For about 45 minutes, it seemed as if Maryland football players were running through a wall in search of their beleaguered coach. Despite some sloppiness, the Terps, underdogs by 14.5 points, held a 16-7 Nebraska lead that should have been bigger. Then the wheels came off the bus, the Huskers (5-0) scored 34 unanswered points and Maryland (2-3) suffered its third straight loss, 48-23, at Memorial Stadium in Lincoln. Now, everyone’s attention turns to Maryland coach Mike Locksley’s hot seat and how much longer he will be on the job. “I can’t complain about the effort and energy we started the game with. Make no mistake about it. I thought they came in and approached this game with the right mindset, but they had too many self-inflicted wounds,” Locksley said. “We had a three-down swing in the first half when we had opportunities that were there for us, where we got the punt blocked, gave up a third-and-27 with a late penalty, and then we also had the pick-six.” Before you read the rest, take 10 seconds to sign up for our free Terps email newsletter here so you don’t miss out on upcoming news. Or if you’re not a VIP member, join here now and get the scoop. It was the third pick-six thrown by quarterback Malik Washington in the last two games. After starting the season on a national hype train, the sophomore has struggled. He finished 23 of 44 for 254 yards, one touchdown and two grueling interceptions. “Usually when you throw interceptions, you either misread the coverage or sometimes they make a play. I can tell you that the one they jumped, they were doubling down on the slant. With that coverage, we want to make sure we go to the other side, where we had more advantageous matchups. I still think he made the right decision on one of the interceptions. We just have to get there a little faster.” Below from Locksley: Opening statement: “As always, give Nebraska credit, Matt. They got down, they responded with some big plays when they needed to make them, and that’s on me. The work, the work necessary, until the results catch up.” I thought our players really showed up. It was great to have DeJuan back today. It helped us a little bit in the running game, but there are still too many self-inflicted wounds that we will take tomorrow, we will see the film, we will see it. Start with a third attempt. For me, on the offensive end, we didn’t do a great job on third down. On defense, as I said, explosive plays appeared, and then the blocking of a punt. So all three phases had their opportunities, and what we have to do is get these guys to make the plays when they’re there, and then we have to coach better, starting with me. With that, I’ll open myself up to questions.” Q: There were a couple of late third-down sequences near the end of the game. One was a designed run to Malik on third down and the other was a screen pass to Fleming. What was your thought process on those two plays, and why has third down been a struggle in recent weeks? “I can’t say anything about those two plays in particular. It depends on where we were in the game. But I can tell you that third down struggles come with execution. Not just the players on the field, but making sure we have a good plan, because you can’t go two weeks where you have what we call down payment situations. This week we had more intermediate situations than the extra-long situations we had a week ago, and we didn’t get the execution done, whether it was the play calling, the blocking, the playmakers making the plays on the perimeter. “Q: What adjustments do you think Nebraska’s defense made to stop them, especially on third downs?” where we give Chris Durr a couple of touches. Once they started losing coverage, now we have to run the ball consistently. I don’t think we’ve ever executed it consistently. I knew we had to be very good on first and 10. If you look at us offensively when we’re on the lane, meaning four or more on first and 10, the drive usually ends the way we want, and we still had a lot of those first downs where we didn’t stay on track. “Question: After last week’s game, you had to go on the road and face Nebraska. What stood out to you about your team’s mental response and how they were able to hold up last week? “I think the most important thing is that they really bought in. in the DNA of Maryland football, which is we rise. No matter what happens, we will continue to rise, and that is part of their DNA that we have instilled in them. But I also think they approached the job with the right mindset this week. We were able to let those guys get some air out and I thought we showed up. As I told our team, we have to keep working and the results will eventually catch up with us. I know the goal is to win, but we have to keep redoubling our work.” Question: At the press conference earlier this week you talked about getting [the offense] in a rhythm. How do you think the offense did?” I thought in the first half we did that, because we were able to get some running game. DeJuan came in and had some explosive runs, and that in itself takes pressure off of you. Our receivers lined up a lot quicker. We took some of those things away from Malik of having to line guys up. I thought we lined up better. That’s the point of emphasis we put, getting those things off his plate, but we still have to figure out how to win in situational football and third opportunity on offense. The last two weeks, we’ve got to do a better job of coming up with a plan, and then we’ve got to do a better job of executing it.” Q: On Nebraska quarterback Anthony Colandrea: “Having played with him, this is the third time we’ve played him. When he’s most dangerous is in the passing game, when you’re covering guys and now you keep him in the pocket if you let him run around, which we did today, he ran for over 100 yards. Most of them were breakdowns in the passing game where we played zone coverage, there’s a lot of space, and we didn’t keep him in the pocket, we made him do some tough shots, but I didn’t think we did a great job of keeping him where we wanted him today. “Q: You’ve talked about the importance of the team growing in its execution. What is the most important area where you think the team can grow? “I think it starts with third down, in both phases. We just haven’t been where we need to be on third down consistently on both sides of the ball. And then when you look at a blocked punt, very rarely when you have a blocked punt in a game are you going to give yourself a chance. To me, we have to go back, make sure we’re coaching those things and make sure we have the right things called to ensure we get a better outcome.”Don’t miss any news: See more of our recent coverage, sign up for our newsletter FREE email from Terps and sign up for text alerts here (VIP only). 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