Illinois head coach Bill Cubit addressed the media Monday, following the team's 27-25 win Saturday over Middle Tennessee. The Fighting Illini begin preparing for Nebraska, which comes to Memorial Stadium Oct. 3 for a 2:30 p.m. contest.
Opening statement:
"This game here, Middle Tennessee, you know when you watch the Alabama game tape, they were a dangerous football team. I thought they had some quality wide outs. I thought the quarterback, Brent [Stockstill], I thought he did an outstanding job. Defensively, they've got some guys on the other side I really think they're going to be playing on Sunday. I talked to Rick [Stockstill] yesterday and conveyed those thoughts, too. I thought they were a good football team. Despite some of those things we didn't play that well. We're very fortunate. That's the landscape of college football. If you go down and just check the scores there's probably about 10 of them who will hit you in the face and go 'now how'd that ever happen?' But that's just the way the game is played and that's why we play them. We're happy with the win.
On key plays in the Middle Tennessee win and moving on to this week:
"I was really happy with Taylor [Zalewski], he went in there and banged it; there was no hesitation on our part just go in there and go get it done. That's a game changer right there because if he misses we've only got one timeout left. It's going to be an issue. Then we went down there and unfortunately they converted two fourth down plays. I always say you can always tell your defense by your field goal block. How hard they play. Our kids put a lot of pressure in and I thought V'Angelo [Bentley] coming off the edge, kind of caused [the kicker] to come in just a little bit more and hooked it. There was some pretty good pressure by V'Angelo. So we're happy about that and now we get right back to Nebraska; there's no rest for the weary. You don't enjoy the game that much, you go home, try to relax but you're exhausted and then you wake up the next day and you go back to work. That's kind of our business here."
On Saturday's Big Ten opener against Nebraska:
"Armstrong, I think, is really playing well; throwing the ball really well. They've got some wide outs that I think are pretty good players and then defensively the big tackler, number 7, he'll probably be as good as I've seen in this league; I think he's really exceptional. Coach Riley, he's a veteran, he's an outstanding football coach and probably even a better man. He's kind of what college football should be all about. He goes out there and does all the right things. So we're looking forward to the challenge, hopefully we get a nice crowd out there to support us and, you know, we're going to have to play really well. We understand that but that's what it's all about."
On the play of safety Clayton Fejedelem:
"He's outstanding. He really is. He's fun to watch. In this day and age the safeties better make some tackles because they've got to be the extra guy in the box and he's been really dependable so far and we need to just keep him healthy so he can keep going out there and continue doing that for us."
