Oct. 19, 2009
Head Coach, Gary Pinkel
Injury Report:
“Munir Prince is going to get his hamstring looked at again. He is struggling with it a little bit. We thought he was back but he was struggling in pre-game and will most likely be out this week. Will Ebner is back. He has a pretty courageous story. He had surgery a week ago today. Thursday he was sprinting inside the stadium when we were practicing, and he looked like he could play. We thought it was important for him to get a full week of rest but he is 100-percent now. He’s a very tough guy, great competitor and I’m glad to have him back.”
Opening Statement:
“We all know that Texas is certainly a top-five team. Might be the best team in the country, time will tell. They have some good players, they lost some players, but they reloaded well. It is a great opportunity for us to be at ‘The Zou’ and play them. It will be a wild setting. It’s a great challenge for us and were looking forward to working hard and trying to play our best game.”
On Blaine Gabbert injury:
“What I do is ask the medical staff. Last week, my biggest concern would be that he would go backwards. And then we decide if this going to be chronic, and I don’t want that. They felt comfortable that he would not backwards and he hasn’t, he’s better yesterday than he was last week. I expect him to be better, hopefully he’ll be 100 percent this week. He’s a pretty courageous guy and it would be nice to get him healthy if we can.”
On Jimmy Costello game readiness:
“He’s worked hard. He got some work with the ones [first team] last week. We prepared him for that a little bit. He’s worked very hard and looks as good as any back up quarterback we’ve ever had. But, he hasn’t played. He’s played very little. Most programs are kind of like that in college and the NFL too. But if called upon, I think he’d go in and compete and do a good job.”
On preparing team for Texas:
“I think what you do is we focus on ourselves and trying to get better, That’s my frustration a little bit, I don’t think we’re getting better. I don’t think we’re improving like we need to be and that’s my job. But we’re working hard and with the right people and we are making them a good football team. It’s my job to get us there. So we are going to persist and will continue to work hard at the highest level and be positive, until we work our way out of this.”
On how team is feeling after two losses:
“We had a real good practice yesterday. I meet with the seniors tomorrow morning and they will kind of tell me where we’re at there. But I think there is a lot frustration because of some of the mistakes we’re making. And that’s coaching, that’s my fault. Don’t blame the player for that, you blame me. We’re going to work hard to correct that.”
On getting past these challenges:
“These three games are our toughest challenge with a less experienced team. I knew this was going to be a great challenge for us. We were 1-2 with a very experienced team last year. So we are going to compete and battle. Half the season is left and I think it’s a great opportunity. So I hope we can take advantage of that.”
On running game:
“We all know Texas is the number one rushing defense in the country. I think we did a lot of good thing s there. The trouble with our offense is just the inconsistency. We can really look good and then not move the ball. We are analyzing that and trying to get that fixed. I think we have all ingredients there we just need to keep working at it.”
On Danario Alexander:
“Well he’s a different type of athlete. It’s probably not fair to compare him to J-Mac [Jeremy Maclin], probably the greatest single player at any position in my 32 years of coaching college football. I said all along that he’s a guy that had he been healthy his entire career he would probably be a top-10 receiver in the country, but we never got to see that. I’m glad he’s healthy, he obviously helps us. And people have no idea how much time he has spent in that training room rehabbing. He gets hit in the mouth and gets right back up and he keeps going. Talk about persistence, he’s a visual aid for it. He is very athletic, a long strider but he has great acceleration, and he can go up and has great range. He’s got range like Chase Coffman probably even more because he can jump higher. He’s got a 40-inch vertical jump, and that applies to him playing receiver too. He has tremendous big play potential.”
On Colt McCoy:
“He had about 70-percent completion last year. He’s a great player and has a lot of experience. It seems like he’s been in that uniform for 15 years. He is like a seasoned veteran out there. He’s been in every big game there is and always performs in every game. It is a great challenge. He is one of the greatest quarterbacks in the country.”
On front-loaded schedule:
“The day we got back from the Alamo Bowl, I put up the schedule. I showed the players the schedule and said home, away, neutral site this is how it is. I never look at it and say I wish it was different. I don’t look at the schedule like that. I never do that. We play three nationally ranked teams to start off with, but we knew that back in February. That’s the way it is.”
Sean Weatherspoon, Linebacker
On the team’s mentality:
“I think the confidence level is pretty high right now. We know that in these past few games, it’s just been a few big plays in each that could have changed the whole game. We know that if we would have capitalized on a few plays, they we’d be in a different situation than the one we’re in right now. We’re pretty confident in what we can still accomplish.”
On Colt McCoy:
“He is the key. He did a lot of great things to keep those guys going against Oklahoma as far as rushing the ball and throwing the ball. We know that it all starts with him, and if you don’t get to him then he’ll be accurate. That’s just how the great quarterbacks are. We know we have to try to get some pressure on him early and try to rattle him a little bit. They’ve got a pretty good offense, good things going on over there, so we’re excited about the opportunity.”
On the upsets around the Big 12:
“It definitely surprised me. It looked like everything was wide open. You’ve got to go out there hard each and every week, and you can’t get down just because you lost two in a row. You’ve got to pick yourself up and keep going.”
On the defensive scheme:
“I’m pretty confident in our defensive scheme. I’m confident that if we go out there and just focus on the bottom line, which is playing hard, leveraging the football and making consistent tackles, then I think we’ll do pretty well against them.”
On playing a highly-ranked team:
“It’s a great opportunity. Obviously they’re a great program and they’ve got some great things going on down there, and we’re just excited to be playing against them.”
Kevin Rutland, Cornerback
On making sure each receiver is covered:
“That’s on any play, whether it’s [Jordan] Shipley or Colt McCoy or one of their running backs, you have to communicate. Guys have to know who has who at all times, or you will have a receiver let open like that. You can’t have a letdown in coverage like that.”
On playing a highly-ranked conference opponent:
“This is the biggest opportunity I’ve ever been in, outside of a few years ago when we were the No. 1 team in the nation. Playing when you’re an underdog in a game like this—it’s the biggest chance you have to turn your season around. After two tough losses, you bring in the No. 3 team in the country to your home field, you’ve got your fans behind you, your coaches behind you, everyone behind you. Everything is pointing your direction outside of the rankings. This is a big opportunity, and we’ve got to take advantage of it. “
On playing a ranked team for Homecoming:
“I think we’ll use Homecoming as a motivation. Who wants to let down their fans and their town on Homecoming? We have so many guys coming back from across the nation to see Mizzou play, and a lot of alumni. Why let them down? “
Andrew Gachkar, Linebacker
On special teams:
“That’s definitely a big concern this week is the special teams for Texas. Jordan Shipley’s a great returner. We definitely are buckling down more on kickoffs this week, because we did give up a big one there [against Oklahoma State] right before the half. The punt team didn’t go well. I’m not sure what really happened there. We’re definitely more concerned about playing against Texas because they’re ranked in the top of every special teams category.”
On Texas’s offense:
“They pass the ball extremely well, so that’s obviously our top concern coming into this game as a defense. We need to watch what they do and how they pass to [Jordan] Shipley. [Colt McCoy] obviously wants to get the ball to his playmakers, and Shipley is his top playmaker, so the passing game is definitely a concern.”
On the low number of defensive takeaways this year:
“If you added in some takeaways, I think it would help our team a ton. You’d see our defense shoot from mid-range in the Big 12 statistically to up there in the top-three. We really harp on taking the ball away, and it’s not happening right now. I think this week we’re going to try to do some different things and up that number a lot more.”
On playing a highly-ranked team:
“It’s a huge opportunity, especially since we’re at home. We can show all our fans just how good we can be at the Homecoming game. We get to play on national television against the No. 3 team in the nation. We’d love the opportunity to take down a top-five team, so we think it’s a huge opportunity.”
Danario Alexander, Wide Receiver
On stepping up to the competition:
“You want to come out and play your best game every game and have a great game every game. That’s probably not always possible, but you’ve always got to come out and do your job.”
On Blaine Gabbert:
“We just need him to be himself. He’s a great athlete, a great competitor, and a great football player, so he can lead us to victory. He can do it all. I’m not sure about if he’s beating himself up, but he’s a great competitor. He wants to be the best he can be every day, so if he makes a mistake he’ll move on.”
On whether the pass or the yards after are more important:
“You’ve got to catch the ball before you can run. Once I get the ball in my hands, I just try to make a big play out of it. When I came into the fall, I told all the receivers that we were going to try to get all the yards after the catch. When I catch the ball, I want to get in the endzone no matter what.”
On how the team is preparing for Texas:
“We’ve got to be consistent. It’s not hard to get everybody hyped up for this game, we’re all ready to play. We had a great practice yesterday. We’ve just got to be consistent and catch every ball and make every block to play our best game. The fans give us a reason to come out and just pin our ears back and go full speed. It’s a great chance for us to come out and show the world what we can do.”
Kenji Jackson, Strong Safety
On bouncing back from the loss to Oklahoma State:
“You just swallow the loss and get ready for the next game. There’s a lot of football left to play, and we’re excited. We’re just trying to get better as a team and as a defense. We’re just trying to be ready for Texas.”
On the defense’s performance:
“We played well [against Oklahoma State], but we still haven’t played our best football. That’s the ultimate goal. We prepare all week, and when you come to college you want to play good football. This week we’re just trying to study harder and practice harder than we did last week to get different results.”
On preparing for Texas:
“We’ve had some tough losses, but I don’t think we have to do much to get motivated for this week. The guys are already pumped up. At Mizzou, we’re a winning school, and no one likes to lose at home. We’re going to step it up in all phases of the game—special teams, offense, defense—we’re coming out this week to win. We just want to go out there and play hard, and everything else will take care of itself.”
