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Lovie Smith after Illinois’ 63-33 loss to Maryland: ‘About as bad a job that I could do’
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Things get better over time.
Well, most things. Illinois football, however, may not be one of those things.
The Fighting Illini haven’t been too competitive in the Big Ten for quite some time. The team made a change at head coach, giving the job to Lovie Smith. Smith was supposed to bring change.
We’re in 2018 now and it’s Year 3 for the former Chicago Bears coach. Smith has gone 8-24 with the Fighting Illini. Things don’t seem to be getting any better.
Saturday’s game against Maryland spoke to that. Illinois allowed over 700 yards of total offense and 63 points. The 63 points is the most Maryland has ever scored in a B1G game.
After the 30-point loss, Smith spoke with the media:
Opening statement: “It’s kind of beyond words the feeling that we have right now. There’s been some cracks that we’ve seen, but not like this. Team-wise coming in here, this was a big football game. We knew that. We knew what was at stake. Just thought we’d play a lot better. Thought our preparation was good, but you could see that it was not. It goes without saying a little bit that the job I did of getting our football team ready was about as bad a job that I could do.”
On disconnect with defense: “Don’t know what the disconnect is. You’re right, 700 (yards), bad defense. The points? Bad defense. That’s where we are. Of course, coaching, playing, don’t know what else to tell you besides that. We have Minnesota coming up. We’ll get another opportunity to make it right.”
On what he’d tell fans about progress being made: “I’m going to say they should be disappointed in these last three weeks that you talk about. There’s no other way around that. We all are disappointed in the last three weeks, but we’ve played better ball than we have these last three weeks. What I’d say for them is the season is not over. We have four more opportunities, starting with Minnesota this week. We’re going to put a better product on the football field this week than we did today. That’s what I’d tell to the fans. That’s what I am saying.”
Illinois hosts Minnesota Nov. 3.
Kevin covers Big Ten football for Saturday Tradition.