Opening statement:
"We did play a football game this past week, really proud of our kids. We had a tough game against Penn State and really didn't play well. We knew it, coaches knew it, we didn't coach well, and we didn't play well. It was just one of those deals and you see it all the time in college football and I think the true measure of a football team is really 'are you going to bounce back'. I didn't realize that [Purdue] had homecoming until about two days before that ... You try to get pretty good scheduling by working on a date, making the alums happy, so I thought those kids at Purdue, watching them on the sidelines, they were really excited. I thought we took the steam out, I thought our kids went out there and played absolutely fantastic. You know, they had held Wisconsin and Nebraska, done 100 yards rushing, so our rushing offense; we went out and put up 382 just to prove a point to everybody. I thought our kids played well. We talk a lot about answering scores, I think they went down and scored to make it 20-7 and we came back there and scored right before the half. I thought that set the tone really well. Missed assignments were way down, dropped passes were way down, our intensity level I thought was outstanding. I give them a lot of credit. I also like what happened after the game, our kids were excited but they were looking forward to the next challenge and it wasn't like in past years where you win a game, everybody was too excited like they haven't done it before; I think our kids are starting to feel a little bit better there."

On the upcoming game against Ohio State:
 "Playing an Ohio State team, they're pretty good. They're real good. They've got great talent, they do a good job coaching and their schemes are fantastic. There's a reason why they're ranked No. 1 in a lot of polls. They're an outstanding football team; a great representative of the Big Ten and it's going to be a heck of a challenge for us. I don't think we lost anybody Saturday, I think you can look at what Josh Ferguson means to this football team, not that we're going to get that great of a performance every single week, but I just thought our kids were energized, and we just really liked what we saw. I liked what we saw in our coaches, I know our fans who were there were really excited and it's good to see the Illini Nation was excited after the game."

On the change in athletics leadership:
"I guess I've been in this business so long, you just take a step back. Mike, just like everybody else around here, has been really good to me. I cannot, in three years here, say that I've had one bad experience with anybody here and of course Mike was a part of that. The first thing you do is you hear, and then it really goes back if you're a true educator, if you're a true coach, the first thing that comes back to you is 'okay, what do I have to do for the student-athletes?' You really don't understand, you accept, and you go about your business. You do the best that you can for those players because if it wasn't for the players, if it wasn't for the students, none of us adults would have any jobs so that's our responsibility. I know the outside looks at it, that there are so many distractions that are going on; the inside looks at it and sits there and gets to work. I know that sounds really crazy because of all that's going on but I can honestly say that's all we do. If I waste or spend five minutes on anything else besides getting the game planned, getting everything done for these student-athletes, I'm not doing my job. I think we're hanging on pretty well and I think that shows the true character of our football team and our coaches."

On his message to the team: 
"Number one thing is don't flinch. Something's going to happen every day in life; something's going to happen out there. There's going to be curve balls thrown all the time. How are you going to handle it? I'm most proud of our players the way they're handling everything else. Now you've got to get them back to Ohio State. You're going to put on that film and there are a lot of All-Americans, draft picks running around. How are you going to handle it? You still have to play the game. Let's just go play. We'll battle, we'll fight."

On his title as Interim Head Coach:
"Right now I'm the head coach and I'm going to act like the head coach. I'm going to recruit like the head coach; I'm going to coach like the head coach. I'm going to go out there and do everything I can for these kids. It's not my decision; this is where I'm at. Right behind head coach it says 'Bill Cubit'. That's my obligation to this University and to these kids. Until they tell me no, I'm going to battle. I'm going to fight just like those kids are fighting out there. I'm going to do exactly what they're doing."