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University of Illinois Athletics

Lovie Smith

Football

Lovie Smith Press Conference Quotes

Football

Lovie Smith Press Conference Quotes

Opening statement
After going over the video quite a few times, you come to the same conclusion. Disappointing how we played as a team. You kind of start with the turnover ratio after any game, and we had five, only took the ball away a couple of times against a good offensive team like Nebraska had, and you'll end up with the results that we did. Some good things we found, especially on the offensive side of the football. AJ Bush was outstanding. Again with a quarterback playing that way, you have a chance to win. Unfortunately, we couldn't get more possessions for our offense to be able to move up and down the football field. I think we had sixteen explosive plays on offense. Most of our goals that we have set for each game we accomplished except for turning the ball over three times. Defensively, just about every goal we had we didn't accomplish. We couldn't take the ball away, had a lot of opportunities to get it and we didn't. We didn't tackle well, so these are things we have to clean up. We had a few injuries, Reggie Corbin of course didn't finish the game, but we're hopeful he'll be able to go. We had a few other guys banged up a little bit, but we have a little bit of time before we play Iowa. Our history with them, I think they've won the last four games. It's been a long time, I think 2008 or so, that we've beaten them. We've played them tough the other two times we've played them, but we haven't been able to get over the hump. Excited about coming back home. Most teams play better at home, and hopefully that'll be the case with us.

On AJ Bush Jr.'s big game against Nebraska
I saw a player that was really motivated. Especially when you go back to a place that you call home. AJ is tough duty. He's big, he's athletic, good speed, and whenever you have an athletic quarterback like that, you can move the chains with his legs. To be able to throw it too… his passing stats won't say how he played with too many drops in the game. But we have production from that position which gives us a chance.

On fixing mistakes moving forward
Now it's just about Iowa and having the best Tuesday practice we've had all year. All those things we talked about with tackling, dropped passes… all those things we need to get fixed. It's now or never. We know what we're capable of doing.

On preparing for Iowa
They play hard, they're sound, they've been playing the same system for a lot of years. They don't make many mistakes. Tough football team. Discipline. That's what they have and that's what they've been for many years.

On senior day this Saturday
It's a special time. The impact on our team, it's a big impact. Seniors that are leaving have excellent leadership on and off the football field. They've put their time in here building a program. Once you get to your senior year you've gone through an awful lot with sacrifice and hard work, and you want to finish it off the right way.

On this group of seniors moving forward
Graduates we send out are going to be shaping the world, and the sky is the limit. I've talked about how long we've been around them. There's some special people in that group that are going to do special things. It's going to be fun to watch them to see exactly what they'll do.

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Players Mentioned

Reggie Corbin

#2 Reggie Corbin

RB
5' 10"
Junior
2-2
AJ Bush Jr.

#1 AJ Bush Jr.

QB
6' 4"
Senior
1-1

Players Mentioned

Reggie Corbin

#2 Reggie Corbin

5' 10"
Junior
2-2
RB
AJ Bush Jr.

#1 AJ Bush Jr.

6' 4"
Senior
1-1
QB