Here’s what Bret Bielema said in his weekly presser

It wasn’t Illinois’ best performance last week against Purdue.

The Illini didn’t score a touchdown and quarterback Brandon Peters threw for just 100 yards. Of Illinois 211 rushing yards, freshman running back Josh McCray rushed for 167 of them, which shows just how big of a day he had.

But more importantly, Illinois is 1-2 in B1G play — with the only win coming in Week 0 over Nebraska. Moreover, the Illini had chances to pull out wins against Maryland and Purdue, but conservative play-calling by head coach Bret Bielema led to back-to-back one-possession losses.

Now, Illinois takes a break from B1G action when it welcomes Charlotte to Champaign this week. Bielema held his weekly press conference Monday to preview that game, update injuries and field questions about the starting quarterback.

Here’s what he had to say:

#illini Bret Bielema doesn't directly answer question on potential QB change, said he wouldn't announce to us if he was making change.

— Jeremy Werner (@JWerner247) September 27, 2021

#illini Bret Bielema: May see Josh Kreutz and Zach Barlev (both true freshmen) as we move forward.

— Joey Wagner (@mrwagner25) September 27, 2021

#illini Bret Bielema: Do expect LB Jake Hansen to play

— Jeremy Werner (@JWerner247) September 27, 2021

#illini Bret Bielema: TE Daniel Barker and RB Chase Brown had injuries and I pulled them from practice on Wednesday

— Jeremy Werner (@JWerner247) September 27, 2021

#illini Bret Bielema: Jake Hansen is expected to play this week.

— Joey Wagner (@mrwagner25) September 27, 2021

#Illini Bielema: “Luke Ford just probably played the most complete game as a tight end I’ve seen from him.”

— The Schmack Guy (@Ant_Pasquale3) September 27, 2021

#Illini Bret Bielema on Josh McCray: Every game he teaches me something about him that I didn't know he could be.

— Alec Busse (@alec_busse) September 27, 2021

#Illini Bret Bielema when talking about fourth down decisions in last two weeks: Consistency breeds a lot of success.

— Alec Busse (@alec_busse) September 27, 2021

#Illini Bret Bielema on Tarique Barnes and Khalan Tolson: They have great vision.

— Alec Busse (@alec_busse) September 27, 2021

#Illini Bret Bielema: Really excited about what's going on in the Smith Center. Those players and coaches are a lot more resilient than I may have been.

— Alec Busse (@alec_busse) September 27, 2021

#Illini Bret Bielema: Everyone wants to understand why we lost, but it's important to understand that we lost close.

This is a really important message from Bielema, and it's imperative to remember that over the last 10 years Illinois has regularly been blown out in B1G games.

— Alec Busse (@alec_busse) September 27, 2021

#Illini Bielema: We're in the battle.

— The Schmack Guy (@Ant_Pasquale3) September 27, 2021