The question stung and Jerry Kill fired back immediately to leave no doubt.
?Our kids were heartbroken,? he said.
Kill was emphatic that his Huskies weren?t looking at Saturday?s 31-27 loss at Minnesota as a win.
Yes, Chandler Harnish emerged as the team?s quarterback of the present and the future. And yes, fellow freshmen Me?co Brown and Nate Palmer showed they could make a big difference for years to come.
But the goal was to win, and the Huskies haven?t done that much lately.
The past 14 times they have played, dating to the Poinsettia Bowl, they?ve won just twice.
So something has to change.
The heartache of another loss was evident, from the pained expressions from new guys such as athletic director Jeff Compher and linebackers coach Tom Matukewicz, to veterans such as wide receivers coach P.J. Fleck, who paced the Metrodome tunnel Saturday night looking for an answer.
Senior defensive end Craig Rusch summed it up best.
?I never feel good about a loss,? he said Tuesday.
On Monday night, Kill sat his team down and gave them a heart-to-heart. He loved a lot of what he saw, but there were distinct reasons they lost.
The main reason was not getting a first down on offense late in the fourth quarter, thus punting and giving Minnesota the time to put together a game-winning drive.
?Everything you do in life, you have to expect to win,? Kill said. ?I didn?t go to Minnesota to get my tail beat and I don?t think the kids did. You have to expect to win. Once you come off a 2-10 season, you?ve got to learn to be able to do that again.?
Up until the final seconds, Kill said he believed his team would pull out the game. He had seen that situation before and came away a winner.
?We had a great shot, we had two plays to get into the end zone, but we couldn?t make the play,? Kill said.
During Monday?s meeting, his message hit home. This isn?t going to be a program that accepts losing to a team just because they play in the Big 10.
And this isn?t a team that?s interested in moral victories or the future.
They want to win and they want to win now, starting with Saturday?s 6 p.m. MAC opener at Western Michigan.
?We?re not a program that goes into games expecting to play well against a Big Ten team,? Rusch said. ?It kind of hit home (during Kill?s speech) and that?s what we need to turn this program back around to.?
Kill convinced his Southern Illinois team that it was meant to win last season and it did when it came to Northern Illinois.
On Monday, he established that his expectations at NIU would be even larger. The Huskies won?t be a team that accepts close games and last-second losses.
Now they?ll just have to prove it, starting Saturday, against a Western Michigan team that has beaten the Huskies in close games two seasons in a row.
The Broncos will pressure Harnish with the zone blitz and then throw the ball all over the field to attack the Huskies? secondary. Somehow, they?ll have to find a way to stop it or Kill will have to prepare that speech all over again, this time with a MAC twist.
?Our kids were heartbroken,? he said.
Kill was emphatic that his Huskies weren?t looking at Saturday?s 31-27 loss at Minnesota as a win.
Yes, Chandler Harnish emerged as the team?s quarterback of the present and the future. And yes, fellow freshmen Me?co Brown and Nate Palmer showed they could make a big difference for years to come.
But the goal was to win, and the Huskies haven?t done that much lately.
The past 14 times they have played, dating to the Poinsettia Bowl, they?ve won just twice.
So something has to change.
The heartache of another loss was evident, from the pained expressions from new guys such as athletic director Jeff Compher and linebackers coach Tom Matukewicz, to veterans such as wide receivers coach P.J. Fleck, who paced the Metrodome tunnel Saturday night looking for an answer.
Senior defensive end Craig Rusch summed it up best.
?I never feel good about a loss,? he said Tuesday.
On Monday night, Kill sat his team down and gave them a heart-to-heart. He loved a lot of what he saw, but there were distinct reasons they lost.
The main reason was not getting a first down on offense late in the fourth quarter, thus punting and giving Minnesota the time to put together a game-winning drive.
?Everything you do in life, you have to expect to win,? Kill said. ?I didn?t go to Minnesota to get my tail beat and I don?t think the kids did. You have to expect to win. Once you come off a 2-10 season, you?ve got to learn to be able to do that again.?
Up until the final seconds, Kill said he believed his team would pull out the game. He had seen that situation before and came away a winner.
?We had a great shot, we had two plays to get into the end zone, but we couldn?t make the play,? Kill said.
During Monday?s meeting, his message hit home. This isn?t going to be a program that accepts losing to a team just because they play in the Big 10.
And this isn?t a team that?s interested in moral victories or the future.
They want to win and they want to win now, starting with Saturday?s 6 p.m. MAC opener at Western Michigan.
?We?re not a program that goes into games expecting to play well against a Big Ten team,? Rusch said. ?It kind of hit home (during Kill?s speech) and that?s what we need to turn this program back around to.?
Kill convinced his Southern Illinois team that it was meant to win last season and it did when it came to Northern Illinois.
On Monday, he established that his expectations at NIU would be even larger. The Huskies won?t be a team that accepts close games and last-second losses.
Now they?ll just have to prove it, starting Saturday, against a Western Michigan team that has beaten the Huskies in close games two seasons in a row.
The Broncos will pressure Harnish with the zone blitz and then throw the ball all over the field to attack the Huskies? secondary. Somehow, they?ll have to find a way to stop it or Kill will have to prepare that speech all over again, this time with a MAC twist.
