Post-Game Quotes: Illinois

Michigan State head coach Mel Tucker

Opening statement…

Really proud of the way our guys played today. Not just the way they played today but also the way they prepared throughout the week. Just very focused, very confident. Just very intentional and deliberate about everything we did this week in our preparation. We were able to come here and play complementary football. Offense, defense and special teams working together throughout the game, 60 minutes. Just really proud of our guys, our coaching staff. Had a lot of support this week from our administration, supporting our team. Taking the right steps, the best we could this week so that we felt good coming into the game and doing all we could to put ourselves in the position to play well. Our players executed today for 60 minutes.

On the defense and its progress…

I give Scottie and our defensive staff a lot of credit for continuing to develop our defensive players. Working through injuries, we have a next man up mentality. Starting to play better, making some habit plays, some tackles for loss. Starting to play tighter in coverage and then we're starting to get more guys healthy. Just seeing more productivity defensively and overall. Continue to build on that every week. Next man up has been much needed. It's been quite a bit of different starting combinations and credit to our players for continuing to work to get better every day. Defensively, we're playing at a high enough level to win.

On Payton Thorne's performance…

He executed. He played with a lot of poise. With the elements, we knew we were going to have to throw the ball with the wind, and even against it. He was efficient in what he was doing, he's got good players around him. The offensive lineman competed hard, and the running backs did a good job. A lot of guys got involved. A lot of guys got targets and touches. It was going to be about how we played and how we executed, and Payton did a good job of that.

On team's confidence going forward…

Our guys were very confident going into the game. We were very aggressive and we're going to continue to learn and get better. We're going to grow from every experience we've had. Continuing to gain confidence in what we're doing and continue to move forward. Nice to get home next week, we need to be home with Spartan Nation behind us. They've been strong all season, so we're looking forward to getting home. We believe our best football is still ahead of us.

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