Mickey Joseph Postgame Quotes (Illinois) - 10-29-22

Mickey Joseph
Nebraska Interim Head Coach
Postgame Quotes vs. Illinois (Oct. 29, 2022)

On Casey Thompson
“We’re getting him checked out right now. He’s going to be day-to-day. I’ll have more on him tomorrow after we finish with the doctors.”
 
On the final minutes in the first half
“I knew when Casey (Thompson) went down we thought we were in a good place. After Casey went down and threw that pick I was surprised that it got away that quick.”
 
On Casey Thompson's injury
“I think it was his arm. It got jammed on his elbow, and he hit the nerve and couldn’t feel his fingers. His hand was numb.”
 
On the missed opportunities
“It’s big. We talked about winning the turnover battle, and we didn’t. We have to win the turnover battle. We had too many turnovers.”
 
On the decision between Logan (Smothers) and Chubba (Purdy) 
“We wanted to go Logan (Smothers) because we thought we were going to run some option. Then we figured we had to throw it to get back in it, so we went with Chubba (Purdy).”
 
On Illinois holding Trey Palmer 
“They mixed it up. We could not get it to him, but they were really handsy. We talked to him during the week that they are just not going to let you run. He has to run through some of the contact. He understood that during the game that he had to run through it but some plays we just could not get it to him.”
 
On thoughts of going back to Logan Smothers
“We talked about it, but we thought we had to throw it, so we thought we would stay with Chubba (Purdy).”
 
On Chubba Purdy’s performance
“He just has to take care of the football. An interception he is throwing across the field. You learn that the first day of quarterback school. Do not throw throw across your body. Do not throw across the field should have just ran the ball because we were already in field goal range. We already had points. He understood that after. I have to prep him better. I have to get him ready better.”
 
On the team's physicality
“I thought we were physical. I thought the defense played hard. I thought the defense went at them. They are a big offensive line and run the ball well.”
 
On the second-half performance
“It went downhill. We got off the tracks second half, and we need to go back and look at the film, but I can tell you that they dominated us in the second half.”
 
On Logan Smothers’ throw game
“I am confident in him, but I think that if (Coach) Whipple wants to go with Chubba (Purdy) because Chubba throws it a little better then let’s go with Chubba, but we will have to take it from here because we do not know what is going to go on with Casey (Thompson), so it is a possibility you will see both.”
 
On the run game
“I thought we had some runs, and I thought we missed some runs also. We have to do a better job of creating more seams.”
 
On Richard Torres as a possibility for quarterback
“Not right now. Torres is not ready.”
 
On not getting Trey Palmer the ball
“It is frustrating when you can not get the guy that you need to get the ball to. It is frustrating but we have to look at the film because I thought some other guys were open also.”
 
On plays when Illinois got open and scored
“There were some routes and we have to fight through the rubs. We have to get over the top of it and we have to fight through the trash to get there. We talked to them all week about the pick routes and that is the first touchdown was on a pick route. We have to fight through the noise. We have to fight through it.”
 
On Rahmir Johnson’s dropped pass
“To give the kid credit, the kid caught the ball all week. We repped that play 10 to 12 times and he did not drop one, and he dropped today, but I am not going to say one play lost the game for that kid because we need that kid to play for us.”

On keeping the team positive
“Well, we just talked and said, you know what? We're going to come back. We're going to watch the film and look at ourselves in the mirror. We're going to be honest with ourselves. We're going to tell the truth like we always do on Sunday, and you're going to see where it went wrong. We're going to fix it because if we don't, this is a copycat league, and they'll come back and hit us with it again next week.”

On the gap between starting and backups quarterbacks 
“I think anywhere around the country, there’s a gap between one and two. It's going to be a big gap, and I think there is a gap between them.”

On backups being put in the game 
“It's hard. It's not easy. Especially going against a really good defense and moving around. They play solid football, but we have to get them ready. I have to get them ready. I have to do a better job of prepping them during the week and getting them ready, and probably more reps to get it back. Sometimes a backup doesn't get any reps, and he's got to get mental reps and go in and do his job.”

On looking ahead to next week’s game
“Well, it’s Big Ten football. We have to come back and go back to the practice field. We have to have another physical, two to three days of practice and get back at it. We can't run away from it. We got it. We have to go into it headfirst, and we can’t run away from it right now.”

On the performance of the defensive
“I’ll go back and watch the film, but overall I thought they played pretty well. I thought they stuck their nose in, and they probably made some mistakes, but that's from not having the reps that they normally have. We just have to go back and look at it.”

On the best way to support the backups moving forward
“I think we have to protect him, and we also got to establish a run game. So we’ll go back and look at that.”

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