Illinois Drops Home Finale To Purdue In Football

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.

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."

Tarique Barnes

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."