Lovie Smith

"As we finish up against Iowa, when you watch the video, we saw what happened. We had a big lead; didn't finish the way we would like to."

"We see things in our program that we are doing that will eventually get us over the hump though."

"The Land of Lincoln trophy is up, it's been up north for too long. Ours guys will be pumped up and ready to go. We plan on playing our best game we've played all year."

"This rivalry goes back a long period of time. This trophy has changed names. For us, five years is too long. We have ended some streaks and we are looking to end another one this week."

"When you get later into the season and injuries hit you there are opportunities for guys to show you who they are."

"If you look at us play, without going into stats and records. If you look at our play, we have a legitimate chance to win each week. Now that hasn't always been the case, we had a legitimate chance to beat a good Iowa football team this past week. We are better in all areas."

"I think you've always needed good offense; you can have great defense but you win games based on scoring. Offenses are putting up more points, putting up more yards. I think the game as skewed a little bit to give offenses more success. I think every championship football team you see; college, high school, junior high, pop warner, that team is winning because it scoring points."

"You still need a good defense to become a championship team."