CHAMPAIGN, Ill. -- Illinois dropped its home finale to Purdue, 31-24, at Memorial Stadium on Saturday afternoon.
Chase Brown registered 130 total yards – 98 on the ground and 32 through the air – and two rushing touchdowns, his third multi-touchdown game of the season. Brian Hightower made five catches for 89 yards and recorded a touchdown reception in the third quarter.
Tyler Strain notched the first interception of his career late in the first quarter, ending a Boilermaker drive near midfield.
The Illini (7-3, 4-3) will travel to Ann Arbor to take on Michigan next Saturday.
Highlights
Press Conference
Quotes
Opening statement:
"First, congrats to Purdue. They did enough to win this game. I thought our guys, during the course of the week, put in a lot of good preparation. We had a pretty good week of practice locking into where we're at on offense, defense, and special teams. To start the game in a positive way, but just like last week, we have a momentum flare with something good. Then something sets us back. We lost Taz Nicholson in the first quarter. Tyler Strain had a really good week of preparation because we weren't quite shere where Taz was going to be until he got cleared on Wednesday.
"T Strain really did a nice job of getting himself in the right frame of mind. He makes a big play with the interception. We couldn't capitalize off of it, something we've done all year. To beat a good team, you have to capitalize on those moments, and that was a microcosm of the whole day. I thought we did enough things in self-inflicted wounds. Obviously, a lot of penalties today that we have to make sure we assess and realize what we are doing to make sure they aren't called again. At the end of the game with that last series to get backed up, sacked for negative yardage and penalties, it wasn't the result we were looking for.
"We have two remaining opportunities, both being on the road and sometimes in situations like this, that is exactly what you need. Get on the road and double down on 74 guys and staff going over to Ann Arbor to see where we're at."
On the emotions:
"I think frustration set in for sure. There's a couple times it was getting a little chippy out there both ways. On one drive, I believe there were two DPIs and two unsportsmanlike penalties, and you aren't going to survive that in Big Ten play."
On his seniors' last home game:
"It's a very special group, a little bit of a mixed bag. Some guys were here before I got here, some after my first year like Art (Sitkowski), and some joined right before fall camp. With COVID, it has everything a little bit crazy. It's a group that is very well-liked, and I would've loved to send them out of here as a winner. Bottom line is they got seven wins, and we'll see what we can do to try to get some more."
On other outside pressures building:
"I don't see that. Everybody will have their own narrative. All week we talked about rematch number six and plan for Purdue. I showed them the last play from a year ago and weren't able to close that out. I think the part that really jumps out to me is the opportunities that we had earlier in the year that made us win those games. We've had those same moments and we weren't abl to push ourselves over the top. We've been very complimentary where we got a turnover and the offense scored. We did that once today. To be a consistent football team you have to be consistently good at what you do."
On the team's first back-to-back losses of the year:
"When you're in season you really only focus on the now. Whether you are 4-1, 5-1, 6-1, or 7-1, it really doesn't change how we approach the work week. We've had two games in a row that we've lost. We haven't had that before this season. We have to take it independent of what it is: We didn't do enough things to win the football game. I thought we did enough things that caused us to work efficiently. Our schemes are built off of a certain philosophy, and when we can't follow through doing the fundamentals of that philosophy: complimentary football, efficient on early downs, take advantage of manageable clock situations. If we don't do that, we'll have failure and that's what we have seen the last two weeks."
On doing his part in the game:
"Regardless of our time out there, we still have to execute. There's a lot of decisions above where we are as players and a team that are really out of our control, beyond our grasp. We just have to make sure we execute the positions we are put in and put our best foot forward."
On dealing with pressure:
"This game was very important to where everybody is in the standings. I think that once the emotions got high, everything just started to add up. I think the pressure really just existed in this building and within ourselves. I know there are still aspirations for many people who still want to go play at the next level. We're still going to strive to be the best we can and go out to perform at the highest level we can. It's still a small detour of what we wanted to do but we still have next week and the week after. We still have time to play good football."
On the freshmen playing in this game:
"Stepping into a big-time football game could be a lot of pressure, but we set the expectation to what we wanted to be. Obviously, there are some wrinkles we needed to knock out, but we needed to adjust to the game. That's the best way to learn. One day they'll be out there in a starting role, so to get out there early is a good way to work towards that because I don't think there were any weak points that existed."
On what he has learned about the team over the last two weeks:
"I think these two games have taught us some things that you hate to have learned at the end of the season, especially with the season we're having. We're all still aiming to be the best we can be. Goal wise, I don't know how much of that has really changed from you the place we were at, but I know for a fact that there's still a lot of fight left in this season, and we're gonna keep going."
On the defeat:
"This one hurts. I'm a senior, but I want the guys that have been here for four, five, six years that this is going to be the last one. We just gotta learn and get better. Back-to-back weeks of just falling short. We just beat ourselves both weeks, and we just gotta look ourselves in the mirror, watch the film tomorrow, and get better."
On dealing with pressure:
"I don't think we've thought too much about it, as far as I know. Something we talked about is we're now the hunted; we're not the hunters. We're just trying to go 1-0 each week, and obviously, the past two weeks, we didn't handle business how we wanted to, but we got two more weeks ahead of us, so I'm looking forward to it."
On playing at Memorial Stadium:
"It's been awesome. You saw the crowd get bigger as the weeks went on and as we were winning more games. Every time we'd come out, bigger, bigger, bigger, but I mean it's been awesome. There's excitement around this football program that hasn't been here in the past, so as a team, that just feeds us and just gives us energy to go and just makes us play that much harder."
On what he learned about the team:
"Lessons learned after a tough loss. In the third quarter, we got a lot of penalties that hurt our team. We really just have to stop losing the game ourselves. I felt like we lost the game ourselves more than they beat us. I give them their kudos; I mean, they won."
On preparing a game plan:
"We came into this game knowing the quarterback's release time was 2.3 seconds, just like NFL timing. So in this game, we had to get our hands up and help the defense and have their backs as much as we can."
On execution the game plan:
"We made some in-game adjustments, Coach Walters is a pretty smart coach. We trust him; he makes the right calls. We just have to execute them on the field. I feel like we messed up a lot today and had a lot of running errors. That's how you lose the game, errors and penalties, and we had that today on both sides."
On what he learned about the offense:
"We definitely have to get better on our third downs, and in the red zone, and put it all together."
On looking ahead:
"It's definitely tough, but we're only halfway through. We still have three more weeks. We still got a rivalry game we need to focus on."
On the emotions on the field:
"I think emotions were definitely running high today. We got chippy coming out of the locker room. It's all about keeping your composer. Things are going to happen; you just have to be the toughest team. I think that was something, too, with the penalties. That's something we need to lock in on."
Team Notes
- The Illini defense has recorded at least one interception in every game this season and in 13 straight overall, dating back to last season.
Illinois Notes
- Today's captains: WR Isaiah Williams, LB Tarique Barnes, DB Sydney Brown, OL Alex Palczewski.
- OL Alex Palczewski started for the 62nd time in his career, extending his Illinois and Big Ten record for career starts. Palczewski is all alone in second for most starts in FBS history.
- 65 Thomas Hennigan WR App State (2017-21)
- 62 Alex Palczewski OL Illinois (2017-pres.)
- RB Chase Brown rushed for 98 yards and two touchdowns in today's game.
- Second time this season Brown rushed for two touchdowns in a game.
- He is now second on Illinois' all-time rushing list with 3,005 yards.
- Brown is just the second player in program history with 3,000 rushing yards in their Illini career.
- Brown also caught three passes for 32 yards.
- QB Tommy DeVito completed 18 of his 32 passes for 201 yards with one touchdown and one interception.
- WR Brian Hightower caught five passes for 89 yards.
- DB Tyler Strain recorded his first-career interception in the first quarter of today's game.
- LB Isaac Darkangelo recorded 12 total tackles, including 10 solo.
- DB Jartavius Martin broke up two passes in today's game.
Bowl Info
For the bowl game ticket information request form, click here.
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