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What Illinois head coach Bret Bielema said during Week 3 presser
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Illinois is coming off an embarrassing performance against Virginia out of the ACC this past Saturday but head coach Bret Bielema doesn’t seem to be too concerned.
Part of his press conference entailed sending a message to the team on Sunday about making corrections and making sure that they’re starting the game on time.
Illinois didn’t do the latter part at all as they stumbled right out of the gate and were down 21-7 at halftime. It didn’t get any better in the second half as they were again outscored 21-7 and ultimately lost 42-14.
With that loss behind the Fighting Illini, here’s what head coach Brett Bielema said during his weekly press conference.
#Illini HC Bret Bielema: RB Mike Epstein is out for this weekend's game, don't expect him back anytime soon.
— Kedric Prince (@KedPrince4) September 13, 2021
#Illini Bret Bielema on Alec Bryant transfer waiver: No update on that as of now.
— Alec Busse (@alec_busse) September 13, 2021
#Illini Bret Bielema on Mike Epstein: He is in a holding pattern right now. He "won't be back anytime soon."
Bielema mentioned further testing in the coming weeks.
— Alec Busse (@alec_busse) September 13, 2021
#Illini Bielema says team is 100% vaccinated and that he’s happy with how team has handled COVID protocols in and away from the building
— Bret Beherns (@WCIA3Bret) September 13, 2021
#Illini Bret Bielema on Doug Kramer: Doug is playing at a high, high level. Playing at a high energy level.
Bielema said that no player has been ruled out of Friday's game. Kramer left the Virginia game with a lower body injury.
— Alec Busse (@alec_busse) September 13, 2021
#Illini Bret Bielema on the unsportsmanlike conduct penalties: We took a deep breath, and I addressed that individually with those three players and hopefully that won't happen again.
— Alec Busse (@alec_busse) September 13, 2021
#Illini Bret Bielema: I think BP is a guy that can move, generate some things with his legs. At this point, that isn't the emphasis of our offense. The emphasis is to hand the ball off and to complete the ball down field.
— Alec Busse (@alec_busse) September 13, 2021
#Illini Bielema: The coach that recommended him (Josh McCray) to me was actually the coach that recommended Melvin Gordon.
— The Schmack Guy (@Ant_Pasquale3) September 13, 2021
#Illini Bret Bielema: Not going to skip a step on the way to sustained success. There will be hiccups on the way to that.
— Alec Busse (@alec_busse) September 13, 2021
#Illini Bielema said regarding injuries:
Sydney Brown going through further testing, don't know where he will be at for Friday.
— Alec Busse (@alec_busse) September 13, 2021
#Illini Bret Bielema: message to our guys on Sunday was to make corrections. I think we have to take a look offensively, defensively at how we are starting the game.
— Alec Busse (@alec_busse) September 13, 2021