Post-Game Quotes: Illinois

Michigan State head coach Jonathan Smith

Opening statement…
First, congrats to Illinois. Played really well, they executed well, it's a good football team. Played a brand of ball that is tough to come back from the way we were executing. I think the difference was on third down, the quality of play they had, lack of, I'm staring at the numbers, but we were 2-of-15. That's the difference in the game. I do think I'll give them some credit too, on their punt returns, good player, we knew that guy was a good player coming into this thing, but we had a few of them get out on us and that hidden yardage I think was the difference in the game as well. So congrats to them. We got some things on a short week. We got to do better and keep working. We got a lot still to play for with two, but we got a disappointed group in that locker room right now.

On Charles Brantley and Malik Spencer being out…
The guys that played today got a lot of reps throughout the week, those guys Malik and Chuck aren't that close and pretty doubtful moving forward.

On offensive line performance…
He (Aidan Chiles) was getting pressured too much, some of that was off of just four man rush, that wasn't all blitz. There are times where I think we are holding the ball a little bit, we got to get open a little bit quicker, some separation needs to take place. I did think Aidan [Chiles] played with great effort, extended some plays, pulled the ball again. We got to make him more comfortable back there and he's got to get the ball out there on time.

On how to improve offensive line performance…
It starts on the scheme side, making sure that all five are on the same page, recognizing how they're blocking, where they're stepping. If we're in a slide protection, the slide is going the correct way, and all 3-4 guys are working together to do that. It goes back to the schematics of it. Where we are getting the ball out on time, changing the launch point a little bit can help a protection. We did that a little bit tonight so those will be something we consider moving forward.

On lack of separation from receivers recently…
Quality of opponent keeps getting better, you've got more tape out there. I do think we had some guys running free, we made some big plays today with AZ [Aziah Johnson] on the outside and [Nick] Marsh had a couple catches late in the middle of the field. Montorie [Foster Jr.] did a nice job on a couple of catches. It's not every snap we're not separating fast, but I think about the times we're getting sacked some of that we got to protect him [Aidan Chiles] a little better, some of that we got to get the ball out. Ball will come out if we're getting separation.

On second half adjustments to defense…
Fast forward into the second half, we come out and get seven right away. A couple fourth down conversions which were huge. But we got seven, defense gives up a field goal, but then they started, I think it was two or three drives in a row getting in the backfield and that's where you go back to this idea of complementary football. When we get some stops like that to get another score offensively and we just could not get that done.

Illinois head coach Bret Bielema

Opening statement...
I'm super excited to have this season here at home end the way it did. To be six and one at Memorial Stadium, the best since 2001 also the best average attendance since 2009, so we give a lot of credit to the fans. We talk about it all week not just to give our seniors a great ending to the day but also give the fans a big push to make Memorial Stadium something special and hopefully that continues. I wanted to say thank you to all the fans for coming out this season.

To have the seniors go off the field this way in kind of a unique situation since we lost Dylan Rosiek as a captain. He made an executive decision and Mark Taurisani also suggested earlier in the week to make Terah Edwards a captain for today's game. There's nobody that embodies what we want around here more especially as a guy that transferred in. I say all the time he came with a double negative. He's from Columbus and Northwestern and he's come in here and done an incredible job for us. He's a joy to be around, it was fun to see him, and I can only imagine how much his family enjoyed tonight. I told them to enjoy it with a lot of family and friends here tonight.

We'll have to put this one behind us tomorrow and get ready for a Rutgers team. We really like the demeanor of this group. You know the outside world looking in we're a 7-3 football team that's got a lot in front of us. Never say never. In the middle of the week, I got the personal inventory to myself that there's a couple 6-3 football teams ranked in the top 25. We've lost to teams that are ranked No. 1, No. 4, and a good Minnesota team in a nail biter. We're telling our guys to keep working on what's in front of us and continue to take advantage of every opportunity we get.

I thought it was also a special day because almost a year ago today Kenenna Odeluga broke his leg at Iowa. To see him go out there today and he's gradually gotten better every week. He got a sack; some good pressure and did a lot of good things defensively to help our guys close that win out. A small little thing to give Kirkland Michaux that last snap in the victory formation at the end of the game, a guy that's done absolutely everything we could ask for in this program on a daily basis. He never truly got the rewards of playing so to see that today was awesome. I also saw Owen Corney, Isaiah Adams, and Jordyn Slaughter so seeing some of our former alums come back was awesome.

On today's complementary football...
I gave the team three goals on Sunday; the first was to prepare a plan, the second was to practice the plan and the third was to play the plan. We talk about it all the time, prepare our tough, smart, and dependable (TSD) edge, practice our TSD edge and play our TSD edge. It's the complementary fact of what we are, and it's shown up in a lot of games, not just today. I think our guys really buy into playing off one another. I think we hit a little lull offensively in the second half there and our defense continued to show up. They gave up the first drive in the second half, but they rallied back to close them out. Hank Beatty is another guy that left the game two weeks ago with a dislocated finger where his bone came out and he's playing with stitches catching the ball. It's just another great indication of who he is.

On his running backs...
Josh McCray the last five, six games has been great and Aidan Laughrey too, I thought we were a hair away from breaking one of those runs. Ca'Lil Valentine does some nice stuff. Those three guys I give all the credit to Thad Ward. It's incredible for me to watch Thad work with those guys. He's not a guy that says a lot but does a lot. Every time I go by his office, he's always working with his head down doing anything and everything to create an edge. Every Thursday I check the film that he's going to show his players, and his film is incredibly detailed with a plan to get those three guys going. A running back room across the country I think may be the hardest to manage. The way Thad manages that room to have no egos in that room is impressive. They all cheer for one another and it's fun to be a part of.

Players Mentioned

Charles Brantley

Aidan Chiles

Aziah Johnson

Malik Spencer

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