Lovie Smith admits to disappointing start for Illini, vows things can change in second half of season

Illinois had a rough day against Michigan, but the Illini showed some life in a second-half burst.

The Wolverines dominated the first half and carried a 28-7 lead into the break. Without starting quarterback Brandon Peters, it looked like the Illini were destined for a particularly ugly showing.

Fortunately, the second half was a different story. Illinois scored 18 unanswered points after halftime to close the deficit to just three points. After that, Michigan woke up and poured on 14 points to put the game to bed and out of reach.

While the game was another loss, it was nevertheless an encouraging sign against a ranked opponent. After the game, head coach Lovie Smith addressed what it means moving forward.

Smith admitted that this season has been disappointing, but just like this game, there’s the opportunity for a second-half surge:

#illini Lovie: We're at the half (of the season), and there's disappointment. But we showed in third quarter, we can change things up. We can do that in the second half of the season as well.

— Jeremy Werner (@JWerner247) October 12, 2019

#illini Lovie: It absolutely was a gut-check. We had to decide what we wanted to do. We chose to fight — fight harder, I should say.

— Jeremy Werner (@JWerner247) October 12, 2019

#illini Lovie: We are doing a good job taking the ball away. That's giving us a spark.

They pulled away late with us turning the ball over.

— Jeremy Werner (@JWerner247) October 12, 2019

Hopefully, Illinois uses this game as a learning experience and springboard to improve on its season.