The Illini bit off more than they could chew Saturday against Virginia, dropping their second straight contest, 42-14. Illinois hopes to get back on track this Friday night against Maryland and will look to stay perfect in conference play.

Here’s what head coach Bret Bielema had to say about:

Injuries

“Sydney Brown left the game and is still undergoing further exams...but he’s doing a lot better today than he was yesterday.”

“Brandon Peters is back, and he will actually be our starting quarterback.”

“He’s (Mike Epstein) still out for this game... he won’t be back with us anytime soon.”

“Nobody (else) has been ruled out (Friday).”

The Virginia Game

“It’s not what happens it’s how you react to what happens.”

“The biggest way you can effectively lose games is mental errors, penalties and turnovers.”

“We’re not going to be able to win many football games (when committing so many penalties).”

“We can’t give up free plays.”

“They (Virginia) had nine passes for more than 20 yards.”

Friday night’s game vs Maryland

“You’re already 24 hours behind where you usually are.”

“We’ll emphasize offensively a very dynamic quarterback that brings a lot to the throw game.”

“They’re very balanced on first down almost 50/50.”

Players

“Josh (McCray) is a very talented player”

“Despite many people calling him a dropback guy, he (Brandon Peters) is a guy that can move around and generate some things with his legs.”

“Luke (Ford) and DJ (Barker) are both playing tight end but we use them a little bit different.”

“Doug (Kramer) is playing at a high-high level, very intelligent player.”

“Deuce (Spann) is an explosive player.”

“Jake (Hansen) buys into that (forcing fumbles) 100 times over.”