Nov. 6, 2004

Recap |  Final Stats |  Notes

Illinois Head Coach Ron Turner...

...on the team's performance:
"I am so proud of these guys and happy number one, for these players and the seniors, but also the entire football team because they have been through a lot and we have been telling them all year if you continue to fight; if you continue to believe and continue to stick together, something good is going to happen. I just didn't want it to take this long for something good to happen."

...on trailing 19-0 in the first quarter:
"We had folded several weeks ago after the Minnesota game. There are lots of opportunities to fold and to go out there without a lot of energy and fall behind 19-0. The crowd was great. After the fake punt they really got into it and helped us find our energy."

...on Kendrick Jonses' wide open touchdown catch:
"As soon as I saw Kendrick I looked over at Jon. I knew he saw it. I was just thinking, hurry up, snap the damn ball, let's go. It was a good heads up play from both those guys."

...on his decision to put Beutjer in for Bower in the second half:
"I didn't lose confidence in Brad. Brad I think got a little flustered. He was doing some good things and made some really nice plays earlier. At the end of the half he missed called a few things and I just felt we needed someone to get in and settle the offense down, and the quarterback is usually the guy to do that."

...on Pierre Thomas:
"He doesn't like being tackled. When Pierre is on, he is on and when he is healthy, he is usually on and he has been beat up these last few weeks. I could see it coming this week in practice. I made the comment to our coaches on Wednesday that Pierre was running like he ran at practice before Michigan State."

...on the team's turnaround:
"If you look at some of these games we have had it has been about turnovers. If you look at the Iowa game, Michigan and Purdue games we turned it over in crucial times and didn't get turnovers. Today, we got a turnover at a crucial time and that's what this game is all about."

Illinois RB Pierre Thomas...

...on playing for the seniors:
"It's motivation for us to come out and play hard. They have given a lot to this team, and we wanted to go and win for them. They have meant a lot to this team. It's motivation for us to make plays; we wanted to give the seniors something special. We wanted to go and get them all a Big Ten win this year."

...on the team's motivation to win:
"It's motivation for us; we have to come out and play hard. Telling us we can't play hard, that we can't keep the fight going, that really doesn't matter. The game is not over until the end of the fourth quarter."

...on his touchdown run:
"We had been getting good blocking all game. It was an excellent block by Franklin Payne upfield, and I couldn't have gotten a touchdown without him."

Illinois QB Jon Beutjer...

...on the last drive:
"It was tough; I knew we were going to get the ball back. I knew the defense could do the job, and they did. We just kept on fighting, and it was good to go out with a home win."

Illinois P Steve Weatherford...

...on the game:
"It's always good to get a win. We not only wanted to win for ourselves, but we wanted to get a win for Coach Turner and the program."

...on the fake punt:
"It was definitely a momentum swing. It's always a big play when you can get a first down on fourth down. In practice we were looking at a couple of holes, and we thought we could exploit them. The line blocked well, I didn't have to do anything except run straight ahead."

...on punting inside the 20:
"Field position is always critical. I try to do my best and help out the team and make it a little harder for the opposition."

...on the win:
"It's huge to get this win. We have been playing tight with these teams and now we know we can do it. It feels good to pull one out because we've been playing lackluster in the fourth quarter and today we played extremely hard."

Indiana Head Coach Gerry DiNardo...

...on the game's turning point:
"I thought the momentum change came when they faked the punt. We were in position, but we just didn't make the tackles. Otherwise, we would've put our offense back on a short field, which is what we were doing in the first half. We just didn't play well enough in the second half."

...on QB Matt LoVecchio's injury:
"It's a head thing, but I don't know (if it's a concussion). I think that's just a tough thing to diagnose quickly. I don't know whether it was contact or if it happened when he hit the ground."

...on Indiana's offense under QB Blake Powers:
"The first time we put him in there, we were in scoring position and you don't want to put him in too bad of shape, although we did call a pass on the first play. We just wanted to make sure that if it wasn't open he didn't take a sack, which he didn't'. Obviously you're not going to do as much as you're going to do with a veteran guy, but we didn't close it down that much.

...on Illinois final touchdown pass:
"We had 11 on the field. Someone forgot to cover him. He didn't see him. We had someone assigned to him, and he didn't do it."

...on QB Matt LoVecchio's play:
"He was playing well. He was starting to get into a groove a little bit. On that play, it was a play he felt good about. He had a good feel for what was going on."

...on his decision to take the wind in the third quarter:
"The wind wasn't strong enough that I would give them the ball and the wind after halftime."

...on Illinois' offensive line play:
"They were cutting our defense; they were creasing us. They got the best of us with their offensive line on our defensive line. They were knocking us off the ball, knocking us down. I'd say they played more physical up front than we did."

...on the 80-yard touchdown pass:
"We thought we had it set up pretty well from what we had seen and how we thought they would defend that formation and that action. It was a play-action pass."

Indiana QB Blake Powers...

...on the last interception:
"I don't know what happened. I thought they'd bite on the screen and I would throw it deep. It was one-on-one, but I didn't keep the ball on the sidelines like I should have."

...on his performance
"You've got to step up and make plays. It was an opportunity missed. I was called on to step up and lead, but it's nobody's fault. It was all on me - it's nobody's fault but mine."

Indiana WR Chris Radinovich...

...on the game:
"It was a lot of fun. I had a lot of fun until the last 30 seconds in the game. We just couldn't hold on to it. I look forward to contributing a lot more in the future. I'm not sure who's coming back next week or not. I've got a lot of confidence in Blake. He's a great athlete. It's a bummer he had to come in half way into the game. I thought he did pretty well."

...on Indiana's performance:
"We were playing well. Matt was playing well. The offensive line was playing well. We were moving the ball. The defense was playing well. Overall, we were playing well, but a couple of guys go down - just part of the game."

...on missing out on a bowl bid:
"We saw a trophy in the distance and the trophy isn't there anymore. I guess we've got to get ready for next year. We'll play hard, but now just for pride. We got our eyes on finishing out the season. That was our goal, but not anymore."