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Postgame Quotes
Illinois 16, Penn State 14
Memorial Stadium // Nov. 22, 2014 // Attendance: 35,172

Illinois Head Coach Tim Beckman

Opening statement:

"First thing I want to do is congratulate our seniors. They came to me on Thursday and I did not realize that the senior class at the University of Illinois has not won their final game at Memorial Stadium since 2007. I was a little bit shocked by that. But, wow, the seniors worked so hard. They bought into everything that we're doing. They're great individuals. It wasn't just Reilly O'Toole out there today. It was those tight ends, it was the DB's, it was all those seniors leading this football team. And at times, they could've easily just said that they've had enough. But not these seniors. They don't listen to anything that anybody says except what we say. I can't be more proud of them for not letting the negativity come into their lives and realize that this football program is only as good as the guys that sit in here Monday through Friday. I'm proud of them. I'm proud of the way they've worked. We're not where we need to be yet. Our goal is to win that sixth football game. It will be a great opportunity for these seniors to walk off the field with a chance to have six victories. We're excited about it and I couldn't be more proud."

On the final drive of the game:

"Well, we wanted a touchdown if we could, but we knew we had an opportunity after Penn State called their last timeout to run the clock down as far as we could. So we said `let's do that,' and we've practiced this type of thing before. These kids know what to do in these situations. And, of course, we had a two-minute drill; we always practice them on Wednesday. And we always leave it up to the kicker to make the kick. So the credit goes to David Reisner because he's the one who stepped up and did it."

On how he felt as the Illini lined up for the game winning field goal:

"Anxious. I wanted W's for these seniors. As I've said since day one, this program's not about me; it's about seniors. It's about seeing Earnest Thomas with a tear in his eye after this football game. It's about Alex Hill. It's about all the guys that are involved in this program and that's why you do it."

On the boost Reilly O'Toole provided for the offense:

"I think Reilly definitely brought a little spark. I still believe wholeheartedly in Wes (Lunt), as well as Reilly and Aaron (Bailey). But I can't say enough about Reilly O'Toole. He's won the Homecoming game for us and now he can honestly say he was the quarterback that won a game that hadn't been won in seven years here."

On the performance of the Illini defense:

"I thought Coach (Tim) Banks did a tremendous job. All the defensive coaches did a great job getting our players prepared for Penn State's offense. I think that Hackenberg is a great quarterback. They played great, other than that one long run, which is definitely correctable."

Illinois QB Reilly O'Toole

On David Reisner's game-winning field goal attempt:

"It was a closer kick than the one before, so I wasn't worried. Reisner does a great job in practices, which gives him confidence. Honestly, I thought there was more time on the clock so I was getting prepared for the defense to have to make a big stop.

On the final drive:

"It was a great way to go out at Memorial Stadium. We had to get into field-goal range, so we couldn't take huge shots; we just had to get there first. I took a few shots early on and after that, once we were field goal range, I tried to get us in the right run checks and as close to the middle as possible. Once we did that, it worked out."

Illinois DL Jihad Ward

On Illinois defensive plan working today:

"All season long, we have had the defensive plan in place but executing the plan does not always come through. In today's game, the defense really executed."

Illinois WR Mike Dudek

On winning today's game:

"After any win, we like to go back and watch the film to see what we did wrong and correct the mistakes, because Northwestern is going to be watching our film and pointing out our mistakes. There is nothing better than a win. We have to get ready for Northwestern, that is our main focus. So we will enjoy these next 24 hours and then get ready.

On how he seems to have big games every week:

"I get thankful every time my number gets called. I work really hard off the field, too. I'm in here once and sometimes twice a day with Coach Bellamy and Coach Ryan Cubit learning the defenses, which is something I didn't really know well in high school."

On the effect of a quarterback change during a game:

"It can be tough, especially when you're in rhythm with someone and then a new quarterback comes in. But I feel like we all work hard during practice and timing is down with all three quarterbacks so that when someone comes in, it's not really all that different."

Illinois K David Reisner

On being able to gauge the wind from his first field goal attempt:

"Yeah, I think that without the first field goal attempt, I probably would've thought very differently going into the second attempt. The first attempt was a far kick and with that one, I could really see that the wind was pushing because it started taking off toward the upright and then the wind just kind of pushed it. I felt confident back there, I felt like I had the distance; I wasn't trying to kill it - kick the ball too hard - I just had to gauge the wind. It's hard in Champaign because the wind is blowing wherever you turn."

On Coach Beckman's confidence in letting him kick a 50-yarder after only making two field goals all year:

"In practice we've had opportunities to kick far field goals. We've made some 55-yarders in practice before, so he knows that we have the leg. Coach (Tim) Salem knows what we are capable of. I tell him before the games what my distances are and they had confidence in me. I was telling them earlier that I wanted to kick a 58-yarder. The 50-yarder didn't seem like it was too far of a kick, I just pulled it a little."

Penn State Head Coach James Franklin

"I appreciate everybody making the trip. Obviously, we did not play well enough in all three phases to get the outcome that we wanted. Offensively, we played about the same way we have played all year long. We started out with the opening drive going right down the field doing exactly what we want. From that point on, we had missed assignments, penalties and errors that made it difficult on us. Defensively, we would typically be able to get a few points lead. Our defense has had our back, but today they were not able to have our back consistently. They were not able to get pressure on the quarterback, probably less than we have had all year long. Our tackling was not good. A lot of throwing shoulders, a lot of broken tackles, a lot of missed tackles - especially late in the game. Their slot receiver made some plays; they did a good job creating matchups for him. I think the wind was an issue. I do not think that was a schemed pop-over kick; I think it just got caught up in the air and died. We have to do a better job at calling a fair catch there and catching it, and get ready to play the next down. We have some things that we have to get cleaned up, as a whole, so we will move on from there. Overall, not a good day. I did not do a good job, that's the reality.

Did you sense a let-down after becoming bowl-eligible last week?

This (Illinois) team beat Minnesota, who is a good team, earlier on in the year. We just did not play well. We look around college football across the country and if you do not play well, you are going to have a hard time winning. We talked about bringing our own energy into the stadium; we talked about things that we were going to have to do. Turnovers and lack of turnovers that we were able to do on defense was an equalizer for us all year long. Fumbling it - which we had not done all year long until the last two weeks - did not help. There are a lot of things that went into today. We have probably been asking for this all year long the way we have been playing and it caught up to us today.

Is it possible the defense is worn out?

There is no doubt they are worn out. At this point in the season, I think that is happening for everybody. They are getting worn out and banged up. We did not have Brandon Bell today; he has played well all year long, so that was a factor. There are some other things that we have to take responsibility of. We are throwing shoulders - we are not wrapping, and we are throwing shoulders and going for big hits. We are not fundamentally sound right now in tackling. We have gotten away with it for most of the year. I do not think there is any doubt, that with this time of the year we are getting worn out, especially our defense.

After you were up 7-0, what was much thought of going for it on fourth down and did you feel there was a momentum shift following the play?

I do not think the issue was going for the fourth down, I think the issue was fumbling a snap and missing a field goal that would have put us up 10-0 at that point.

Penn State QB Christian Hackenburg

On Illinois' defense:

"We prepared well. I thought we had a pretty good game plan coming in, so I think it just goes back to execution, the common theme. We've got to consistently go out and execute."

On not having (Bill) Belton available as the game progressed:

"I thought Bill (Belton) was doing really well, so not having him put a lot on Akeel (Lynch) and the coaching staff. That definitely impacted, down the road, reps and their win. We'll be able to move on to that and make sure we're more prepared for that."

On going out of bounds one yard short of the first down:

"It was one of those bang-bang things looking back at it. I'm sure it was pretty easy for everyone not in the moment to say bounce back, but it's just one of those things where I've got to learn from it and make sure I don't make that mistake again."

On making routine mistakes this late in the season:

"It's frustrating, but it comes with the territory in terms of having to play with guys being hurt, out of position, moving people around, being the second-youngest team in the country. Guys just haven't been there and done that, and you can't really rely on experience."

Penn State RB Akeel Lynch

On not having Bill Belton:

"Bill is a dynamic player - a play-maker himself - so offensively, that definitely hurts. Losing a guy that's a leader on the team also hurts as well. He's a tough guy; he tried to tough it up knowing he had an injury and he couldn't go, so I had to take the load for the day."

Penn State CB Jordan Lucas

On not executing on defense:

"We definitely left a lot of plays out there where we didn't wrap up and they got extra yards. We were offside and they got first downs. You think about what could have happened, but you can't go back in time; you have to just play the next down."

On Penn State's confidence to be able to stop Illinois after going up 14-10:

"We were very confident. That's a part of our defense, our confidence, and we like to go out there thinking that we can stop the offense. We just have to go out there and play complementary football: defense does what they do, offense does what they do, and special teams do what they do. I think we're close; we've been close all season. Once we get that rolling, the better we'll be."