Monday Press Conference Quotes
Tigers meet with the media
Oct. 20, 2008
Head Coach Gary Pinkel
Opening statement:
"Tommy Chavis got rolled on in the game and he sprained his ankle. We expect him to be back, he's probable. And Danario Alexander did the same thing. His is more of a high-ankle sprain; he did it right in front of our bench. We hate to see him go down with all the problems he's had. We think he's going to be fine, in practice tomorrow we'll find out a little more about that. Colorado is obviously a very good football team, had a big win over Kansas State last week. If you look at them, you look at them as a football team who runs the ball very, very well. I am impressed with their scheme, their system. They have two quarterbacks, they brought a freshman out last week, and he (Tyler Hansen) kind of added a little bit with (Cody) Hawkins last week. I think he did a real good job of running the ball and being in there for the first time. And it adds a whole different dimension to their offense. I think they're probably going to play both and that's what we're going to have to deal with from an offensive standpoint. Defensively, they are really good, I'm very impressed with their defense. Everybody they've played, they've played well. They've played some real good teams, their numbers are pretty good. They're very well-coached, they're disciplined, they fly around the ball. They are very tough and physical and, certainly that's going to be a challenge. What we're trying to do is just get back and play our best game and we haven't done that the last two weeks. I always tell our players if we play our best game it doesn't necessarily mean that we're going to win. It will certainly increase your chances to win, but the last two weeks we haven't been able to do that. That's my responsibility; if we don't play our A-game then I'm not getting the job done. We're going to work real hard to do that. I think we have a great attitude with our team and we're focused on one thing; 5:30 on Saturday playing Colorado."
On Mizzou's back-to-back losses:
"Well I think you also have to consider who we play. We played a team that put 45 points on Oklahoma and about 450 yards. So, I think you've got to give them credit. Yeah, we're disappointed. We've got to regroup. Yesterday was a tough day for everybody. We're not used to losing around here. But when you don't play well, you're probably not going to win games. What we did yesterday, we had some good meetings, a good practice, and the big thing now is to get focused. Where we're at right now, nothing matters about what happened behind us. All that matters is us at 5:30 playing Colorado. That's all that matters. We're going to work real hard to play as an offense and a defense and a kicking game in its entirety.
On the issue of overconfidence with Missouri:
"Overconfidence? No, that's an excuse. We don't use that (excuse). We're not good enough to be overconfident. No, that's not an issue. We haven't played our best football. We have also played two very good football teams."
On a similar situation last season, knowing the Tigers must win the rest of their games:
"I think for our players any reference of last year is probably not real good because this is an entirely different football team. I would suggest that everyone in my organization and in this building, focuses everything they've got into 5:30 on Saturday afternoon. And I think that is exactly where every bit of focus should be. And if there is any bit of focus anywhere else they (players) will not be on the field. Where we're at right now, nothing behind us matters now. This game has become a very, very big football game and that is where our focus will be.
On the second half turn-around against Texas:
"Yeah, I think we played a lot better (in the second half against Texas). They took their starters out in the end of the 4th quarter. We did not punt after the middle of the third quarter. We had that long drive, that play with Danario Alexander (disputed touchdown call). I thought we did a real good job of executing against a really good defense from that point on. Trouble is, when the game started, we had to match it. We didn't match early. We started playing a much better offense later, but when we had to they came out and they were ready to play, there's no question about that. After that we got going. Chase (Daniel) had a pretty good day, other than the one interception.
On his decision to use a rugby-style punt:
"We've been pretty successful with that (rugby-style punting) except for the once. The one that really hurt our average, when Jeff (Wolfert) shanked that one. I've never seen him do that in practice or in a game, just that once. And that can happen with a regular punt too. But it's been fairly productive for us. So I think you'll see combinations of both. Our net punting is as good as it's been for quite some time. There are a lot of different things you can do off of it and I think it makes it harder to game plan."
Senior QB Chase Daniel
Opening statement:
"It's been a good day so far. We got a lot of film time in for the Colorado game. Obviously the Texas game, the only thing I'm going to get in about that, we didn't play as well as we wanted to. We got out-executed. Everything we needed to do is fixed, mentally and physically, and we're ready to move on to 5:30 on Saturday."
On the team's attitude after the Texas loss:
"Our attitude is 5:30 on Saturday, That's all we're thinking about. Everything else is irrelevant. This is the biggest game of the year for us."
On who will the team look to for leadership:
"I think it definitely falls on the captains and the seniors on the team. Like I said on Saturday (Oct. 18), the coaches can only do so much, and they are doing a heck of a job getting us ready to play. It falls on the players; we've got to player better. We've got to execute better on offense, on defense, on special teams, every facet of the game. We have to go out there and play our A-game which we haven't the past two weeks."
On Colorado's defense:
"They (Colorado) simplified things a little bit to give their guys a better shot at playing well. And if you watch them, they really have (played well). I think they're fourth or fifth in pass defense in the Big 12. They're playing at a high level. They had that big win over West Virginia, they were ranked earlier in the season. They're a very confident bunch."
On what he did to spark Missouri's offense in the second half in Austin:
"I got the offensive line together and I said, 'Don't look at the scoreboard. I don't care if its 70 to nothing and we're losing or its 70 to nothing and we're winning. We're going to go out there and play our hearts out no matter what happens.' I got the receivers and tight ends and running backs huddled up and I said, 'I don't care if we're down by 80 or down by two, we're going to go out there, have fun and enjoy the moment.' And I think we played a lot looser in the second half."
On what went wrong against No. 1 Texas:
"For me personally, I think we just got out-executed. It comes down to that. I felt good throughout the whole week of practice. I felt good about the team, and usually I get a pretty good feel going about the team going in. I felt like we were loose and felt great going in. They're (Texas) a great team. Give credit where it's due and they deserve all the credit in the world."
Junior OL Kurtis Gregory
On the reactions of Elvis Fischer and the team as a whole after the loss:
"We were all down. He missed people a couple of times, but we've learned from all of this already and we've got to just go out there on Saturday and beat Colorado. You've just got to have a short memory… we can't do anything about it now, it's in the past, so why worry about it?"
On how they can learn from the past two losses:
"You've just got to keep the mentality of, "OK, I did that wrong, I know I did that wrong. I know what I need to do to fix it, I need to keep my hands in or take these steps better." Then we just go into practice knowing that we want to get better at kicks, or at passing, or at blocking. That's what the goal is every day in practice is to get better at something."
On what it takes to start winning again:
"We've just got to go out there and play with an edge. We haven't been quite ourselves the past two weeks or played with the edge that we had at the beginning of the season. We have to go out there and get our edge back, and just put our nose to the grindstone."
Senior TE Chase Coffman
On the team's feeling after the loss to Texas:
"We were disappointed in ourselves, just how we played, and how we let them get out to that kind of a start and didn't put up any fight really. When I first got here… we're doing a lot better now than we were then, and it's expected that we're supposed to be doing a lot better. We've just got to take it one game at a time, and this next game is all that matters to us right now."
On moving past Texas:
"That's one of the things that we've been focusing on ever since the end of the last game. That's just what we've got to get done right now. We can't look past [Colorado], or look for anything else. We can't look to Big 12 North, the Big 12, anything. The most important game on our schedule right now is Colorado, and that's what we're looking forward to."
Sophomore DB Carl Gettis
On whether the defense is more complex this year:
"I think our defense is pretty much the same. Of course there are a few trick plays and some new plays that we've put in, but I don't think it's that different from last year. It's not that much more complicated or complex. We know right now that we've got to work on our fundamentals. We've been missing some tackles and making a lot of mental errors, so it's definitely time to go back to the basics, and back to what got us where we are now."
On how the past two losses have changed the team mindset:
"I think everybody is a lot more focused now, because we know we can't have any more games like that. We just have to get back to the basics, and come in and have good practices, over prepare, and focus on Colorado."
Senior DL Stryker Sulak
On how their loss to Texas can help them:
"I think right now no one is worried about last game. That's something that we can't do anything about. We're coming off of two straight losses, and maybe that does make us a little more hungry, and hopefully it will help a lot. A lot of players, including myself, are not really happy with how we played, so I want to step it up for next week."
On their focus this week:
"We just knew yesterday after we broke for practice that game was behind us. We're not going to think about it, we're really not going to talk about it, right now all we can do is just focus on Colorado. We were all upset about it, but we all know that our loss is in the past. We know that we've got to change a lot of things that we did wrong, and that's all we can really do."
Senior WR Tommy Saunders
On team goals for the rest of the season:
"All we're really focused on is just taking it one game at a time right now. We're just really trying to get better this week, and just really focus on the game plan that the coaches have given us for this week, and really just play as hard as we can against Colorado."
On how he motivates players as a team leader:
"We just tell these guys to have fun out there when they're on the field. It's just a game, and a lot of times you get too wrapped up in all the other things going on. We just tell them to get back to the basics, and just have fun. That's why we play this game is just to have fun, and to go out there and learn from it."
On the current feeling in the locker room:
"It's a good feeling in the locker room. We're just ready to go out there and play this game. I think we just want to hurry up and get through these practices, just getting better every day, and play this game."
