Postgame Quotes - UCLA vs. Illinois

POSTGAME QUOTES

UCLA 22, Illinois 14

Pasadena, Calif. (Rose Bowl Stadium)

Nov. 13, 2026

UCLA Bruins

The Angelo M. Mazzone III UCLA Head Football Coach

on Ty Dieffenbach ’s performance

“Yeah, he did a great job. But, at halftime, his shoes are off, and then no shoulder pads, we are like ‘you gotta get your shoes back’. But we had to go make sure everything was good in there, and he was ready to go. I’ll just start by talking about this crowd that was here and the willingness and the support to stay in the rain and stay the whole time. When they walked in and the noise when Ty walked in, and the noise, I didn't know what it was. And then I saw up on the screen, him coming down the sideline, that was pretty impressive, and then they'd go right on the field and just, he grabbed everybody on that sideline, and just was dapping everybody up right down the row to make sure that they knew that he was back and went out there and delivered.”

on Scooter Jackson coming up with big plays at the end of games

“Ge's just feeling the game the right way. It might take a little risk here and there, but at the same point in time, it's never enough to hurt the team. He really understands the game. He understands the tendencies. He understands the matchups. He understands a lot of like big picture football stuff. It's really exciting to watch him go. And that's two weeks in a row where he's been able to do that and we'll need him again a lot more as we move forward.”

on the team responding to adversity

“I think that the way those guys went about this, they just did not waver. And it wasn't pretty. There was a whole drive of mistakes happening out there. And then we got the ball back on offense, and more mistakes happening out there, and they come away with the win, is something we're really proud of, but they just don't give up. They just don't. They believe. They just believe that they have a shot to win every game and that they're going to find a way. And I think I said it before, but on the bad teams, you get nervous and you don't want to the ball to come your way. You don't want anything to do with that. And then with the good teams, you're excited when they call your number, where they try you when you're on defense. And that's the stuff, to me, that this whole team's built on. When you go in that huddle, they're all excited to make the next play. They're all excited to make the next play regardless of the situation we're in. And that's what's probably the most impressive to me.”

on how the team can avoid complacency

“I think the way we avoid the complacency is by just making sure that we understand that it's one day at a time. That's it. That's all that we can do. We can't look ahead, we can't listen to anybody tell us we're good, or we're bad, or whatever it might be. We just have to take a deep dive and self-evaluate on a day-to-day basis and figure out how can we get better. It doesn't matter, get better, right? Be better today than I was yesterday. All those things that we talk about that are just so simple, but at the same point in time, to practice them and actually do them is a little bit different. And they do that on a day-to day-basis. There's nobody that's interested in anything other than - how do they get better the next opportunity they get.”

on the team’s 10-0 start and how it felt to hear the fans chanting his name after the game

“I just think, in general, the fans were impressive. Again, to show up and to stay and to be present the entire time. When we walked out there, I was like damn…yes. I knew we were on the brink of it, and we were worried about the weather, but ultimately, what a great job by them. And really proud of the way that they showed up. Obviously, hearing you own your name is pretty fun, especially when you're walking off with your wife and your daughters. It's pretty special. And, you know, I appreciate them as much as they appreciate our program.”

on the decision to play Carter Sweazie at center and the health of Brian Rowe Jr.

“Yeah it was this morning where B-Rowe [Brian Rowe Jr.] ended up really sick, and he just didn't feel like he could go. We tried an IV, we got him some meds, and he just couldn't do it. So I think it's gonna be the flu or something like that. But he'll be back. He tried and just could not. So that was it. Sweazie, you we said hey, why don't you be the center here? And then not only be the center, but be the center in the rain. That’s a major challenge and he did a really good job. The reason being was just the inside pressures we were seeing and the zero-nose that was a little bit bigger and physical and we needed to try to match the weight and size. And that was ultimately one of the reasons why we did it. And I think, you know, Derek's [Osman] good to go and he'll be back there again very quickly and hopefully Riley's [Robell] back again too, but just wanted to just keep developing some depth and I thought we did a good job of that.”

on the development of Ty Dieffenbach

“I think the best example is watching him when he came back, just run down the bench and get a touch on every single person on that team, letting him know that he's back. Like that - that's leadership, that stands out. And there's the confidence, I think, that everybody gained from that. From him being back and the confidence he was portraying and showing to them…exuding, not portraying. It was certainly something that they all felt and understood, and I think that's where he's grown the most, is that he went from going into that Oregon game and having a lot of confidence in himself, but now I think others have confidence in him, and that's the growth that you're ultimately looking for.”

on the fourth down attempt in the fourth quarter

“Yeah don't ask about that. It's a ridiculous decision. It is a very bad decision. We had a safety, and we have the interception, and we have them backed up, and you let them out of jail. It was not a good idea. We had a perfect play call, though. We knew exactly what we needed to do. We just missed one of the blocks of the kid that scraped over from the inside. But if we get that block between we knew what we were getting on the defense, and that's the only reason why we felt like we could do it, is we knew the exact book. We knew the exact scheme, and we knew that on sometimes those 4th-and-1’s like that or 4th-and-2’s, when they sell out. If it pops, it pops big. And that's really what we were shooting for. We missed the block. So in the end, I wasn't trying to think about what could go wrong. I was thinking about what could go right if we get that. But obviously it went really wrong, and we probably, you know, got ourselves in a ball game that we didn't have to beat because of that decision that I made.”

on the health of linebacker Jalen Woods and the nature of Ty Dieffenbach ’s injury

“Jalen Woods, we gotta figure it out. His knee got rolled up on pretty good when we were. We had the team, had those guys backed up down there. So, we just got to figure out that. That's going to take an MRI and everything else that comes with it. For Ty, it was like his elbow on his non-throwing arm. He kind of hit his funny bone or something, but it kind of got really nervy in there for him. So we were just a little bit concerned about that. And then he's been just fighting an ankle thing for a little while. So he had basically two things while I was laying down there. But ultimately, he just gets up and goes and neither of them are enough to keep him off the field.”

on if there were any changes to the offensive scheme to utilize Aidan Mizell more often

“Yeah, his health, his health. We knew who he was. We knew what he's capable of, and we just needed to get him healthy. And if you remember back, he missed a couple of the first games just because he wasn't there yet. And now he is. So that's what we thought.”

on Ty Dieffenbach ’s toughness and resilience

“Yeah, I think a lot of it. I think you just said it, you could sort of come to your own conclusions there, to go back in there, and to lead the team down the field, and score after laying down. Having to put yourself in back in the locker room and end in the tent. There's a lot that he had to go through there, but, he's a warrior. It’s what he's growing and becoming that I'm really excited about.”

on what it meant for him to see his former players travel to support him

“Yeah, we had a lot of guys and high school buddies were out there. Guys from Assumption College were here. Salve [Regina], the D3 school I was at. Holy Cross, JMU, all the way through. So it was really exciting to get a chance to see all them before the game. They obviously mean a lot to me on a personal level. And again, these are people that we shared this journey with. And I think that's the sign of feeling like you have a shot that you're doing it right. When 20 years later, more than that for some of them, and you're still connected in deep and meaningful ways. It wasn't never just about football for any of them, just like these guys. It's never just about football. And I think when you get a lot of things right off the field, you have a chance to get a bunch right on the field too. So, really proud of those relationships and proud of who they are, and the fact they came out to support and then sit out here in the rain and never, never wavered either. Just like our team.”

UCLA senior quarterback Ty Dieffenbach

on his injury and coming back to the field to a big ovation

"I kind of went down a little awkward on the tackle, and my arm got caught up underneath, but it just got a little tight on me, and it's nothing serious. That crowd reaction was unbelievable. That was one of the best moments of my life hearing that crowd, and then just to feed off the energy and go in there and score a touchdown, it was unbelievable."

on UCLA's last touchdown drive

"I think it was that 3rd-and-8, I hit Semaj [Morgan] over the middle after the quarter. I just told myself and told the huddle, let's go, man. Let's go, let's go score a touchdown right here. And then we just kept moving the chains, and I was able to find him in the end zone. It was pretty cool."

on his connection with Aidan Mizell

"I said this last week, but starting in January, when we both got here, both transfer guys coming in, throwing on the weekends of January, then moving into spring ball, doing that connection. And in fall camp, we really hit it off. We were both hooping with the twos. Just the way he's been able to step up ... Guys are going down right now, and we need other guys to step up. The way everyone steps up, Aidan in particular, is just awesome. He's a great receiver. You see what he does with the ball after he catches it."

on hearing the roars from the crowd when he came back

"That was unbelievable. It was awesome. You just can't not want to play when you hear that. And I think just showing everyone I was good, like let's go, I think that brought some fire to everyone else too. And then we went out there and put together a big scoring drive, and it was all she wrote from there."

on the team shifting their identity from week to week

"We find ways to win. It's super easy to win games with this defense. I mean, you saw, again, another unbelievable game from the defense, and just feeding off their energy pregame. They're always bringing the juice pregame. Feeding off them, starting fast, and like I said, we just find ways to win."

UCLA senior linebacker Sammy Omosigho

on the crowd and the belief in the team

"It's amazing. The crowd tonight ... shout out the fans. It was wonderful, it was loud, it was energetic. We really felt y'all. Let's continue to do that every week."

on the key to the defense's success

"It's just the standard, the standard, the standard, the standard. Whatever play, each and every play, you determine the play. And if you continue to do that the entire game, you have a good outcome."

on what the journey to 10-0 has been like

"It's a testament. It starts with Coach Ches choosing this place, and then bringing people that chose this place as well. And then it turned into belief. Belief in the players, belief from the coaches, belief from the strength staff, nutrition, and belief from everybody else. You gotta make them believe because no one believed that UCLA would be 10-0 this year. No one in the country, no one anywhere. And then we have to make them believe. So it's all about belief."

on Scooter Jackson

"Scooter's a ball-player. He's a ball-player. He's a hometown player. This is his crib. So when he sees the ball, when he sees the receiver, when he sees the quarterback's vision, he breaks on it. Like I said, he's a ball-player. He was doing a great job doing it the past few games."

UCLA 5th year defensive lineman Aiden Gobaira

on the defense having the offense's back

"We just play to our standard every play. We know that in every play that we run, we should be able to dominate that four to six seconds. So it doesn't matter what is happening outside. We just know next play mentality, and we're going to fight until every whistle."

on the key to the defense's success

"It's a brotherhood, really. We're really together, we're connected. We know that if we make a big play, we gotta get up and make another big play. Like, there's no chill, there's no relaxing. It's always on to the next.”

on what's happening at UCLA

"It's a belief in ourselves. At the end of the day, we know that we're gonna play, and it could be at the highest level. All of our guys - 'We're not good enough.' That's what everybody's told us before we got here to this place. We're a team filled of guys who were told that we weren't good enough. So it's our job and our responsibility to prove that every day to ourselves, not to anybody else, but to ourselves, that we deserve to be here. We deserve to compete at the highest level."

Illinois Fighting Illini

Bret Bielema

Illinois Head Coach

opening statement

“Tough night. Give a lot of credit to UCLA. There’s a reason they’re undefeated, they’re a good football team. Took advantage of some miscues from us. Obviously, first half, did not play very clean, especially offensively. And then defense, had a bust there on that first drive, which gave them seven points uncontested. So, can't give a team that's ranked as high as they are free plays like that. And obviously the safety, that's nine points in an eight-score game. It's just really hard to overcome those moments. I thought our guys battled. We talked all week about making it a four-quarter game, a one-score game. We’ve been in a bunch of them. Really, their only one-score game the entire year was really that Oregon game. So, I thought we could try to make it that way and our guys did respond. I would have loved to get some points in that first half. I think going in there without points was tough, and then came out in the first drive, stalled out, or was an interception. Those killed us, but I think the biggest thing is, the way our guys responded, came back in the fourth quarter just gives really good evidence to this team and their makeup and their grittiness. We'll fly back, hopefully here in the next couple hours, and get home and we do have an extra day on the back end of these two weeks to get preparation for Iowa, which will be a really tough contest next week, but the last one in Gies Memorial this year, and I think our guys will play well. Don't have anything from an injury standpoint. Know we lost a couple guys, but I have no idea about anything right now.”

on the passing offense’s struggles

“Obviously, they're a good football team. UCLA is very productive. I wouldn’t say they're exotic, but they bring a lot of different things. They bring a lot of different looks. They were able to bring, create some pressure. Seemed to have all the answers for us in certain regards. For us, I think we just had some uncharacteristic miscues. Third and one, we got an easy first down and jumped off sides. Obviously, the two turnovers, I thought, really were critical. And then obviously our defense, tried to minimize those things and I thought, first half, did especially really good. To go in that locker room with that score and play the way we did, I thought was very fortunate. Just kind of waiting for us to turn around and come back and then that's exactly what happened.”

on what he has seen from his team the past five weeks

“I told them in the locker room after the game, I was really excited to fly out here with them. I knew we had a good football team. Flying home, I know we do. To have a 6-4 team now with two games left. We’ve got two very, very tough opponents. Iowa game that will require everything that we have to play well and have success. We’re a team that’s really gritty. These guys are really growing. I think next week to play our last game at Gies Memorial with a group of guys, just jump out like certain guys like Matt Bailey, Xavier Scott, for sure, James Kreutz. There’s some guys, obviously, that may get another bonus year, but offensively a guy like Katin Houser. Huddy Clement, I think when he left the game, that kind of hurt us a little bit, too. I don't know exactly what his status is, but there's a lot of really good players that are going to play their last game at home and I think it's going to be a big one.”

on containing Wayne Knight

“I thought all week, I thought that kid, not just his skill set, but he plays extremely hard. Everybody wants to talk about his size, but he's just short. He's really big and he plays big. We adopted two different tackle styles on him we talked about all week and those executed, I thought, pretty well. Didn't see him run through a lot of tackles. I think the big plays in the passing game hurt us a little bit. That last touchdown, obviously the busted coverage. You can't give up free yardage and expect a game to happen.”

Illinois fifth year running back Aidan Laughery

on the challenge of the UCLA’s defense

“First of all credit to them, they played extremely hard, and they're a really good football team. We just really didn’t execute enough and early on in the first half we just kind of shot ourselves in the foot a couple times. Proud of the guys though and how we came out and fought in the second half. It just sucks that we came in here and shot ourselves in the foot and that really kept us from being able to win that game.

on the preparation and approach to the game

“I take blame as a captain for allowing this. Everything in practice shows up on gameday and we just have to practice better. As leaders and as players, we just have to hold our standard higher in order to come out here on gameday and be able to execute.”

Illinois 5th year linebacker James Kreutz

on what the mindset is being able to keep the offense in the game

“I mean we just have to go out there and do our job. You gotta limit the amount of points that they score and that’s what you gotta do.”

on being able to stop UCLA’s run game

“They got two good running backs and their offensive line is big too. They do a good job with their run game and they’ve played well. We just had to go in there and do what we do well, and that’s what it came down to.”

Illinois fifth year defensive back Matthew Bailey

on coming so close to beating the #4 ranked team UCLA

“It’s frustrating because of all the preparation and coming into this week we definitely believed we were going to come out with a win tonight. It came down to the way that we needed to execute, but it’s definitely frustrating to come this close.”

on dealing with the first half struggles and turnovers

“Yeah we just come in with the one play at a time mindset. Knowing when your name is called means that you got to step up and that’s when our name was called as a defense, that's the only option. You can’t just lay down and not go out there, so we might as well go out there and send it to them.”

Postgame Quotes - UCLA vs. Illinois

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