Sept. 18, 2004

Recap |  Final Stats |  Notes

Illinois Coach Ron Turner

On Illinois' overall performance:
"I am proud of this football team. This game showed the heart and character of this football team. Offense, special teams and defense stepped it up during crunch time. Hopefully, we can build from that. We have to keep on overcoming adversity, play a sixty minute game and trust ourselves."

On Brad Bower's performance after his first interception:
"He relaxed after the first interception. He will learn, he is young and in the beginning was anxious to make the big play. He is a good player. I liked him in high school. He is smart, heady and knows how to play."

On the defense:
"I think the defense stepped it up at the right time. Of course there are things to work on, we are young. Overall, they stepped it up when we needed them to and that is a huge confidence boost."

On the offense:
"We can't keep on turning the ball over and we need to create more turnovers. That is something that we will have to work on."

On starting Big Ten play next week:
"I think we will be fine. So much rests on confidence and mentality. We continue to get better on special teams and defense. Coming off a win today makes it a lot better to go into next week."

On Jon Beutjer's status for next week:
"We think he will be ready. The medical staff says that he is looking good. It is still day-to-day, so we will have to see."

Illinois Player Quotes

WR Mark Kornfeld

On the third down catch:
"We had run that play earlier, and I was open, and the coaches in the press box saw it. They said we were going to run the play again, and we did and Brad got me the ball."

On Bower's performance:
"He battled through the whole game. It was his first (start) and when adversity hit, he was still able to battle through it."

On Purdue next week:
"If we always talk about the offense playing turnover-free and the defense causing turnovers, anything can happen."

DT Mike O'Brien

On the comeback:
"We trusted in each other that we were going to win. Special teams played well and the key was believing we could win."

On the defensive stop setting up last scoring drive:
"We knew the game was in our hands, and we wanted to give the offense another chance. When we did stop them, we felt the momentum had swung back to us."

QB Brad Bower

On the interception on the goal line:
"They brought pressure up the middle and I knew I had to get it off quick. I got hit when I was throwing, and I didn't get a chance to follow through. We came back and stayed together and won the game, though."

On the final drive:
"Coach showed the confidence in me to throw the ball a lot. Those are the situations that you want to have the ball in your hand. You want to feel like you're going to take charge and drive down the field and put points on the board."

RB E.B. Halsey

On the last punt return:
"The defense had a great stop and in my head I was saying 'just give me a little time back here so I can make a play.' I had a big gain and it was a big momentum swing for us."

On the final drive:
"The linemen up front did a great job reassuring everyone that we were going to win. We told Brad he didn't have to do anything spectacular or out of the ordinary. If we execute our offense, we'll make plays."

Western Michigan Head Coach Gary Darnell

On Illinois' performance:
"Football team played hard, but the reality is that we were one mistake shy. I couldn't tell you which one because throughout the game there were so many. Illinois cashed in on all the things they were supposed to, and they came up with the big play at the time when they really needed something. They were doing a lot of things right, so the character level of their team was good, while the character level of our team was good also."

On his team's effort:
"There are no moral victories, but I'm as proud of these guys as can be. We're a good football team; they're a good football team. We've had to go through some really hot fires and for some of those guys, it'll make you or break you. Sometimes it will break you to, but this one didn't. We'll use this one to carry us through the rest of the season."

On his offense:
"Ryan (Cubit) played well; I was happy with him all week. You learn a lot about quarterbacks when you put them in huge situations as far as dropping back and keeping people off of him. Our offensive line did a great job today. We were able to throw the ball, we were able to throw the ball. Our passing efficiency was excellent. I know Monday morning that I'm going to have a quarterback issue because I know the other guy can do that too. When I go to bed at night, I know that I'm going to have two good quarterbacks."

Western Michigan Player Quotes

QB Ryan Cubit

On the team's feeling after the game:
"It hurts a lot because we all really felt that every one of our players left it all out on that field today. It definitely hurts, but now we know that we can play with the Big Ten and we can play with teams like this. So we're very excited to move on and get into the MAC now."

Comparing this loss to last week's:
"Both of them obviously hurt, but this one is a lot tougher because we were so prepared mentally and physically. We came in and did a lot of great things out there, and that's why it hurts: because you put so much into it and you actually execute."

On the Broncos' offensive line:
"You couldn't ask for more from those guys up front today. One play it felt like I had 10 seconds (to throw). We ran the ball today, and they gave me time back there. They just did a heck of a job up there. You can't really ask for more than that."

On where the team goes from here:
"It's kind of an exciting feeling, actually. It's a loss, but we're going into the MAC and we know we're a great football team. We've got more talent than a lot of teams do, so it's all up to us as to how we take care of things. We're ready to get things started."

Weak Safety Mark Hardy, native Robbins, Ill.

On what he wanted to accomplish coming back to Illinois:
"Coming back home, it's always an added incentive. As a senior, this is probably my last football game in the state of Illinois. So I wanted to come back and make a statement, and it just didn't work out."

On how the team played:
"We fought to the very end, and that's what excites me. It hurts a lot because we played to our potential, but we made critical mistakes. It's exciting that we have the chance to start a whole new season in the MAC."

On the team's approach to today's game:
"We walked into this place, and we felt like we were going to win. Even after they ran back the kickoff, we just realized we were in a hole and we had to dig ourselves out of it. Especially in the fourth quarter, our mood was exactly that - we were going to win."