, it's everything. Third down, we talk about critical situations and our playing to win, and third down is the one that comes up the most.

In the games that we've lost, we have not been really good on third down. The games that we've won, we've been able to and today we were pretty good on third down. We were able to run the ball, that's the most important thing, and more third and shorts and third and mediums. Stay out of third and ten, your third down success is going to be a lot better, and that's what we were able to do today because we could run the ball.

Hats off to the offense for staying on schedule and putting us in those third and short and those third and medium situations that are a lot easier to convert.

All right, guys. Thank you.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

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