Illinois Head Coach Ron Turner...

...on the game:
"Our guys fought their tails off today and kept competing. However, we came here to get a win so it hurts. I think we have a chance to be a good football team and we took a step in the right direction today. We are going to continue to play with this type of passion, continue to compete and get a win."

...on the team's enthusiasium:
"This team has a lot of pride and believes in itself and what we can do. We have to eliminate mistakes and correct some things before we can take the next step."

...on Purdue's QB Kyle Orton:
"He's been in their system and he knows it so well. We tried to mix our looks up, but no matter what you're doing he knows where to go with the ball."

...on taking advantage of opportunities:
"We had the ball to start the second half with great field position and couldn't take advantage. We're doing a lot of good things, but we have to take advantage of opportunities when they are there."

...on Jason Davis' performance:
"Jason had a great game. He's had a great year so far and he's playing with a lot of confidence. I think he's trying to show us and tell us to put the ball in his hands more. He's also blocking well and doing whatever he can to help this team win."

...on Ade Adeyemo's injury:
"He broke his fibula, so he'll probably be out six to eight weeks. It's a shame because it was on the first play of the game and he was playing well with a lot of confidence this season."

QB Jon Beutjer...

...on Purdue's offense:
"They did a great job of converting third downs. As an offense, it's our job to convert third downs in order to keep the chains moving, keep the clock rolling and score points. I thought we did a great job at times, but we need to be more consistent."

...on the missed handoff to Adeyemo:
"A lot of things went wrong. It was a bad handoff. He was kind of grabbing it. But that wasn't the game. We came back and scored. If that would've never happened, we would have had a lot better chance. We just felt like we played pretty well offensively and moved the ball on those guys."

...on exploiting Purdue's defense:
"We knew going into the game that they really hadn't been challenged defensively both running and throwing the ball. But Coach Turner had a great plan. They don't do a great job of stopping the run. At times there were lanes, and that's a credit to our offensive line and to our running backs."

FB Jason Davis...

...on the team's effort:
"We started off with the worst-case scenario on offense, and I know a lot of people were thinking `oh, here we go again.' But we fought back and we just came up short. I think we showed everybody that we're going to fight every Saturday. This one just slipped out of our hands."

...on the team's attitude:
"A loss is a loss, and it's hard because we did everything the coaches said. We came with maximum effort every play, and it just feels like we had these guys. They gave us no respect all week in the media. After the Syracuse win, there was a quote in the paper that they said they thought they were playing Illinois because it was a 51-0 win. But they played Illinois today and we came out and smacked them in the mouth, and came back from adversity."

DE Mike O'Brien...

...on the team's feeling:
"We're disappointed. I'm not one of those guys who's excited because we hung in there with a ranked team. A loss is a loss. The offense played well; the defense just needed to pick it up."

RB Pierre Thomas...

...on his kickoff returns:
"After seeing those blocks, I just hit the gaps hard and just kept my feet churning trying to gain yards and get a touchdown. They put me back there because they know I can gain yards and get the offense good field position."

...on Illinois' resiliency:
"We knew they were going to come over here and play hard. We just couldn't let ourselves get down. Coach told us not to even look at the scoreboard, just pay attention to the game. If they did something, we did something. We had to keep coming back and keep fighting hard."

Purdue Head Coach Joe Tiller...

...on the Big Ten Conference opener:
"They're never easy in this conference, and they never will be. I think early in the year every team is convinced they've got an opportunity to make a run at the championship. I thought that Illinois really came out playing quality football. Quite frankly, they outhit us in the first half, particularly their offense versus our defense.

"This helps you when you go on the road. I don't care where it is or who it's against or what the circumstances are. As a matter of fact, I'm glad we had a tough game today versus something we've had the past few weeks. I thought from looking at the tapes during the week that Illinois is a much improved team. I thought that the changes they made with their personnel really helped them. I felt that this was going to be a tight game coming in. And we needed to win a tight game."

...on Illinois' play in the first half:
"Illinois had a real sense of purpose when they hit the field. They really showed up and it propelled them in a great first half of football."

...on QB Kyle Orton:
"He's playing well and I don't expect that ever to change with Kyle. He's an experienced guy and he knows the offense. We're always looking for perfection, but he played awfully well once again."

...on RB Brandon Jones:
"He played some fullback, played some tailback, played some receiver. He did a little bit of everything. Brandon is a smart guy. He's certainly not the fastest guy on the field, but just the idea that he can do it certainly helps us."

...on facing adversity:
"I was curious to see what we were going to do, how we were going to respond. I liked some of the things I saw. I never have a problem with a team if our effort level is high. If we get beat, we get beat. If we play a team that's better that day then we are, and we lose a football game, so be it. I didn't think our effort level was particularly high in the first half, but I think we learned a little bit about our team at halftime and the way they came out and played the second half."

Purdue QB Kyle Orton... ...on Illinois' defense:
"Actually it was real surprising. We thought they would be a real basic defense. They came out and every other play was a new coverage. It was hard, especially early in the game, because we didn't expect it."

...on his and Stubblefield's chemistry:
"You highly expect it, but it is still surprising every game, especially when he comes out of the game with three touchdowns. It's hard to do especially when they key on him. Illinois had man coverage on him and played one behind him. It's not like they weren't keying on him. He's doing a great job, but I think the big thing is that we are getting production out of everyone else, so they can't key on him."

...on his performance:
"I think I threw the ball pretty good again today and made good decisions. Once again our offense came out without any turnovers."

Purdue WR Taylor Stubblefield...

...on today's performance:
"Today was good for us. It was good for our offense to have some troubles and to have some stuff on tape to look at and say we need to do this. We're going to need to be clicking on both sides of the ball. I don't think we were clicking the whole 60 minutes of the game. At the key times we clicked when we were supposed to, and that was the most important thing."

Purdue DB Anthony Spencer...

...on causing the fumble on Illinois' final drive:
"We didn't get to him all day. He was just running away from us, so I was determined to get him at least once today."

...on Purdue's defense:
"First half we might have been a little bit asleep. They were just running the ball all over us, and we weren't doing anything to stop them. The second half we had a nice little pep talk and we got going. We stepped it up in the second half and played real well."