Spoke with Blough after practice Wednesday, as we do each week, and didn't use much of it elsewhere. So ...
On Maryland's D: "We think they’re back end is really good. They don’t give up many deep plays at all. We’ve got to take what they give us. It’s kind of stemmed from a Saban background, they give you a lot of underneath stuff and they rally to it pretty well. We’ve got to execute our plays, being able to run it and take what they give us. They’re athletic in the backend, bigger in the front. Run stoppers more than anything."
On him bouncing back from INT: "Probably since my time here at Purdue that’s one of my proudest moments. After that happened, I felt like we got in a good rhythm. Coach Malone was great. Everybody was all love on the sideline. It just took me back a bit, made me think, ‘Man, I’m really fortunate to play this game.’ It got me for a second there. It was cancer weekend. My mom’s a cancer survivor. She was sitting in the stands. I wasn’t going to give up after one bad throw."
On whether he saw the the defender on the pick: "Yeah, but I didn’t read his body language very well. We had a run fake on, and he was coming and he turned and I threw it right to him. I knew it when it came out of my hand. I think every single time we’ve ever ran that play, it’s been play fake, (and I) zip it. I never did enough to work on how I should throw it if there’s a guy undercutting it. We ran it in walk through today, and I was pretty pumped up because I threw it over a guy. I was happy. It’s the little things in life."
On why his mobility helps: "Because if you can move just a little bit, if you can buy an extra second, it’s an extra second those guys have to cover. If they bring a lot of pressure and there’s a little leakage, it gives the guys an extra second. I like to tell the guys, ‘If one guy gets me, it’s my fault.’ I should be able to beat one guy. I heard that when I was in middle school. There was a quarterback who used to tell his guys that. If one guy sacks me, it’s my fault. They’ve done a fantastic job, one sack through three games. It’s blown everybody away, and that’s with everybody who has been in there."
On Maryland's D: "We think they’re back end is really good. They don’t give up many deep plays at all. We’ve got to take what they give us. It’s kind of stemmed from a Saban background, they give you a lot of underneath stuff and they rally to it pretty well. We’ve got to execute our plays, being able to run it and take what they give us. They’re athletic in the backend, bigger in the front. Run stoppers more than anything."
On him bouncing back from INT: "Probably since my time here at Purdue that’s one of my proudest moments. After that happened, I felt like we got in a good rhythm. Coach Malone was great. Everybody was all love on the sideline. It just took me back a bit, made me think, ‘Man, I’m really fortunate to play this game.’ It got me for a second there. It was cancer weekend. My mom’s a cancer survivor. She was sitting in the stands. I wasn’t going to give up after one bad throw."
On whether he saw the the defender on the pick: "Yeah, but I didn’t read his body language very well. We had a run fake on, and he was coming and he turned and I threw it right to him. I knew it when it came out of my hand. I think every single time we’ve ever ran that play, it’s been play fake, (and I) zip it. I never did enough to work on how I should throw it if there’s a guy undercutting it. We ran it in walk through today, and I was pretty pumped up because I threw it over a guy. I was happy. It’s the little things in life."
On why his mobility helps: "Because if you can move just a little bit, if you can buy an extra second, it’s an extra second those guys have to cover. If they bring a lot of pressure and there’s a little leakage, it gives the guys an extra second. I like to tell the guys, ‘If one guy gets me, it’s my fault.’ I should be able to beat one guy. I heard that when I was in middle school. There was a quarterback who used to tell his guys that. If one guy sacks me, it’s my fault. They’ve done a fantastic job, one sack through three games. It’s blown everybody away, and that’s with everybody who has been in there."
