What Illinois' Lovie Smith said during his weekly press conference Monday
Expectations surrounding Lovie Smith’s Illinois team were starting to heighten as Smith’s staff has brought in a bevy of talent.
But any glimmer of hope for the Illini to make any improvement took a significant hit in Week 1 as Illinois was pummeled by Wisconsin.
The loss left many Illini fans frustrated with Smith, who has led this program since 2016.
Now, the Wisconsin loss is behind Illinois. But the schedule doesn’t ease up as the Illini host Purdue, a team that is riding high off a win against Iowa. Here is what Smith had to say at his regularly scheduled Monday press conference.
#illini Lovie Smith: We assumed we were in a different place going into the season. We thought we were more prepared to play a better football game.
— Jeremy Werner (@JWerner247) October 26, 2020
#illini Lovie Smith: We're not as far along as we hoped we'd be, but it's one game. When you play like that, you can't wait to play again. Now, it's moving onto Purdue.
— Jeremy Werner (@JWerner247) October 26, 2020
#illini Lovie Smith on Graham Mertz testing positive. We test every day and have no new positives, but aware of Mertz's positive test.
— Jeremy Werner (@JWerner247) October 26, 2020
#illini Lovie Smith: We have to be further along than that. We won't continue to play football than that. We're better than that. I'm a better coach than that.
— Jeremy Werner (@JWerner247) October 26, 2020
#illini Lovie Smith confirms Daniel Imatorbhebhe had an injury. Said he "should be good to go" this week.
— Jeremy Werner (@JWerner247) October 26, 2020
#illini Lovie Smith basically saying he's still bullish on this team despite an ugly loss on Friday.
— Jeremy Werner (@JWerner247) October 26, 2020
#illini Lovie Smith: We wanted to get Isaiah a couple plays. We may do that again this week. Brandon is our quarterback.
The questioner said he knew that'd be Lovie's answer.
— Jeremy Werner (@JWerner247) October 26, 2020
It’s clear from these quotes that Smith saw his team as a group ready to go out and compete against its Big Ten opponents. That was quickly proven false by the lackluster performance from the Illini. For Smith’s sake, hopefully his team is as anxious to get back on the field and improve. Otherwise, it could be another long season in Champagne.
