Illinois head coach Bret Bielema spoke with the media in advance of the Illini's Week 7 home game vs. Minnesota.

Opening statement
"Well, I'm the first guy to turn the page and move on, but I just want to sit back in reflection of Saturday's atmosphere. Thank you to everyone in that department of athletics and also the university.  I'm probably the only head coach in the country that that says this type of thing. But, our director of band Barry Houser gets it. I've never been around a guy - I had him actually speak to the team a year ago; it's when I first had a chance to be around him - and, what he pours into game day. I actually,came out of halftime, and as a head coach, we were kicking off, and we had a choice which direction. The wind was kind of a push. It was kind of the equal distance both ways, kind of swirling in both end zones, and I literally thought to myself, 'Where can we go,' because I thought it'd be a final possession game, I told her coaches all week, all our players, nothing that happened on Saturday, it was a shock that we kind of talked about the way that I thought this game would go. Of course I would have welcomed the other way, in a positive direction, if it happened, but I chose to kick towards State Farm (Center) so that we knew that, at the end of the game, that we were in a situation where we had to score we would be down in our student section and then on the flip side of it, if it was a backed-up scenario, they would be in our student section. That literally affected our game, because of our students section and our band. So Barry obviously has direct control of the band, he was just awesome. He gets it, he understands it. And then our students section. You know, we had a couple Block I students come out last week and the way that they arrived and the way that they stayed was just truly an indication of what this place can be. We weren't quite there obviously. Whatever the number was, it was as loud as it's been since I've been here and so whatever we can do to get to a place to be even higher this weekend for homecoming would be awesome. But as a head coach since coming here I just recognize and understand people that get it right. And that jumped out to me huge."

"Yesterday during our team meeting we recognize as normal our MVPs and the way that they play. I made a specific point to point out six guys that when they woke up on Saturday morning, they didn't know their role was going to be a starter but it changed during the course of the game. So the first one was from Fabrizio (Pinton) who also just got named obviously a Big 10 Player of the Week. He had expected to possibly be a long field goal hitter on Saturday but wasn't expected to take over the entire field goal duties so he passed that with flying colors. And that's not just him, right? Then there's the holder with Hugh Robertson, it's the snap with Lane Hanson; the protection was absolutely rock solid the whole day. So a great moment for them. Obviously, the offensive emphasis is always through the quarterback so to see Art (Sitkowski) respond, the way that he did was just absolutely awesome. But then the guy that kind of got lost - the next two guys really - when Isaiah (Williams) went down that forced Miles (Scott) and Hank Beatty into that role at the slot position. They handled it, not as All-Big 10 performers yet, but they did what they had to do. They were very specific. I give Hank a lot of credit. This guy never caught punts at Rochester (High School). So like, I remember being in fall camp and I was watching him catch the ball. And so we were starting our special teams period, and I said, 'hey, Hank, go back there and catch punts. Like I just kind of said, 'Why weren't you back there?' and he goes, 'I never caught punts.' I'm like, 'What are you talking about?" And he's like at Rochester, and I think the world of his head coach, and he's won a lot of titles. But he obviously didn't have him back there as a punt returner. And he went back there and caught that thing right where the guys - there's supposed to be a one-yard rule - but his feet were standing on a 10-yard line and the defenders feet was standing on the 10-yard line, and he caught that ball in tight traffic at the end of the game was absolutely awesome. Defensively, obviously Taz Nicholson goes down and to have Rello (Terrell Jennings) go in there and do what he did. The plays that he made was just awesome to see that and witness that. (Isaac) Darkangelo went down which not only affected us in linebacker play but "Dark" starts on all four units in the kicking game. So all the guys that stepped into his role, just truly we talk all season all year about hey, when your moment comes, be ready for it. And those guys really did a great job. So I couldn't say enough things about those guys. You know, guys like Jonah Morris. I thought the transfer portal showed up on Saturday, Rello, obviously, we got a week before fall camp, well actually Rello and Jonah Morris both entered the University of Illinois, right before fall camp started up. So they got four weeks of fall camp with us, and then they're in the game. And the way those guys played in that game was truly, truly awesome to be a part of. 

"So we'll turn the page and jump into Minnesota. Obviously, this is the fourth rematch game for us this year. But it's the first game, it's a rematch against the team that we have, (News-Gazettte columnist) Bob (Asmussen) pointed out, that that's the first time that we'll play a team that we beat a year ago. Very fortunate to get out of there with a win last year. I think overall they're actually a better football team probably. I know they lost some good players, especially on the offensive line and lost some other players o-line and on the defense and special teams but they're a very complete football team, you know, to be a 4-1 one team. They had bye week last week so it's a tremendous challenge for us to play four quarter game and turnaround play 11 a.m. kickoff which I'm excited for because I think our appetite for a home game here in Memorial should be really really high. I know it's 11 o'clock so either come the tonight before and enjoy Champaign and start your tailgate whenever you want or get up early and drive down and let's make the Memorial Stadium as great as it can be." 

On Injuries
"Yeah, really all the guys that are injured, I don't think any of them will be season-ending or anything along those lines. I think we are fortunate this week, obviously with Minnesota and the bye week coming out of it, that the majority of those guys should all be back in time for our return after the bye week. But I don't know how realistic it is for any of those four or five guys to project into being in this week's plan."

On  how upcoming bye week affects return from injuries
"Yeah. Case in point, when Josh McCray got hurt, we looked at the schedule, looked at what the doctor said, and saw that hey, he could return right before with possibly this (Minnesota) game or worst case scenario be after the bye week on his return. And Josh is really day-by-day. He performed Sunday with the trainers. Obviously we don't practice on Sundays, overall. But Josh had a really good day on Sunday. Kind of waiting to see where he's at today when he comes back in and then tomorrow, Wednesday, Thursday, and this projection for Saturday would be a lot about how his body reacts during the course of the week. So yeah, the bye week, we knew this was going to happen, right? We knew we had three games a bye week, four games and a bye week, and a five game stretch. So it was  we've been talking about this and thinking about this for a long time."

On factors that play into being more aggressive in fourth-down situations
"Yes and no, I think as a head coach, you know - and I think I tried to say this to you guys last year - sometimes you guys write your articles before you ask the questions. But I would say, a year ago, there was certain times where I was greatly affected by ability to be successful on fourth down. Either with the call, or the person, or the trigger. And now, you know, I think I made this reference last week at Wisconsin when I went for it on fourth and four, I was literally asking the question, and (offensive coordinator) Barry [Lunney] was spitting the answer. And I think we were three for three, I know, third down was not great. But fourth down, we were three for three, you can't get better than 100 percent So obviously, we didn't know at the end when I told them to but we were 100 percent there on Saturday and very good the week before. So that's, that's a huge influence on your ability as head coaches to have confidence in your offensive coordinator, but also your offensive play call."

On feelings upon seeing that Illinois was ranked in the AP Top 25
"You know, it's a great question. I think I draw all the time from my experiences. And I distinctly remember, during my third year at Wisconsin when the first time we hadn't been ranked, and I distinctly remember feeling that right. And it was the first time that we weren't ranked since I had been a head coach. That was a moment I remember, and then I would go the flip side. So I really don't worry about a lot of things I don't have on my radar all that much. But I always get a lot smarter on Saturday night after a game. So, I had, obviously, a tremendous group of family and friends in for the game. Got done with the game and did a lot of media and we had a lot of recruiting in and my wife loves to get back and she loves to watch The Final Drive on the Big Ten Network. And we're sitting there and they're going through the final segment, the final final drive, whatever that is, and Dave Revsine says to the group, 'Illinois is the last Power Five team that hasn't been ranked since 2011.' And I'm like, I literally just stopped. I said, 'What did he say?' And she said, we haven't been ranked since 2011. He's asking in we're going to get ranked. And I had no idea. None. So yesterday, I didn't even really think about it much after that. I thought we'd probably be another week. If we were able to have successes, we might get ranked. But when that came through yesterday, I was literally just, just sat there for a moment kind of digested it and thought about it. I thought it was a good thing. I grew up playing for Coach (Hayden) Fry, and he used to say 'Partner, if you done it, you ain't bragging.' And that's why I showed one of the first graphics I showed our players. Because I know other people are going to talk about it. So it's a product of what they built and what they've tried to accomplish. But it's definitely not our ending point that is hopefully just a catalyst in the future."