Opening statement
"It's of course good to be 1-0. Of course, that was part of the plan. So much goes into playing the opening game. There's so much unknown, playing a new staff. We had an idea of what they would do, but we had to get to the first game. I thought our staff did a good job of adjusting early on. On the offensive side of the football, we met all of our offensive goals – points, different things like that. Defensively, we met most of them, and on special teams. So it was that type of game. We had some outstanding play from certain guys. Players of the game, Donny Navarro, walk-on wide receiver, was our special teams player of the game. He had a good punt return, part of downing the ball inside the five. On the offensive side of the football, Brandon Peters was everything we thought he would be and wanted him to be, throwing the football and running the football, and just running our offense in general. It's a good start. Defensive side of the football, Jake Hansen, I felt, played outstanding ball. Had a sack, a caused fumble, a recovered fumble, and an interception. He did a lot of good things. So those were guys that kind of stood out in all three phases. So much of our play started with the offensive line. They played well. That's been a constant, it seems like, for a period of time. Injury-wise, you know, you get into the first game and you try to stay as healthy as possible. Mike Epstein went down with a season-ending injury, which is unfortunate. Mike has been through so much and is such a good football player. As was the case with Marquez Beason, these are guys that will come back as strong as ever, but they won't be a part of the actual Saturdays this year."
On Epstein's outlook…
"What Mike should see is that he has family. It's a little bit different situation, because Mike has a lot of eligibility left. He'll come back as strong as ever. That's what we've seen. Sometimes [injuries] are a blessing in disguise that we don't really realize, Coming back from a serious injury, maybe it's going to give him a little more time to heal up, and we're going to get the best version of Mike Epstein that we can."
On UConn's film…
"Randy Edsall is an outstanding football coach. Any football team that he's coached, there's a certain type of play you expect. Disciplined football. Hard-nosed football. They had a tough one to open the season, it is what it is. For us, it doesn't matter who our opponent is. We're going on the road. We haven't had a ton of success on the road. I'm told we haven't won a non-conference road game since 2007. I don't know if that's true or not, but it sounded pretty good to tell the team. There's a lot at stake, and good football teams can't just play at home. You have to be able to go on the road, so I'm anxious to see how we respond in the second game. I think every year I've been here, we've won the first game, and I talk about the improvement from game one to game two. That's what we need to see. There's so much room to improve."
On Kerby Joseph's targeting penalty against Akron…
"Kerby Joseph will be out for the first half of our next game. It's unfortunate. You know, there are some targeting penalties that are just vicious, and there are some where – I understand the kid led with his head – but it wasn't a vicious hit or anything like that. He was playing good, hard football. But rules are rules."
On Illinois' defensive versatility…
"I don't want to talk too much in detail on what we do, but we try to get the best 11 players on the football field. Sometimes when you have flexibility at some position, it allows you to keep the best 11. You start with your best 11, and in an ideal world, you want to keep them on the field as much as possible. Tony Adams allows us to do that. He's a player that can play the slot from time to time. A guy like Milo Eifler allows us to do that, since he can guard. We feel very comfortable with him matching up on a tight end man-to-man, as we do with Jake Hansen. We have some players with position flexibility that allow us to do a few things."
