Indiana University Athletics
Cam Cameron Quotebook
9/28/1999 12:00:00 AM | Football
On Illinois: "Illinois is probably the most improved team in this league since last year. They are doing some really good things on offense. (Illinois QB Kurt) Kittner may be the most improved quarterback in the league and the guys around him are playing extremely well. They're scoring 32-plus points per game. We've got our work cut out for us there. I think it's a great challenge for us. It's going to be a great test of the character on this football team. I'm looking forward to how we're going to respond this week in practice and how we respond on Saturday."
On the Illinois game in 1998, a 33-16 Indiana loss: "It would be interesting to see how (Illinois head coach) Ron (Turner) views that. They ran a kick back for a touchdown. At that point in time we were down to two tailbacks if you remember, actually one. We were down to Frankie Franklin and he was hobbling. Levron Williams we were starting to move back to tailback from receiver and he got hurt on the fourth play of the game. He was out of the game and basically we went three quarters of the game with one tailback. On special teams they really hurt us. They recovered an onsides kick and had a kickoff return (for touchdown). We'll have to play a lot better than we did a year ago."
On the 1999 Fighting Illini: "On defense, they're fundamentally sound. They're just playing good solid defense. I think they have seven seniors starting on that defense. It's basically the opposite of our defense. Our defense is relatively young and they have a veteran defense. We're both relatively young on offense. We both have sophomore quarterbacks. We're younger in the backfield than they are. Their tailbacks and fullbacks are seniors. For the most part, a lot of similarities on offense."
On playing more players on defense: "It's really not a result of really anyone playing poorly. It's more of an attempt on our part to reward some guys that are playing as well as some of the guys who have been starting. At the same time, it also allows us some opportunities to develop some depth. Both units (first and second team defense) will play significantly."
On playing a Big Ten schedule: "We've talked to our players since training camp that we can beat any team we play. At the same time, if we don't respect anyone that we play, and if we don't come to play, any team on our schedule can beat us. That's the other half of that which is obviously just as important. For us, going into this game, we're looking at nothing but Illinois and if we were undefeated we wouldn't be looking beyond Illinois. We have to get better as a football team and we will have to play extremely well to beat Illinois."
On comparing the progress made during Cameron's tenure compared to Ron Turner at Illinois: "It's too early in terms of this season. Plus, everyone's non-conference schedule is so different. There are teams that play I-AA opponents and teams who choose to play teams from the Atlantic Coast Conference and from the SEC. Really these next three or four weeks are really going to show where programs are headed. We've only played one game in the Big Ten and now that we're starting to play one another we should really be able to tell over these next few weeks."
On Penn State coach Joe Paterno talking to the Indiana team on Sunday morning after the game following a flight delay that kept Indiana in Pennsylvania until Sunday morning: "Actually, because of the things that he was able to tell our football team, staying over became a positive. We had about an hour to kill before we had to get to the plane and I thought, as Joe and I talked after the game, it basically came down to two plays in the kicking game. We overcame the first turnover for a touchdown, basically. We were at least able to overcame that and put ourselves back in position to win the football game. The punt return for the touchdown and the one turnover in the third quarter cost us the ball game. He said, 'Look, this game came down to two or three plays.' We tell our guys that and we talk to them about the fact that most games are won or lost over a handful of plays, the problem is you don't know which plays those are going to be. That's why you play every play like it's going to determine the outcome of the ballgame. I tried to call around and get his number and finally, after calling several people, I called his video guy and he was thumbing through something and he said, 'Here it is, it's right here in the phone book.' Sure enough, he gave me the number out of the phone book. Actually, his wife, Sue, answered but he was right there. I asked him if would stop by and he said a lot of good things but the bottom line was that he said that, for Indiana, the difference is from the neck up. He said, 'Right now, I've got a group of seniors, and I've got a handful of guys who are in graduate school, who are veteran guys who expect to win and they know the game is going to come down to four or five plays and they think they're going to make those plays to allow them to win the football game. That's the difference. He said Indiana has to expect to win and each guy individually has to feel that he's going to make the play that determines the game when they are there to be made. He also said that we can't say, 'Here we go again' when someone fails to make one of those plays. He's a first-class guy. You just go there and you can feel that from their entire department. Not just their football team but their entire department."
On Illinois getting a number of different players involved in the offense: "(Ron) always has and he'll continue to do that. You don't necessarily do all of that by design as much as much as you do teaching your quarterback what the weaknesses of defenses are and where to spread the ball around and, obviously, if they take something away that gives up something else. Ron has always done a good job of teaching quarterback where to go with the football."
Cameron on Adewale Ogunleye: "He's playing the best football he's played since he's been here down-for-down. He's doing some better things against the run. Obviously, most defensive ends, all the talk is about sacks and he usually gets about one a game. He's the guy on the goal line (vs. Penn State) who made the play when he comes across the face of the pulling guard and hits the ball carrier to cause a fumble along with (SS) Greg Yeldell. That isn't necessarily noticed by anyone. He's doing the little things a lot better. He's more consistent than he's ever been. He's been banged up the whole year with a pretty severe ankle injury that he's playing through and has practiced through which is a big step for him to be able to play injured. He may not be as flashy as he was perceived in the past but he's playing a lot better football."
