Illinois Coach Bret Bielema Vents Frustrations After Loss at Washington

Bret Bielema Best of the Presser

Opening statement

"Well, first give credit to Washington. I thought they obviously came in, executed their game plan – offense, defense, special teams – did some good stuff. Disappointed for our football team, our fans. Did a lot of preparation during the bye week and this past week to get to a better result than what we see today. But I always go back to, before we can expect to win a game, you got to stop from losing it. And we did enough things, self-inflicted wounds, today – offense, defensively, a little bit in the kicking game – that took away from our success. And, you know, it's my job as head coach to get that corrected, identify it, find the answers to it.

"Especially a little bit frustrating when it's older players, guys that have experienced what we expect here. ... I liked the fight of our offense, especially in the second half. But, again, we were moving along, had a good, manageable third down – we were kind of in four-down mode – and get the big penalty there that took away from anything. And then that to come out of that with an interception – you know, just very, very uncharacteristic of our offense and what they do.

"Frustrated with the defense, especially. Obviously a third-and-20, we're kind of getting together there and feel like we could put ourselves in a good position and can't get off the field, or can't make them exchange the ball through a punt or a field goal, whatever was going to play out there. Extremely disappointed. But the week ahead is going to be a big one – one I know I'll be excited for. I know our players will be excited for it, and we'll kind of get the right guys in the right places on the field to do the right thing."

On failing to contain Washington quarterback Demond Williams Jr.

"It just seems like every one of these games, we go to a third-and-very-manageable call, and we just can't come up with it. I've talked about the protections, talked about the coverages. I think we've got to play to our players strengths probably a little bit better – but take away what [the opponent] does well. I think in the first first quarter, we obviously talked a lot about this quarterback and the very first or second play, he takes off on a huge scramble. You have to stop them from from doing the things they do well. And that was goal No. 1. We knew the whole offense ran through No. 2, and unfortunately we weren't able to curtail that."

On the overall struggles of the Illini defense

"We'll sit down and evaluate. The part that we have to understand, if we're playing zone coverage, then we have to be able to understand where those holes are, because they're finding them. And then when we play man coverage, when our eyes are away from the quarterback, to not be able to get him down when he took off on a scramble was very frustrating – especially for 20 yards."If I have to get more involved, I will. I think the part that I really struggle with is, sometimes it seems like we fix one thing and something else shows up. I do know we cut a guy loose there at the end on the last drive there, where we got within striking distance and they marched it down. We had, I think, a very manageable third-and-7, third-and-eight – that's when they caught [receiver Denzel Boston] over the middle there, and he was just running scot- free. And then I heard on the headset – I wasn't able to watch the play yet – we just cut a guy loose, like we were running man-free, and the guy that was covering him stopped covering him. And it's just inexcusable, and something that we've got to figure out why it happened. And then obviously find out the answers of, if he can't do it, then we've got to find somebody else who can."

On Illinois' lack of defensive pressure and reluctance to blitz

"I think we saw some [Washington opponents] that had brought a lot of pressure, and the result was some big plays away from it. I know that they had had several running back screens and some screen game that had hurt some teams in a pressure package. But I don't know if the pressure was the right answer. It was just more of being able to execute the plan as it was. There was one play, a third-and-3, and we talked all week – I talked about it last night – that on third-and-3, they're going to throw it to the sticks. And – boom – they throw to the sticks. We can't allow that throw to happen."

On getting third-down stops

"Those third-and-longs, we just can't give up. We just can't ... I mean, it can't happen. And that's probably going to be my main point of emphasis this week, is to find out what Rutgers does on third downs and try to give as much assistance in that game plan as humanly possible."

On whether he will take a more active role with the defense

"You know, I do so many things. I just have never really done that. I'm heavily involved on offense, defense, special teams. I understand why the question gets asked, but Aaron's done a good job in other times, right? Obviously, we're hitting a struggle. I think we have to make a really good evaluation of what we're asking the guys that are out there to do. Like, you can't ask guys that aren't [usually] there – the guys that are filling in for some of those injured players – if they can't execute what that guy did, then we've got to find out what these guys can do.

"I'm always involved. I think what [I was asked was] if I'm going to call [the plays]. There's so many things that go on in my my daily journal – I know there's some guys that can do that, but I think that gives a little bit of mixed messages for players, right? So I don't think that's the answer. But I definitely think we can [get more involved in preparing] everything that we're asking those guys to do."

On the disappointment of the loss in such a pivotal game

"It's gonna hurt. They put a lot into this. We put a huge emphasis on the bye week, got a little jump on Washington towards the end of last week and Sunday, and thought our guys came out with a good attitude, good demeanor. I think they expected to win. That's one of our major points, is not just to talk about it but to expect it. I think there's enough good guys in that locker room, good-character, high-character guys, to lead these guys through a little difficult moment. We talked about before this game, to get a 'W' today, we need everybody working together, and that's probably more now coming out of this game than ever before, right? We don't need anybody standing around pointing fingers, especially me. I need to be better at the expectation of what I expect our guys to do, and to find out the answers. If we can't give them, then I got to find those answers out."