Oct. 14, 2006

Recap |  Final Stats |  Notes

Quoting Illinois Head Coach Ron Zook...

...on Illinois' play:
"Obviously we are not playing the way we are capable of playing. We had too many breakdowns and that is going to cost us. We had a great week of practice with a lot of intensity. At the beginning of the game I don't think we came out with that same intensity. We had some costly mistakes and some special teams breakdowns and it's hard to win when those things happen."

...on going on the road the next two weeks:
"We're going to find out what kind of men we are. We are going to find out what we are made of. It's not going to be easy. It's going to be hard. We are going to continue to fight and get better. We need to play consistently the way we are capable of playing. Consistency is something we need to work on. I'm excited to go on the road."

...on Juice's play:
"I think he improved. He did some great things out there tonight. He made a big play converting on that 3rd down, finding Jody. He is just going to continue to improve."

...on the blocked punt:
"It's a matter of finishing. Those are the technical things that we work on every single day in practice. Things like that shouldn't happen and they can't happen if we are going to win games."

Quoting Illinois players:

WR Frank Lenti...

...on his game-tying touchdown:
"At that point in time we were just trying to move and get the ball down the field. Coach Locksley made a great call and saw how they were lined up. Juice put it right on the money and I just took it the rest of the way. At that point in time it felt like that's it, we're about to turn this around right now and make this comeback. You just go out and try and make big plays and help the team. Unfortunately, they punted to us and pinned us deep."

LB J Leman:

...on today's outcome:
"We had some turnovers and it was definitely a team loss today. I thought the defense was a little better in the second half, but in the first half we just gave up too many points."

...on the rest of the season:
"It doesn't get any easier from here and nobody is feeling sorry for us, so it's no good to have a pity party for yourself. So we are just going to get back to work."

QB Juice Williams:

...on today's game:
"We just had a couple tough breaks and we didn't capitalize on the situations that we needed to. We didn't bring our "A" game today."

...on how to move on after the past few weeks:
"We need to continue to work hard and try to put the losses in the back of our heads. We need to get moving forward and continue to get better every day. We have to work extra hard at practice and put in the extra effort that we need, and just come out and do our best."

Quoting Ohio Head Coach Frank Solich...

...on the Ohio defense:
"We're resilient and we did a great job of making plays when we needed them and caused some turnovers. That was critical in this game to win the turnover battle. They produced some turnovers for us and also allowed some big plays. You know that's going to happen when there's a guy like Juice taking the snap, but we kept them from establishing the ability to get into our red zone and get points on the board."

...on their game plan against Illinois QB Juice Williams:
"Ideally, you want to try to keep him contained. It's hard to do, and he did a great job of utilizing his running ability when he wanted to and when he needed to. You want to have a guy who makes big plays like that. We couldn't allow the rest of their offense to get going which they did a little bit when they started to get their running game going in the second half. If that would have continued and gotten to be a real strong thing down the stretch, it would have been a lot tougher."

...on Kicker Matt Lasher:
"He started off a little slow in the punting game. He didn't hit the ball quite the way he's capable of and his first kickoff, he didn't kick well, but the one thing about the kid is nothing bothers him. He just lets those things roll off his back. They bother me. I'm usually looking for him when he's coming off the field, and he does a great job of ignoring me. I don't know how many punts he's put inside the 20 yard line. He did a great job of establishing field position for us and the field goals were kicked very solid and very precise. We had a lot of confidence in him at the end to put that one through."

...on TB Kalvin McRae:
"We go into almost every game with Kalvin being very big in our thinking as far as trying to move the football. He has great ability to slide and make people miss and enough strength to get a lot of yards after contact. He's been a big player for us since we, as a coaching staff, have arrived on campus. He's made big play after big play and is just an ideal back."

...on what the win means for their program:
"It's real big. We're now at this point in the season a winning football team. It's now six wins and you're bowl eligible. We've got four now, and we matched our total from last year. We have a lot of tough games to play coming down the stretch, so we'll face challenge after challenge, week after week, but this was good to build off of. It's great to be where we're at right now."

Quoting Ohio players:

RB Kalvin McRae...

...on his two touchdowns:
"I think our offensive coaches did a great job calling the plays. Our offensive line did a good job blocking the defense. I have to basically give our offensive line all the credit."

PK Matt Lasher...
...on the game-winning kick:
"I hadn't made one since my junior year of high school actually, under the same circumstances. The last game-winner I had was from that same spot back in high school, the 32, a little bit inside the hash, everything about it was the same. I just had to focus and do everything confidently."

...on the improvement of Ohio's special teams from last season:
"It feels good to have the special teams click. Everybody has done a good job from the special teams' point of view, in every facet. Everything has improved a lot and added to our game."

CB T.J. Wright...
...on Illini quarterback Juice Williams:
"We watched a lot of film beforehand, learned we would have to make some adjustments. You know he is an athletic quarterback, and he made a lot of big plays, especially in the first half."

...on the turnover on Illinois' last possession:
"I was just going to secure the tackle, and I just felt that I had the ball, and just ripped it."

...on Ohio's defense:
"When Illinois makes plays, they make big plays. They are an athletic team, and play well. We just had to step up our game and be careful to not make mistakes to hurt our field. They are a good offense and they are going to make plays."