Mike Locksley is happy Maryland moved to 2-0 Saturday night, but he’s not thrilled about the way it looked.

For much of the Week 2 game vs. Charlotte, the Terrapins looked sluggish and out of sorts. In fact, Charlotte carried a 14-9 lead into halftime before Maryland woke up for 29 points in the second half.

One thing noticed in the second half was the absence of Antwain Littleton II, traditionally the No. 2 running back behind Roman Hemby. Littleton had 4 carries for 14 yards but did not see the field in the second half.

After the game, Locksley said the decision to bench Littleton came from an unnecessary roughness penalty in the first half. The head coach said he’s “tired” of unnecessary mistakes after the whistle.

“I’m tired of dumb penalties. I’m tired of us doing stuff after the whistle,” said Locksley. “…The only way you fix stuff is what happened today. You put him on the bench.”

As for the other aspects of the game, Locksley made it clear the performance was not up to Maryland’s standards. A lot of that probably has to do with 2 interceptions from Taulia Tagovailoa and a sluggish start across the board.

“Didn’t meet the standard today. Our standard is to start fast and finish strong, didn’t do either of those things,” explained Locksley.

Getting to 2-0 is a heck of a lot better than 1-1, but Locksley’s comments are understandable considering the way the game unfolded Saturday night. Next up is Virginia, and the Terrapins will certainly look for a sharper start to that matchup.

(H/T Emmett Siegel, George Gerbo)