Opening statement:
“Many things to appreciate tonight, but I will say this to the fans and the Champaign-Urbana community. I know in our Department of Athletics, Josh (Whitman) and his crew did a lot of things to try and make this game the best environment we’ve had since I’ve been here. I think that was accomplished. Coming over for our walk-through at 11:30 and fans are already out there tailgating and our kids were commenting about it. Hopefully it’s an indication of what we can do more. It’s not just us on a football field; it’s the people in the Department of Athletics, as fans and the University of Illinois as a whole. It was a really cool and awesome moment.
“Artur Sitkowski, Fabrizio (Pinton) came in there because I think we had four starters go down today, and they continue to come in and do what we ask them to do. I give a lot of credit to our coaches to have those guys ready. On Wednesday I always challenge our guys to do something they’ve never done and to make this the best Wednesday of the year. I said this Wednesday, ‘Hey why don’t we make a concerted effort to make our twos as good as we possibly can today because somebody is going to get called on.’ Unfortunately that ended up coming true, but our guys did champion the moment. Art came up and said, ‘Been there, done this, Coach.’ I said, ‘Absolutely,’ and good things get rewarded, I couldn’t be happier for our players.”
On overcoming adversity:
“Since January we kept putting things in front of them to see how they overcome it and define them. This was about our chance to be at home, play a Big Ten West opponent, and see what we can do. I am extremely proud. This is the first time we’ve beat them since 2008, but it’s the first time we beat Iowa and Wisconsin (in the sasm season) since 1989. We are clearing a lot of good hurdles and going forward. You don’t know when the moments of setbacks, obstacles or whatever you want to call them will come. You have to trust and have faith that your response is going to be the right way, and we had a lot of guys deliver today.”
On Matthew Bailey:
“I remember watching his file the first time, and I absolutely loved him. He came in and ran for us right in the middle of track season where he ran four track meets in a 10-day window. We got the old magic watch on him and we didn’t love his time, but I love his demeanor, personality, and parents. His mom is an incredible woman and raised a great kid. I had a feeling after the first couple weeks of camp that he’s going to be one of these kids that good fortune happens to. He’s a joy to be around. The good lord tapped him on the head twice, and he gets a lot of great breaks.”
On his defense:
“Our defense coming into today, we’re the only team in the country who hasn’t given up a touchdown at home. That statistic is amazing when you think about it. We give a lot of credit to our defensive coaches, players and the responses that they have. Johnny (Newton) and Keith (Randolph) continue to be impressive. Calvin (Avery) did some things, Gabe Jacas continued to flourish, (Dylan) Rosiek came in when (Isaac) Darkangelo went down. We don’t really have a marquee player; we have a bunch of good players that played really well.
“When our guys can adapt how they win to the opponent we are playing, now you got something.”
On the offense:
“We were patient, we knew the competition we were playing against today and took it one play at a time. The o-line did a great job of getting to the second level opening some good running lanes. I made the most of each opportunity, and I am grateful for another good game and a win.”
On the game adversity/response to it:
“We did everything to lose the game, but we also did everything to win the game. This is something I sit back and I’d rather learn from a win than a loss. We will watch the film and there is a lot to get better at. Defense played their butts off like they always do. Offensively we started to get a rhythm running the ball at the end. I am glad we were able to pull out a win.”
On his play as a whole:
“I’m really confident in the guys up front; they’re doing their job at an exceptional level. They give me time to create and find the run lanes. Especially against a good Iowa defense, we knew they were going to overflow a little bit, but being patient was a key today and we were able to do it.”
On the fumble review:
“The review felt like forever. I was happy we got through it and got the win. I felt my elbow hit the ground, so I felt good. You hope and pray and fingers crossed that it goes through review.”
On coming in unexpectedly after DeVito went down with an injury:
“This is something that happened a couple of times in my career. First at Rutgers and now here I have come in off the bench. It’s something that I have gotten used to being in that role.
“It’s time to go, do your job and be ready to play.”
On the pass rush:
“I think those are things that we studied throughout the week and quarterback habits. I have to give a lot of credit to coach, and play-calling, and putting us in those positions to do those type of things. I think he knows us well, and we match up with the things he called. I think his confidence in us, and our confidence in each other, and just being confident in what he calls and believing that whatever it is that he puts out there for us to do, we were going to do it.”
On not allowing a touchdown at home:
“To say that nobody has scored on us at home, we are going to pride ourselves in protecting this house. For nobody to score on us at home, and regardless of how the game goes, I think nobody scoring in our house is a big testament to us defending where we perform every day and where we want to protect.
“I don’t think it’s something that we’ve so much as discussed, but I think it’s more so something that we want to continue to stand on because we still got games left in the season. I think until we finish it, I believe that there’s still nobody else that comes here. We’re gonna say that they’re not going to score until they earn it.”
On pre-game nerves:
“Early on, before my first field goal, I was kind of kicking it a little too much. (Caleb) just came up and reminded me I just need to relax, and go sit down, save the legs, and I listened. I felt good.”
On his relationship with Caleb Griffin:
“I kind of see Caleb as a big brother. He takes me under his wing. He gives me a lot of advice. He’s been giving me advice since I got here, so I view him as a big brother. I didn’t take it any other way. I took it as a learning opportunity because I love to learn from Caleb.”
On the defensive linemen:
“I love it. It makes it easier for everyone else when they were doing their jobs and when they’re doing it at a high level. For me, them being so good, it just allows us to actually have a one-on-one. They might be double-teamed. It allows me to get a one-on-one tackle or guard or somebody else.”
On the key to personal improvement:
“It’s really just preparation every week. Just watched my film, just working on my hands. We got amazing GAs that help us every day with just working on our hands.”
On the next-man-up mentality:
“We’re really confident in the next man up. If one goes down, the next man up will do the same thing that person did. There’s no dropoff from the 1s, to the 2s, to the 3s, to the 4s.”
On not allowing a home touchdown this season:
“I just think it’s a pride thing. That’s just something we pride ourselves on, not letting any touchdowns go.”
On Art Sitkowski stepping in:
“Art did a great job stepping up, and the biggest thing is just giving him time to be able to execute his job.”
On the team’s next steps:
“The next step is just getting better all-around. The biggest thing is just not letting complacency happen. Just knowing it’s not even close to over. We’re going to enjoy it and we have to learn from this film, but it’s on to Minnesota. They’re an extremely good team, and we’re extremely excited to play them next week.”
On his evaluation of the team under defensive coordinator Ryan Walters:
“I always knew we had the athletes. Coach Walt came with the schemes, and we’re really just executing his defense. It feels really good. Honestly, we have bigger dreams than just winning these games. I feel we could go to college football playoffs. Honestly, that’s where we want to be, so we’ve just got to keep pushing every week.”
On keeping opposing offenses out of the end zone:
“We take pride in that. That’s probably our biggest accomplishment. The fans play a huge role. We had a big crowd out there today, so they kept giving us momentum and just hyped us up, honestly. As the game went on, we could feel Iowa slowly shutting down. We kept stopping the run, so once we stopped the run, we knew what we had to do in the pass game.”
On their lockdown defense inside the 5-yard line:
“We knew they couldn’t run the ball on us, but just locking in honestly. It was a close game. We knew it was going to come on field goals. They had a good defense. We have a good defense, so just not letting them score honestly.”
On the defensive line:
“Everybody wants a sack. It’s like a competition out there. We talk about it before the games, how many sacks we’re gonna get and who’s gonna get the sack. Honestly, I’m happy for whoever gets a sack, but we all want that sack.”
