Maryland head coach Michael Locksley had a unique way of discussing how Ohio State's highly-praised wide receivers were so wide open during the Buckeyes' 66-17 win on Saturday.
"We had guys looking like they fell out of airplanes, they were so wide open," Locksley said.
Despite another lopsided loss to a top-10 team, Locksley said it was "good to see" the growth of his team being 4-2 at the halfway point of the season. But Locksley sees a lot of opportunity for improvement.
"We have a lot of work to do as a program," Locksley said. "Through recruiting, through our roster development and all those aspects to be able to compete against those types of teams and play at that level. I really like where we are but the past two weeks have shown where we need to improve."
“We had guys looking like they fell out of airplanes, they were so wide open.”– Mike Locksley on Ohio State's receivers
And while he acknowledged that the two lopsided losses came to top-10 opponents, he was still not pleased with what he saw from his football team on Saturday.
"I felt our effort was there today," Locksley said. "The execution was piss poor."
After giving up 406 pass yards and 5 touchdowns to Ohio State quarterback CJ Stroud, along with two 100-yard receivers in Chris Olave and Jaxson Smith-Njigba, Locksley lamented his team's coverage, particularly early.
"Our coverage was poor today. We started playing cover two late which took away their deep ball, but gave room to their running game."
Ohio State freshman running back TreVeyon Henderson rushed for a game-high 102 yards and two touchdowns and also caught a third.
Locksley also offered plenty of praise to Ohio State quarterback C.J. Stroud, saying the Buckeye quarterback "made the throws he needed to make."
"He had wide open guys and he got them the ball," Locksley said. "They did a good job with their tight ends and running backs keeping us out. It was hard to get to the quarterback after the ball was being released so quickly today."
Maryland came in being tied for first in the Big Ten in sacks but had just one against the Buckeyes on Saturday.
Both teams will now have an off week next weekend before returning to Big Ten play the following week.
