Illinois (5-5, 2-4 Big Ten) travels to Minnesota to face the Gophers (4-6, 1-5 Big Ten) at 11 a.m. CT Saturday on ESPNews. 

Gameday Central

Opening statement:
"After watching the tape, we won some pretty good battles. Of course, we didn't get it done. We had our opportunities, I thought that after the game and after watching the tape I thought the exact same thing. That's a really good football team. I think upfront, offensive line-wise, might be one of the better ones I've seen. Their combo blocks are outstanding, they got up on people, but our kids fight hard. We had a couple opportunities down there; the red zone is still hurting us. The special teams of course, it's pretty obvious they didn't play very well but it's a big difference from the previous two years I've been around when we played those guys. It was a physical game. I thought Austin Schmidt played really well, I thought Teddy [Karras] played well; so those two guys had big challenges and they did a good job up front. Moving on with Minnesota, they're another physical football team, throwing the ball a lot more than they did in the past. Some of it probably has to do with some injuries but they've had a tough stretch too. They played a lot of ranked teams, I think we have five losses, I just checked the paper today and four of the losses were to the top twenty guys in the country. But we're a topic in those things, it's not like we're getting totally outmatched. So we've just got to finish up the season strong, we've got another top twenty-five team. All the emphasis is on Minnesota; Tracy [Claeys]'s done a great job keeping those kids together. They're throwing the ball, they're just coming up a little bit short but they're a good football team and we've got to go there which is always a challenge."

On the current status of player injuries:
"[Ke'Shawn Vaughn] is doing pretty well, today he'll run around. He took some impact tests by the physicians and [trainers] so hopefully tomorrow he can be a non-contact guy. I feel somewhat optimistic there. Jihad [Ward], I think he's going to be okay. That's been, kind of been lingering for about three weeks, I think he's going to be okay. I don't think we lost anybody else."

On freshman wide receiver Desmond Cain:
"The thing I love about Des, if you go back, he signed as a DB. I'm not saying I'm a great recruiter, but I was the guy who recruited him and I watched him in practice and thought 'He could help us here'. He's a guy that can play a lot of different positions in my mind. So we brought him in as a corner, and we thought he could play as a safety, and then when all those injuries happened we put him in a wideout. That guy goes against Penn State and he doesn't get fazed at all. I think that says a lot about him coming into that situation. I'm just really impressed with the guy, he's got a bright future."

On what he has learned about the Illini community on visits to the quad:
"There are a lot more people interested in football than what you think; people you have no idea that you would even think would like football. You go up and you introduce yourself, 'Hey coach it's really nice meeting you', not saying I'm a celebrity but they know. It was a better experience for me because this is what's great about college football. Walking on campus and seeing the students, how they want to interact and how they want to be a part of it; I think it really paid off. There's a connection there."

On finishing the season strong:
"You hear the kids, they want to finish it off right. I think I heard Teddy, where he wants to win eight; fine. If that's what you want to do, I don't have a problem with that. If you want to get to a bowl game, great. I don't talk about it but they do and I don't mind them talking about it; that's their goal. I'm not going to knock down their dreams, when we get into practice that's all we talk about; winning this game here."