Sept. 28, 2003

Recap | Final Stats | Notes

Sept. 27, 2003

Recap

ILLINOIS HEAD COACH Ron Turner QUOTES

On overall thoughts from tonight's game:
"This one was hard because we physically got dominated tonight. We've got to bounce back and see where we are. They were dominating us upfront."

"Our guys kept fighting back, and they fought their way back into the game. Even though I thought we were getting dominated, I thought we did a good job of run blocking. We didn't do a good job of stopping the run, but we kept at them trying to get back in the game."

On the touchdown which was taken back:
"Obviously it was a huge, crucial play of the game. That's kind of what we've done this year, when we have crucial situations like that, when we have a chance to get back into the game and gain momentum. It was going to cut it down to a two-point game, possibly go for two and eventually tie it up, but we make those kind of mistakes."

On the season's outlook:
"We just have to do what we feel is best for us to win football games. That's what we're trying to do right now. We've got a game next week and we have to do whatever we need to do to win that game."

"It's difficult, it is hard to take, but we have to just keep fighting. We had some early games that we had the opportunity to win that we didn't take advantage of. Then, today, we just got dominated."

On special teams:
"I think special teams did do better, it's better than they have been. They made a nice punt return and had good punt coverage. Those things I thought we did do a lot better."

Illinois

CB Christian Morton
On the interception return for a touchdown that was called back because of roughing the passer
"We were in the right defense, man to man, I just did what I had to do to get the running back off his feet. I read the play and stepped in front."

PK John Gockman On the team play "Its frustrating every time going to the locker room after a loss knowing we have to wait another week to get our chance, it's tough even as a kicker...its just tough"

DT Jeff Ruffin
On the touchdown that was called back "It was a big momentum swing after the touchdown got called back. It took a lot out of us, I'm speechless about it."

On the game
"We just didn't play our game, not just defensively, but all away around. The feeling out there was that they were just running the ball all over us. We just have to stop that if we are going to compete in the Big Ten."

WR Kelvin Hayden
On the late play of the team "I can not explain it. I guess we need a wake up call or something for us to get going. We weren't there at first and then we came alive."

On future games "We have to stay focused and play hard. If we are going down, we've got to fight every time. Now we just have to look forward to Purdue and take one game at a time."

FB Carey Davis On the touchdown that was called back
"That whole play changed the whole momentum of the game, and it did it for them."

On the outlook of the team to start the season
"I think this is a shock for us. Going into camp this year we knew we had a good team. We still believe we have a good team, it's just that we aren't making it happen in the game. We practice hard, we do well in practice and then we do well once the game is on the line, but most of the time, it is too late to do anything about it."

On falling behind early "I feel like we spotted them 21 points. We got started too late. We can't put that much pressure on our defense all the time. We got to put it upon ourselves as an offense to put points on the board quickly and give our defense the luxury playing with a lead."

RB Ibrahim Halsey On losing "It's tough, this team works so hard and puts in a lot of work to not get the end result, but we got to keep our heads together. We need guys to step up and get this thing turned around...we really believe that we can do that."

Wisconsin

Coach Barry Alvarez Quotes

On the Illinois offense "For the most part, their throws and catches were short, and they make you tackle in the open field and their guys are shifty. Halsey's a very nifty runner, and presents a lot of problems out in the open."

On Wisconsin's fast start "I thought we were excellent on those first three drives. It couldn't have been any better. We stuck it in there pretty good with the run and Jim was very crisp in throwing. Obviously we had all the momentum."

On Illinois staying in the game "You have to give Illinois a lot of credit. They had a tough week last week and got down 21 points, but still battled back like they did. I was really pleased with the way we started the game."

On Illinois QB Jon Beutjer "You see how dangerous he is and how dangerous their offense is. The best place for him to be for us is on the bench."

On Wisconsin RBs Dwayne Smith and Booker Stanley
"For those two guys to go in there on the road and in the Big Ten and to answer the bell, it's a compliment to them. But I'd love to get (Anthony Davis) back there. I kind of miss him."

On QB Jim Sorgi's performance "The throws we had were to the right guy, the right reads. I thought the checkdown to (Matt Bernstein) was really excellent late in the game. Just controlling and managing the offense is what he did."

On the Wisconsin defense's clutch late game performance
"That was really huge. For them to have that kind of field position and then our defense go in and answer the bell and make them kick a field goal, that's huge. That's a lot of points to keep off the scoreboard."

Morgan Davis
On the offense "We just kept rolling from last week and kept pounding the ball. We thought it was pretty good. We were just running the ball and having some fun out there. We were going like clockwork. Wait until AD ( Anthony Davis) comes back and we'll see what happens with him. The sky is the limit from there."

"It's a good feeling [to jump out to a 21-point lead] but we have to keep it going, we can't come out in the second half and shoot ourselves in the foot, we just got to keep momentum going."

On the game "It does a lot to win this game; that was our goal through the preseason with those first four games was to come out and be prepared for this first Big Ten game, to come out and do our best, and we did."