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Nov. 18, 2008

Opening Statement:

"Obviously we're getting ready to play the last regular season game. It's the last game for our seniors. This is something that's a little bit special, maybe more so than other times because we all started together. This senior class was the first group of guys and we came in together. We have kind of gone through a lot of ups and downs together. As I told them, 'Wwe haven't won as many games this year as we all think we could have or should have or whatever and for whatever reason. I think we'll get it figured out and address that in the off-season.' I know right now we understand that you can't turn the ball over. We have to make sure now that we're addressing that this week and we're addressing that all the time. Take care of the football and we have to get the football back on defense. Obviously being a big rivalry game, I think any time you get into a rivalry game there are a lot of things you can throw out. This team is going to play with a lot of aggressiveness and emotion and we have to match that and play the same way. Our seniors and this football team are together as a group. I feel good about that. You've heard me say many times, it hasn't been the practice. They come to work and they've practiced but they also understand that this is our last opportunity to become Bowl eligible. It's kind of funny because the team situations have kind of reversed roles from last year and now it's going to be important that we go out there and play the kind of game that we're capable of playing for sixty minutes."

On Northwestern's quarterbacks:

"They don't change their offense necessarily, although, (Mike) Kafka just runs the ball. He runs the ball a lot more. He's a guy who can run the ball as well as anybody in the Big Ten. I'm very impressed with the way he runs it and he can throw obviously as well. It's one of those things where the type of offense doesn't change per say, what they do doesn't change per say, but what they do with the quarterbacks does."

On the difference between Northwestern this year and last year:

"I think they're an awfully good football team really. The quarterback has started for three years and the receivers have been around four years at least. They lost === but what they do causes you the issues. When you have a guy who can throw the ball like they do, they're going to get some yards. That's just part of it. I think defensively they have two new coordinators. I think offensively they're doing about they same thing. Defensively they play with a lot of emotion, a lot of aggressiveness. They have a basic front four back. They have the one DB or safety back that I don't think played last year, number four, he's a heck of a player. Once again, they've had some injuries, I think maybe three starters, but they're still there. Guys are plugging guys in and playing hard. Things are going right for them and they're making things go right for them."

On Northwestern's receiver Eric Peterman:

"He's been around a long time now. They informed me last night because I was sitting there and I didn't know he has been playing as long as I've been here. He came out the year before we got here. But I think he's a big, strong, physical guy. You watch him in the Michigan game and he's physical, he runs over people, he blocks. They do a as good of job as anyone we've played that when the quarterback does a scramble, those receivers get on you and they start blocking. They're doing a very good job of that. He's a guy who is one of the top receivers in the league. He just continues to impress people."

On playing for bowl eligibility:

"No, I think that's what makes this game so big. That's obviously a critical thing number one, but also it's a rivalry game. It's a game that's important to both programs. As I said, the roles were kind of reversed and our guys remember, I told them this Monday night, 'Eeven though the roles were reversed, and that was a physical game, we were fortunate to get a little ahead there at the end, but they came back. They played the whole game and it'll be the same kind of game Saturday.'"

On Northwestern's Corey Wootton:

"He's an All-American candidate. He's a big, pretty looking guy. Pass rusher, I'm on a committee with AFCA and he's a guy who we all talked about. We hadn't played against him at the time but the coaches I talked to that played him, and I've seen that since, say he's a big time guy."

On Northwestern's defensive style:

"I think they're doing the same thing. They're a four-man front, doing the same type things that way. Man-front, and even though they had one guy get hurt, the four that are slated to start against us Saturday are the same front four that started against us last year. They've done it once again, guys doing the same thing over and over. They play with a lot of energy. They're flying around making things happen. John Gill at defensive tackle is one of the better ones also in this league."

On John Gill being an All-Big Ten player:

"Absolutely."

On Northwestern's Brendan Smith:

"He did not play last year. He's playing pretty well this year."

On Northwestern's offense:

"I think anytime you lose a great player it alters you a little bit. Once again, with what they do with their throwing game and they maybe have been going a little bit more to that, but they're going to be able to run the football. I've read a couple things where they're going to try to establish the run and be able to run the football. I know Coach Fitzgerald has talked about their offensive line, even though they've got three new guys. He's given them a lot of praise and I can see why. They've gotten better and better and they've done a pretty good job running the football."

On the health of the team:

"It's amazing where we are. You think that we'd be beat up with the things were going but we're in pretty good shape. Josh (Brent) was out there yesterday and he didn't do a whole lot but he was running around. I couldn't tell anything when he was running. Eddie (McGee) was out there and I couldn't tell anything was wrong with him as well. Donsay (Hardeman) has a stiff neck."

On Juice saying he could be a receiver:

"Juice just needs to take care of getting that ball in the end zone. But he does have good hands."

On giving Juice Williams more responsibility:

"He's got enough on his plate right now."

On Juice Williams' confidence level:

"Once again, and I've said this many times, Juice wants to win as bad as the rest of us. He does press a little bit when he tries to make some things happen. The things that have happened out there to him and to us are out of his control. I've said it many times and we've all said it, the quarterback sometimes gets way too much credit and he gets way too much blame. That's part of being a quarterback in the Big Ten."

On Juice Williams:

"We want him to play well. Obviously this is a football team where this game is very important to us and it's going to be important that he does play well."

On sitting Juice out earlier in the game to get a feel for what's going on:

"I don't know. We've thought about just about everything that anyone else has too. There are a lot of things that go into that as well. I think they're willing to do whatever it takes. Once again, I think the big thing is to stay positive. In football, the ball bounces funny sometimes and it's not always going to bounce the way you want it to bounce. We all agree that there wereas three games that we had a better than good chance to win and we didn't. If we were sitting here, I don't think we'd be sitting here looking at Northwestern eye to eye with the same record. On the same token, we have to learn to take care of the football and we can't let those same things happen that happened to us and if they do, then like in the Iowa game, you have to hold them to a field goal."

On evaluating Juice's season:

"I'm not at the point of evaluating right now. I think you evaluate when everything is over. He's like any other football player. He's done an awful lot of great things and good things for our force this year and also some things that haven't been as good. Once again, I think a lot of times he gets a lot of the blame that isn't necessarily his fault. That's part of it as well and it gets exaggerated when things aren't going right, particularly with a football team that was expected to play a little bit better and be a little bit more productive than we have been."

On Juice's throwing progress from last year to this year:

"He'll be better next year as well. We've said it all along, guys are going to be better players as juniors and seniors, I don't think there's any question. If you remember back to where he started as a freshman, he's made tremendous progress and he'll continue to make progress and get better. Throwing the football, there are times when I think he looks off a little bit, but we have to do a better job of protecting him at times and those things have an affect on him as well."

On Juice handling the mental aspects outside of the game:

"I think he's doing a great job. You guys talk to him. Obviously I don't want him laughing and joking around like everything is fine. I wouldn't want him that way. But he understands also that he's got to continue to do the things necessary to help his football team win. There's no finger pointing in our locker room, everybody is together. There aren't any issues or problems like that. They're all puling for each other and they all want to win and they're all trying as hard as they can. For whatever reason some things haven't been going the way we all would like for them to go. But I'm not going to go back on what I said earlier in the year, we're a better football team than we were a year ago. A lot of people wonder how we could say that, well I believe that."

On Illinois' defense evaluation:

"I think at the end of the year you sit down and evaluate everything as we always do. We evaluate all of us, starting with me and what I could have or should have done differently from the time we stepped off that airplane coming back from California. I think at times we've done some things really good and at times we haven't done some things well. A lot of it has to do with inconsistency and a lot of it has to do with the youth of the team, things like that. We have a lot of guys who haven't been there yet who we have to continue to work on and push and get them through this time in the program, where you say you've been there for four years. We're counting on and playing a lot of guys that haven't been there necessarily."

On Arrelious Benn being the go-to guy:

"He's a young man who is a winner an a competitor. He cares about winning and that's the one thing maybe that you've heard me say many times about Regis, here's a guy who maybe is a better person than he is player. He's about the team and he's about winning. I'm sure he knows he went over 1,000 yards but that's not his deal. His deal is to win games. That's one of the reasons why you love being around those kind of guys."

On Juice being eager to learn and improve for next year:

"He knows last year is his next yearnext year is his last year and he wants to continue to improve. I said it when we started this year that he'll be better next year, meaning he'll be better as a senior than he is this year. I think we all feel that he's made tremendous strides and he has made strides from last year in probably every category from talking with the media to handling the team and talking with the team, all those kinds of things. Has it been great? No, but most of the time guys are going to go through that. I think the fact that him saying that yesterday tells you that the attitude of this football team is still good. We're still winning."

On Jarred Fayson looking forward to playing again:

"I think we'll all look forward to getting Jared out there. I don't think there's any question that Jarred is not only a great player but he's a competitor as well. He's a winner and he's a guy who we'll all enjoy having."

On Jarred Fayson's practice performance:

"He's been unbelievable, he really has. I talk to him about it, Locksley talks to him about it all the time. He's usually one of the guys we have to stop. He gets into it and he competes. Him and Vontae (Davis) actually even got into it last week. They're good friends. But that's the way he is. He makes those guys better and he's done a great job."

On Fayson mimicking other team's players in practice:

"He can mimic just about anyone because he was actually a quarterback in high school. That's what he was playing the first time I met him."

On Ryan McDonald:

"I think if you go back and look, not only has he played center but the first year he played right tackle and the past three years he's been the center. I think what makes that more amazing is what he's accomplished in the classroom. We've got some guys that are going to rhetoric and he's going to some type of engineering class. He's been able to manage off the field as well as on the field and play at the level he's played at."