Illinois head coach Bill Cubit addressed the media Monday, following the team's 14-13 win over Nebraska. The Fighting Illini begin preparing for its trip to Iowa Saturday.
Opening statement:
"You know, of course we're really excited about what happened. I think more so than a win, it's just really how we did it. The resolve, the resiliency of our football team out there. What's kind of neat when you're talking to the guys and you're trying to get home points where they're starting to repeat what you're telling them and I think that the message is getting really clear with our guys. We talk a lot about pressure; we talk about performing in the moment. There was Malik [Turner] who probably struggled pretty well up there, he did make a good third-down catch but he comes up with a big catch. You know, defense I thought we just played outstanding and it just gave us enough. At the end of the third quarter our kids had enough belief in what we were trying to do and I was just making them understand 'milk the clock so we get the win'. I thought if it was two-score game I thought we had a pretty good chance of winning that thing. Just seeing our kids in the locker room, that's why college football is such a great thing I think for everybody.
On the upcoming game against Iowa:
"We're going to play Iowa. Watching them on tape, a really physical football team. I think a really well-coached offense, line wise. They've been around football a long, long time and it's one of the few offensive lines that I really enjoy watching. Even when I was at the last place, I would always try and get film just to see how synced they are; they do such a good job. The quarterback is playing really well and then defensively their front collectively is the best we've played against. They've got some guys there that are really good football players and then the [Desmond] King kid in the back, he's leading the league in interceptions, he's a ball hawk and I remember being involved in recruitment with him back then when he was from Detroit so really a good player. For our kids, we've just got to stay with the process; understand what we're trying to do every day and I think they'll do that. I think they're buying in pretty well for us. We've got an opportunity to go up there and play a really good Iowa team so that's exciting."
On winning the Big Ten opener:
"It's not the gloom and doom normally after our first Big Ten game or, you know, we haven't played really well and all of a sudden it just gets down; it gets negative. Now it's been pretty positive. It was kind of neat going out, you know we had to recruit, we went out to dinner and it was kind of funny, there was an elderly group coming out and I asked them 'did you go to the game' and they said 'yeah' and I said 'did you stay until the end' and they said 'no' and I said 'well I'm Coach Cubit, don't ever leave a game again.' But there was a lot of fan interest and a lot of people that I think were really excited about it so we were really happy for the Illini family."
