Nov. 22, 2003

Recap?|? Final Stats?|? Notes

Illinois Head Coach Ron Turner

On the season...
"It's very tough to go through what we went through this year. It's very frustrating. It's tough obviously on those seniors. You don't want to see anybody go through this their last year. Especially this group of guys that has given us everything they've got.

"It didn't pan out like the way we thought. Coming into it, we knew we were going to have a lot of new young players offensively. I thought defensively we would have played a lot better and keep us in games, while the offense grew.

On the quarterback situation for next season....
"We have a lot of things to look at. We have some young guys that we feel good about, and we have to see what Jon's status is, whether or not he gets that sixth year. Then, we'll see where we are. Those guys will come into spring ball and compete."

On the main faults of the season...
"There are two things, all year, that you can point at - turnover margin and inability to stop the run. If you can't stop the run, you have no chance of winning. If you turn the ball over, you have no chance of winning. If you do both of them, you really have no chance of winning."

On replacing Dustin Ward in the game...
"I have a lot of respect for Dustin. He's a great young man. He has brought a lot to this program. He has been a tremendous team player, going through some ups and some downs. I know how important it was for him to come out and get that win today as the starting quarterback. It was very difficult. He's a great young man and that was obviously tough."

Illinois QB Chris Pazan

On Dustin Ward...
"He said thanks for everything. If anything it should be me saying that to him for all the things he's taught me. I'll never forget any of that."

On the feeling in the locker room...
"Obviously it is down. We didn't expect the season to go like this. But we know we have a lot of talent on this team and guys that can make plays. Next year starts today and we're going to build on that and work on that. We're going to get started right away and correct the mistakes that happened this year."

On next year's quarterback race...
"It's going be a great competition with Tim (Brasic) and Brad (Bower). They're both good quarterbacks. It's going be a tough race, but I think going in there and getting some playing time this year helped me. It's important to get some game experience."

Illinois QB Dustin Ward

On coming out of the game...
"They said 'We're going to put Chris in and see how he does. I told him go with that adrenaline and ride it out. Just throw. Don't be indecisive, just throw."

On the intentional grounding call...
"I was trying to get rid of it and get it out of bounds, I don't know if I got it past the line of scrimmage or not. I half-rolled and was pretty sure I was out of the pocket, but I probably didn't get it past the line of scrimmage."

On next year's quarterback race...
"It's not going be as stressful for me next year. I think Pazan did a hell of a job today. That's going to help him. He's got a lot of good experience. Tim has also been in and Brad is young and eager. It'll be as much of a mystery for me as it is to you guys."

Northwestern Head Coach Randy Walker

On his team's effort...
"It's overwhelming how proud I am of this football team. It goes all the way back to the guys who stuck to their commitments."

On the team in gerneral...
"This senior class is special. The kids are my heroes. I've rarely had this kind of feeling about a team."

On his team's running game...
"Our kids stepped up today, they ran hard and they blocked hard, so we kept rushing. There was not a conscious effort to run the ball, it was just working. A lot of the time the situation called for it."

On a possible bowl game...
"We were as good as anybody the second half of the season, except for the (Michigan) Wolverines. We deserve to play in a bowl game. I am very proud of our kids."

Northwestern RB Jason Wright

On the offensive line performance...
"I fully expected the O-line to come out and have a great day. Watching film we thought that we would have an advantage on the line. They stepped up to the challenge today. It meant a lot to me that they put in the effort that they did, knowing that I was slightly injured. It was a good end to the regular season, whether it results in a bowl bid, or a start on next year's success."

On his ankle injury...
"Hopefully we can receive a bowl bid, and I can have time to get fully healthy. I am just going to wait and see if we get a bid and hang out with the guys, and hope we get a chance to go out on top."

On running in the second half...
"In the first half we had to keep them off balance with the run and pass. In the second half they sometimes had nine guys in the box. If we had done that in the first half they would have known what we were doing. It was a windy day, and we went to what worked in the second half. We just ran it up the gut and it worked."

Northwestern LB Pat Durr

On team unity...
"I think this is one of the closest teams we have had since '95 or '96. I know we went out and wanted to win this game for the seniors. The underclassman have a real close relationship with the seniors, and we wanted to send them out on top."

On turning the season around...
"I think the Indiana game was the big turning point for our season. We weren't playing very well going into that game, and we didn't play good during that game either. We found a way to win, and we knew from then on that even if we weren't playing our best we had a chance to win."

RB Noah Herron

On the first half performance...
"It was frustrating because it was similar to our entire season. We all made mistakes, including myself. It was like, 'When was it going to stop?' At halftime the coaches told us to go out and keep doing the same thing in the second half, and it worked." P