Oct. 22, 2005

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QUOTING ILLINOIS HEAD COACH Ron Zook

On the game...
"I know what we are doing is right. We aren't going to change and we are going to keep on coaching. If we do need to make changes then we will make some changes and put some guys in there. We are going to keep on squeezing and twisting and turning. I know there were some good things that happened on that field tonight even though it doesn't look like it by the score. We are going to keep on doing the things we know that work and are right. It is just hard right now. In two years we are going to be playing like they played."

On the quarterback situation...
"Tim (Brasic) was struggling, he wasn't seeing certain things and there were reasons for that. You just don't become a bad player; you just have to go back and figure out why things happened. I was going to give him (Brasic) one more time in the beginning of the second half to see if he could settle down and if not, lets make a change and see what Chris (Pazan) can do."

On coaching when a lack of confidence is an issue...
"It has been awhile but I remember my first year at Virginia Tech with Frank Beamer; we were 2-9. We have to change the athleticism of our team and get some more players in here. We have to get them playing on the same page, playing hard, and we'll continue to improve."

On looking towards next week...
"Eventually we will get over this and maybe it will be next week. I told the team two weeks ago that we were going to plan on winning the Penn State game and if that didn't happen we were going to plan on winning the next week. Eventually we will get a break and we'll get over it. We just have to keep on pounding away."

On Brasic's confidence level...
"We aren't hitting on all cylinders. Whether it is confidence with Tim, I don't think it's confidence. Tim is a confident person. He just doesn't have enough experience to get himself out of the tailspin he got into today. He has before, but that was a pretty good football team."

QUOTING ILLINOIS PLAYERS:

Illinois punter Steve Weatherford...
On positives that can be taken from game...
"It's depressing and embarrassing to get beat that bad, but there's also positives out of it. We played a lot of young guys. We're a young team, and we're on the up and up. I think this team's going to be in contention for the Big Ten in latter years. We have a lot of work to do, but next year and the year after that, we're going to be competitive."

On what to do for the rest of the seasons...
"Just try to make improvements. For me, I'm just going to try and go out there and play the best that I can. For the younger guys, go out there and learn. They need experience. The more they play now, the more they get experience, and the better they're going to be next year and in the years to come. They're just going to go out there, try to get some reps, try to learn from their mistakes and get some wins."

Illinois quarterback Tim Brasic...
"It's another game. You have to put it behind you. A loss is a loss anyway you cut it. We just have to come back and get ready for Wisconsin."

QUOTING PENN STATE HEAD COACH JOE PATERNO...

...On coming to Illinois:
"We talked about coming out here and not falling flat on our faces. We tried not to underestimate this club."

...On Quarterback Michael Robinson:
"He gets better all the time. He probably was as consistent as he's been all year, and he read things well. He picked out a couple guys and got them the ball in a hurry, and he can run. He was golden on that touchdown of his."

...On putting the second team in the game:
"I like Ron Zook, and I think he had a good deal in Florida. Now he has to come here and rebuild a program. I was angry with the offensive coaches that kept saying to throw the ball at the end of the first half because we didn't need it. When you get the second kids in, you want them in a competitive situation. They got their noses wet and it's good for their morale. I think they played fairly well."

...On leadership:
"I was concerned. You lose one game and everybody's going to jump off a cliff. There is good leadership here. You guys don't know, but we had good leadership last year. Those guys could have flopped at any time, except they were a bunch of guys that had some pride and believed they could get good someday. I'm not surprised by them coming out the way they did. We've got good people."

...On his response to Illinois' first drive of the game:
"It was a fast pace. They came out and we weren't quite ready for that faster pace. That was one of the things that I was concerned about. I figured they would be fresh and quick after having the week off, and they did a really good job on that play. We didn't panic. We knew we'd be alright if everybody would just settle down and look at a couple of those fast plays."

...On 350th win:
"Did I know it was my 350th win? No. It's nice to hear though."

QUOTING PENN STATE PLAYERS:

LB Dan Connor...
On Paul Posluszny...
"He is a great player on the field, but a lot of people aren't able to see what he does off the field. He is a great leader and a man that many of us look up to as a captain. As a captain, he is able to motivate people. What I really think is the best thing about him is his leadership qualities. Anywhere he goes, on the field, off the field, he is able to help people, and that says a lot about the type of person that he is".

QB Michael Robinson
On the possibility of a letdown ...
"There was no feeling of a letdown in today's game. Guys knew what they had to do and how they had to do it. We came out of practice Monday fired up for this game. Actually Joe [Paterno] had to tell us to calm down a little bit. We couldn't wait to get back on to the field and prove what kind of team we are."

On only playing the first half...
"As a competitor you would much rather be out there, but at the same time you have to understand the circumstances. When you're up by 40 points there's no point in going out there and getting injured. Even though it is hard not to play and to sit on the side, you have to understand the situation and you have to be okay with sitting out".

On today's win leading into Purdue...
"This was a big win, a big boost of confidence for us. Especially after last week, tonight's win really boosted our morale. After a win like tonight, we are able to get some momentum behind us and bring it into next week's game against Purdue".

WR Deon Butler
On today's execution...
"Our game plan coming into this week's game was pretty simple. We had a plan and we just executed it. We were also able to take advantage of their mistakes. We showed discipline tonight against Illinois. We wanted to show everyone that we weren't going to live in the past and that we can go forward and continue to play like we are capable of playing".