Through the first five weeks of Maryland’s season — all Terps wins — coach Michael Locksley shied away from delivering unequivocal praise upon his squad.

After the win against Virginia, the second straight game that it went down 14 points, Locksley expressed frustration about his team’s slow starts. He criticized himself in the week leading up to Maryland’s win over Indiana, saying he too often focused on the negatives.

But at halftime, even with the Terps up 24 points, Locksley’s irritation was apparent in an interview with a sideline reporter. He was upset about the last play of the half, on which Maryland could’ve gotten a field goal if veteran receiver Jeshaun Jones had gone out of bounds faster. He did so after time expired, drawing Locksley’s ire.

During the interview, the reporter asked Locksley if he wanted to smile with his team up 27-3 at the half.

“Should have gotten out of bounds, get out of bounds,” said Locksley, sounding exasperated. “That’s why I don’t smile, just get out of bounds.”

The coach then expressed his disappointment at the Terps’ lack of down-to-down consistency on offense and defense.

“Smile on the way out?” the sideline reporter asked at the end of the interview, prompting Locksley to quickly flash a forced grin before he rolled his eyes and walked back to the locker room frustrated.

Maryland won that game easily despite those mistakes. But Locksley’s rant was eerily prescient — similar issues emerged a week later against Ohio State, this time dooming the Terps against a better opponent.

Locksley later said his seemingly prophetic words did not validate his nitpicking.

“Because we coach those things and now it’s a matter of continuing to coach,” he said. “I always say, there’s nothing worse when a coach says, ‘I told him a hundred times’ and I say, ‘Well, what makes a hundred the magic number? How about tell him a hundred and one times.’”

The Terps use Fridays to prepare for specific scenarios, a practice Locksley took from his former boss Nick Saban, including how to operate with little time left on the clock and no way to stop it.

Just before halftime in Columbus, with the game tied at 10, veteran quarterback Taulia Tagovailoa faced a similar setup deep in Buckeyes territory with 12 seconds left and no timeouts. He should have thrown it to the end zone or out of bounds. Instead, he threw a check-down. Time ran out on the Terps, who lost another chance to earn a late field goal attempt on the play. After the game, Tagovailoa called the play “bad situational football” and said he had to be better.

“It happens in the heat of the moment,” Locksley said, “and this is where I probably wouldn’t be as fat as I am, probably [would] have more hair if I didn’t deal with the stressors that go with an 18- to 22-year-old controlling your livelihood.”

In that interview during the Hoosiers game, Locksley also said his team’s run game was “hit or miss” and that it needed to get the consistent plays of the base run game going. Maryland averaged just 3 yards per rush against Ohio State and notched -0.18 expected points added per rush, a mark in the 22nd percentile, per Game on Paper.

EPA models how many points an offense gained or lost on a specific play, accounting for down, distance and other factors.

The Terps went for a fourth-and-1 on their second drive from the Ohio State 29 — Billy Edwards Jr. was stuffed on a run from the shotgun. Locksley said he regretted going for it rather than trying a field goal.

Another failed sequence of runs late led to a turnover on downs that essentially sealed the loss. Down 10 in the fourth quarter, Maryland ran a shovel pass to tight end Corey Dyches for 3 yards. The Terps then ran twice and gained 4 more yards. They tried a third straight rush that the Buckeyes stuffed, forcing a turnover on downs at Maryland’s 17-yard line.

Locksley said Tuesday there were multiple issues with the run game and called it “a work in progress.”

“I’m excited to figure this out because, for us to win in this league, we’ve got to be able to run the football,” he said.

Against the Hoosiers, Locksley was also worried about how many yards the Terps allowed on first down. The Hoosiers averaged just 4.9 yards per play but 5.1 per rush on first down. Ohio State simply torched Maryland. The Buckeyes averaged 8.7 yards per first down, and six of its nine big plays — passes over 15 yards and runs over 10 yards — came on first downs.

“Saturday’s loss was tough because we started out strong, didn’t finish how we wanted to,” senior linebacker Ruben Hyppolite II said. “But all we can do is learn from it and grow. Don’t let one loss turn into two.”

Maryland will get a chance to return to its winning ways against Illinois, and a group of 18- to 22-year-olds will once again determine the fate of Locksley’s team.

“I love these kids, man. [I’m going to] go to battle with them every single day,” Locksley said. “They don’t do it on purpose, and I’ll continue to coach and I’ll continue to try to be positive. I’ll continue to probably nitpick — I’ll be all over the place like I am for this interview right now.”