OPENING STATEMENT
A couple words about Tyler (Sash). We all learned about the medical examiner's report this morning, and you know, obviously regarding his death, his passing has been a very, very sad thing and our thoughts continue to his family and all of his friends. Very sorry to learn about the news there.
I know Steve updated you on the ticket situation, and in reference to that, just want to again say what a great crowd it was Saturday. We had a great homecoming crowd. And for our four games, the environment on the field has been fantastic.
So we are appreciative of our fans. Just really appreciate their support. They have been great on the road, at home. And hopefully we'll continue to be supported as we go along and looking forward to a good contingent up there in Chicago for this game.
Referencing last weekend's game, certainly it was great for the fans to be able to witness such a special performance by Jordan, he did just a fantastic job. I think that's a neat side game there.
Going back to last week, hard fought win, hard fought Big Ten win, and we expected that going in. As I said Tuesday, Illinois is a much improved football team on both sides of the football, especially up front. I think Coach Cubit has done a great job with that team and they played extremely hard the other day. There was nothing easy about that.
At this point we are really happy to be 4-0 in Kinnick. That's certainly something that is important to us, and right along with that, we have had four games that have basically gone down to the last possession or next to last possession. I think that's something, two areas that we didn't maybe fulfill our expectations last year, our goals.
So we're off to a good start. We still have a lot of football ahead of us, we know that. But those were both positive things for us and we are pleased to see that.
And then needless to say, very, very happy for Jordan and the recognition he's received. That's our fourth Big Ten award player, and as all of you saw out there, he really ran hard so just a phenomenal effort on his part and he's a little sore and tired right now but he'll be ready to go.
It was a good win and now just like every other week, we had to move on and we had to do that starting yesterday. Captains are Drew Ott and Jordan Lomax defensively, Austin Blythe and C.J. Beathard on the offensive side.
Medically, four guys that didn't play, we had obviously Teshaun, Boone Myers, and LeShun, they were all out. We expect them to continue to be out. Ike Boettger had to leave the game, and we are not optimistic he'll be playing.
And then last night, unfortunately it was confirmed after he went for tests that Drew did tear his ACL. So he's going to be done here. It was a great win for us, but the worst part about coaching football is dealing with injuries.
I've said this many times, but we get firsthand exposure to just how hard these players work on a year round basis, and they are doing it to have 12 opportunities. That's about all anybody's guaranteed as a college football player, so they work extremely hard to have those 12 opportunities to go out and perform and play with their teammates, and any time that's taken away, it's just a tough thing.
So it's a tough deal for Drew, certainly. He's a tremendous young guy. He's done everything he possibly can, and especially tough because he just fought back from that elbow injury, he's been playing less than 100 percent, pretty close last week and now this happened. As good as it was on Saturday, to get the victory, I think probably all of us had a little tough feeling on Saturday night just in expectation that this may not turn out well. That's where it's at.
Drew will have that addressed here in the near future. He's going to obviously stay with us and I'm counting on him to be a strong team leader. I know he will. But it's a tough thing and it's just part of the game, unfortunately.
So that was last week. And I said last week, you have to move forward each and every week and that's kind of where we're at right now. Our next challenge is twofold. We have to go on the road again and we're playing a very, very good Northwestern football team, 5-1 record and they have good players. They are a veteran team. Their newcomers are playing really well for them and their veteran players are playing extremely well.
They are very well-coached. That's typical of Northwestern, certainly and also characteristic of them, they play extremely hard and they play well. So that's kind of it, and all three phases I'm talking about.
The thing that stands out to me about them, they obviously play very, very well on defense. They have got two very prominent wins beating Stanford in the opening game, beating Duke, and both those teams as it stands right now, those are the only losses they have on their resumé. I think that gives you the indication of the strength of this Northwestern team.
It's going to be a big, big challenge for us. We'll head up there Friday, and hopefully be ready to go on Saturday. It's going to take a great week of preparation and we'll have to be at our absolute best at 11:05.
With that, I'll throw it out to questions.
A couple words about Tyler (Sash). We all learned about the medical examiner's report this morning, and you know, obviously regarding his death, his passing has been a very, very sad thing and our thoughts continue to his family and all of his friends. Very sorry to learn about the news there.
I know Steve updated you on the ticket situation, and in reference to that, just want to again say what a great crowd it was Saturday. We had a great homecoming crowd. And for our four games, the environment on the field has been fantastic.
So we are appreciative of our fans. Just really appreciate their support. They have been great on the road, at home. And hopefully we'll continue to be supported as we go along and looking forward to a good contingent up there in Chicago for this game.
Referencing last weekend's game, certainly it was great for the fans to be able to witness such a special performance by Jordan, he did just a fantastic job. I think that's a neat side game there.
Going back to last week, hard fought win, hard fought Big Ten win, and we expected that going in. As I said Tuesday, Illinois is a much improved football team on both sides of the football, especially up front. I think Coach Cubit has done a great job with that team and they played extremely hard the other day. There was nothing easy about that.
At this point we are really happy to be 4-0 in Kinnick. That's certainly something that is important to us, and right along with that, we have had four games that have basically gone down to the last possession or next to last possession. I think that's something, two areas that we didn't maybe fulfill our expectations last year, our goals.
So we're off to a good start. We still have a lot of football ahead of us, we know that. But those were both positive things for us and we are pleased to see that.
And then needless to say, very, very happy for Jordan and the recognition he's received. That's our fourth Big Ten award player, and as all of you saw out there, he really ran hard so just a phenomenal effort on his part and he's a little sore and tired right now but he'll be ready to go.
It was a good win and now just like every other week, we had to move on and we had to do that starting yesterday. Captains are Drew Ott and Jordan Lomax defensively, Austin Blythe and C.J. Beathard on the offensive side.
Medically, four guys that didn't play, we had obviously Teshaun, Boone Myers, and LeShun, they were all out. We expect them to continue to be out. Ike Boettger had to leave the game, and we are not optimistic he'll be playing.
And then last night, unfortunately it was confirmed after he went for tests that Drew did tear his ACL. So he's going to be done here. It was a great win for us, but the worst part about coaching football is dealing with injuries.
I've said this many times, but we get firsthand exposure to just how hard these players work on a year round basis, and they are doing it to have 12 opportunities. That's about all anybody's guaranteed as a college football player, so they work extremely hard to have those 12 opportunities to go out and perform and play with their teammates, and any time that's taken away, it's just a tough thing.
So it's a tough deal for Drew, certainly. He's a tremendous young guy. He's done everything he possibly can, and especially tough because he just fought back from that elbow injury, he's been playing less than 100 percent, pretty close last week and now this happened. As good as it was on Saturday, to get the victory, I think probably all of us had a little tough feeling on Saturday night just in expectation that this may not turn out well. That's where it's at.
Drew will have that addressed here in the near future. He's going to obviously stay with us and I'm counting on him to be a strong team leader. I know he will. But it's a tough thing and it's just part of the game, unfortunately.
So that was last week. And I said last week, you have to move forward each and every week and that's kind of where we're at right now. Our next challenge is twofold. We have to go on the road again and we're playing a very, very good Northwestern football team, 5-1 record and they have good players. They are a veteran team. Their newcomers are playing really well for them and their veteran players are playing extremely well.
They are very well-coached. That's typical of Northwestern, certainly and also characteristic of them, they play extremely hard and they play well. So that's kind of it, and all three phases I'm talking about.
The thing that stands out to me about them, they obviously play very, very well on defense. They have got two very prominent wins beating Stanford in the opening game, beating Duke, and both those teams as it stands right now, those are the only losses they have on their resumé. I think that gives you the indication of the strength of this Northwestern team.
It's going to be a big, big challenge for us. We'll head up there Friday, and hopefully be ready to go on Saturday. It's going to take a great week of preparation and we'll have to be at our absolute best at 11:05.
With that, I'll throw it out to questions.
