What Bret Bielema said after No. 20 Illinois lost to No. 1 Oregon football

EUGENE — No. 1 Oregon defeated No. 20 Illinois 38-9 Saturday at Autzen Stadium.

Bret Bielema recapped the loss for Illinois (6-2, 3-2 Big Ten), which hosts Minnesota next week.

Below is a transcript of Bielema’s postgame press conference.

No. 1 Oregon (7-0, 4-0 Big Ten) vs. No. 20 Illinois (6-1, 3-1)

• When: Saturday, Oct. 26
• Time: 12:30 p.m. PT
• Where: Autzen Stadium, Eugene
• TV channel: CBS
• Stream: Watch this game live for FREE with Fubo (free trial) or with DirecTV Stream (free trial). If you already have a cable provider, use your login information to watch this game on cbssports.com.
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BRET BIELEMA

Opening Statement…

“Give credit to Oregon. Obviously a really good football team, and they played very, very well especially that first half. I was very disappointed in the results of the first half. I take ownership on that as a head coach. Obviously didn’t have enough preparation or execution. I really felt good about our work week and the energy from our guys going in. We talked all week about this crew…the way they want to play the game, offense, defense. When they strike, they strike hard and fast. We put ourselves into a position to be where we are. The first quarter was just too much to overcome. I went in at halftime and basically went in to both sides of the ball and the players and said, ‘Hey, I’m going to treat it like this: we won the coin toss, we’re taking the ball, we’re going to play the second half like we’re starting over.’ I thought our guys took that to heart and did some things. We just couldn’t capitalize on it in time. We had two or three opportunities where we walked away with zero points inside the red area. You’re not going to win many games, let alone (against) the No. 1 team in the country. Several guys got banged up. I don’t really know anything update wise. A couple guys with head issues, a couple guys with soft tissue things. I don’t think there’s anything significant or season ending, but we’ll see where we’re at when I have more information on that.”

On areas of disappointment in defense…

“Probably tackling. I think we have to leverage the ball and get the ball down. We knew No. 15 was an explosive player. We had to know where he was on every formation, and he was the guy that had that first score. Came all the way across from one sideline to the next. I think our preparation…we have to understand when we’re playing a player of that caliber we can’t give normal answers. We have to have a better understanding of what we’re trying to do to win the game. Some growing experience there for us on how we game plan. Then, obviously, with a quarterback of his stature, he was pretty much able to complete his passes at will. He was very efficient with the ball on early downs and third downs as well. So, a lot of things that hopefully we will hopefully make corrections for.”

On Luke Altmyer’s performance…

“Luke is a tremendous competitor. I would like to have come up with some points. I think that the interception was one he probably wishes he had back. I don’t know if he didn’t see the coverage there, but he’s been so steady for us. We’re here where we are today because of what he’s done and we will continue to move forward because of that but everybody has a lot to learn. I think we have to do a better job of protecting him, making sure we can give him the answers. If there’s breaks in pressure, we have to give him an answer so he doesn’t get hit. Also, if we can do anything with him to change the pocket or do some things right. He’s got very good feet, he’s very athletic and the guys can continue to play around him.”

On answering defensive pressure…

“I know they changed up one pressure today, what we call ‘pop a guy out.’ They brought a full man today, seven-man protection. In the answer, we weren’t there and [Altmyer] had to get rid of it in a hurry. Also, there was a couple of red-area sequences where we broke down on protection, as well as the delivery of the run game. It was frustrating but I was very happy that our guys responded in the second half. We’re not trying to get a consolation prize, but I told the guys at halftime that I needed them to show up, play and compete and they did that.”

On redzone breakdowns…

“In particular, there was some of that in the low red. Those are almost like two-point plays in execution. We have to look closely at what we’re doing there. We have to change the pocket. We have to do something to move them. The execution of the run game down low. A lot of teams will try to just run the ball in rather than have any chance of throw game. I think there was one time where we ran Josh McCray up inside and gained four or five. Maybe we need to take a closer look at the run game in the red area.”

On refocusing after loss…

“I think the things that got us to where we are now are what we have to go forward with. Whatever our record was. We were 6-1 last week. We’re trying to go 1-0 every week. Now we’re a 6-2 football team. Everybody is going to have opinions on what I need to do. I think our guys know that Minnesota is coming to town in a rematch game for us. That could mean a lot of things down the road. I think these guys enjoy playing together. It definitely hurt them today. You could see it at halftime. I liked the energy they gave coming out at the half. Obviously, a lot of long faces in there tonight, as they should be. We’ll have to make sure that Oregon doesn’t get us twice. We’re going to have to do what we have to do on Sunday, get a flush, take a jump heading into Minnesota like we do with every game. Monday will be a great day for our guys to reset and come back in on Tuesday and get a work week.”

On difficulty of Oregon’s speed…

“Especially at certain positions, you can tell on film, offense, defense, special teams. They take a lot of pride in that. They strike in all three phases. I think that was very apparent in the first quarter and even towards the end of the second. They put themselves in a position to make multiple scores. Defensively, we didn’t have the right answers putting pressure on. [Gabriel] was just getting the ball out so quickly, they weren’t going to let you get him. That is something we have to identify and make sure that we’re playing out of coverage.”

On secondary defense…

“Jaheim Clarke has been a guy that I would say has been continually impressive since fall camp. When Tyson Rooks went down, when Torrie Cox went out, and Kaleb Patterson went out…those three guys were out of the game before halftime. Those are difficult things to heal. Those guys came in by committee. Tyler Strain also went out, so our backup for Xavier Scott went down, so that’s what brought Rooks in there. I like the fact that he got that nice pick and made an advancement. Got the chance to change the game a little bit there. Obviously, we couldn’t capitalize on it offensively, but he did his part to make that moment.”

— James Crepea covers the Oregon Ducks and Big Ten. Listen to the Ducks Confidential podcast or subscribe to the Ducks Roundup newsletter.