Nov. 25, 2008
Head Coach Gary Pinkel
Opening statement:
“I’m happy to stay we’re probably as healthy as you can be going into the last game of the regular season. Chase Coffman, I anticipate him to play this week. He’s been practicing pretty good and we certainly need him back on our football team. I know he’s excited to get back. He’s been practicing much better, longer and I expect him to be back, hopefully I’m right on that one:. This game is huge for many reasons. Most importantly, its Kansas. This game is kind of one you don’t really worry about getting your team fired up to play. It’s a great rivalry, we’re excited to be part of it. It’s a battle so, regardless of the records, when you play this game, it’s always a tough football game. I think they’re a real good football team, their schedule has been tough.”
On last year’s Kansas game:
“It was kind of like the perfect storm. It won’t ever happen again. It’s funny, I recall after the game, not the ranking, not the Big 12 Championship, but beating Kansas. After we won that game, we were fortunate enough to win it, that’s what I recall the most. It’s developing into even a stronger rivalry because both teams are good football teams and that certainly adds to it. But (its split) about down the middle for wins and losses for a very long time, and that says a lot. Some remarkable plays come out of these games because there is so much meaning and it’s so important to each team.”
On his new contract agreement:
“I think we’ve kind of came to a verbal agreement, but no contract has been signed. The procedure here at the University of Missouri, which I respect and I think is good, but it has to go by the curators and a vote and I think that’s the right way to do it. That is supposed to happen in a few days and then after that I would sign the contract, so we’ll see how that goes. I’m excited about continuing to build the program. You’re never built, it’s a never-ending process. To this point we’re proud of what we’ve accomplished but there’s a lot left out there.”
On Kansas’ quarterback Todd Reesing:
“Any successful team has to have a high-level quarterback. I have great respect for him. He’s a great competitor. He’s a guy, when things break down, he can make plays. He does it with his feet, with his arm. I am very impressed with him, I think he’s a heck of a player. With the type of offenses we run, with similar offenses, the quarterback has to be an impact player for success and he certainly is.”
On the higher number of turnovers MU has committed recently:
“The ball came out a few times. One ball was stripped but he (Chase Daniel) also had some exchange problems, they weren’t snaps, but some other things going on. We haven’t had those problems all year. When those things happen, what you do, is you go back and analyze them and fundamentally make sure they don’t happen again in practice. We’re working very hard to make sure we don’t do that again.”
On Bill Snyder’s return to Kansas State
“I’ve got great respect for him. Do I want him in the league? No, I’d rather have him doing what he was doing. He loves K-State, he has a legacy there. He is a tremendous competitor. He sees the struggles they’ve had and has decided to take over again.”
Senior QB Chase Daniel
Opening statement:
“It’s KU week so we’re excited about that and definitely excited to have the week off of school. We got to catch up on some film. This week it’s all about football, we don’t have really anything else to do but that. We’re excited about it.”
On the Missouri-Kansas rivalry:
“Right when you step on campus, when they’re recruiting you they tell you, they’re our rivals. A lot of guys are recruited by Kansas and Missouri so it’s just a big rivalry. It’s one of the oldest in the nation and its one of the closest in the nation. It’s an exciting time around here. It’s KU week, we’ve had two weeks to prepare for them and we’re excited about it, we’re ready to get out and practice tomorrow. It’s definitely one of the things you want to have on your resume; 3-0 against your rival.”
On Missouri football future:
“What Blaine Gabbert has installed for him, he has a very bright future ahead of him. I think Blaine has an upside, he’s been with this offense and he’s going to have plenty of time and opportunities to come in and get the job done. I think it will be a lot of fun next year.”
On Chase Coffman playing this weekend:
“I expect him to play, he’s looked really well in the past two practices we’ve had. We’re looking forward to it, if he can go, he can go. And I think he’ll be able to, he looks a lot better than he has in the last few weeks.”
On last year’s game against KU:
“I think all the implications that were on the line. The rankings, a Big 12 Championship appearance, a National Championship shot, Heisman Trophy stuff, I don’t think there’s ever going to be a game like that again, with the implications it had on the line. But obviously we’re up this year for it, because it has high implications for us again. We want to go into the Big 12 Championship with a lot of energy and enthusiasm and a win will definitely help that.”
On Kansas’ quarterback Todd Reesing:
“He’s a warrior, he’s getting banged up a little bit this year, but he’s still out there, still firing the football, making plays outside the pocket and doing everything he can to get his team to win and I have a lot of respect for him.”
Sophomore WR Jeremy Maclin
On Saturday’s match-up against Kansas:
“Each game gets bigger and bigger. This game is just as big, if not more important and will really test the character of this team right now.”
On Kansas’ defensive effort against highly-ranked national offenses:
“Each of those teams (Texas, Texas Tech and Oklahoma) came with a game plan and tried to find some weaknesses out there and tried to exploit them (Kansas). Hopefully we can do a little bit of the same.”
On a win for Kansas and bowl eligibility:
“Yeah, I’m pretty sure it can (change their season). It would guarantee them a bowl and hopefully we can squash all that.”
On head coach Gary Pinkel’s contract extension:
“I’m happy for him. I’m pretty sure he wanted to do that and it just proves that he’s definitely done some great things with this program and things will continue to get better.”
On feelings about going into such a weighted rivalry game:
“There are always hard feelings when those two teams go onto the field. It’s Kansas and Missouri. It’s a great rivalry game, the two teams hate each other, so we definitely want to go out there and play our best game and beat them. Its one team I can honestly say, I don’t like them.”
On the possibility of getting over-excited:
“You still have to stay poised, you still have to play football, but you still can get excited to play.”
Senior WR Tommy Saunders
On this weekend’s game in Kansas City:
“The first game I ever played in was at Arrowhead, so to be able to go out there and end it like that is going to be great. It’s a different game. You’re playing in Kansas City, where you grew up, went to Chiefs games, and going to Arrowhead. For me, all of Kearney is there, that’s what it feels like. So just to be there and play there two weeks in a row will be awesome.”
On conversations with teammate, Brock Christopher, about playing close to home:
“We talked about last year, the KU game, how it was the best game we ever played in. The whole atmosphere of the game and it being a rivalry game, it’s just a good feeling playing.”
On the rivalry:
“Anytime you play KU, it doesn’t matter if you’re 0-10 or 10-0. It’s KU, they’re coming out, they’re going to play their hardest against us and we’re going to do the same. We just have to prepare this week to get better.”
On senior tight end Chase Coffman:
“He’s been practicing real good this past week. He’s been out there running routes and doing everything. On game day, if he feels like he can go 100%, in this conference if you feel like you’re only 80%, its not good enough, so it’s just a game day type of deal. If he feels like he’s 100%, he’s going to go.”
Senior LB Brock Christopher
On the excitement going into Saturday’s game:
“If you can’t get up for this game, you shouldn’t be a Tiger.”
On last year’s KU game compared to this year:
“I remember just showing up and seeing the amount of people tailgating for that game. That’s something I’ll never forget. This year’s game is just as important. It gets us 10 wins, it’s big because it’s KU. You’re going to leave here with a win/loss record and a KU record. It’s real important to us.”
On the Jayhawks’ attitude:
“I think they’ve lost a couple close games this year. They’d like nothing more than to come in and beat us.”
On Kansas quarterback Todd Reesing:
“He’s got great elusiveness, he leads that offense. He’s a real firey guy, he’s a great leader and competitor. So we’ll just have to be sound and play sound football, that’s all you can do against a guy like that.”
Senior TE Chase Coffman
On his current physical condition:
“I’ve been doing a lot. We practiced the last two days. I’ve been doing pretty much everything, so it’s (my terf toe is) feeling a lot better. I still have just a few problems, but hopefully it will be right around 100% for the (Kansas) game.”
On missing games against Kansas State and Iowa State:
“If I was going to miss two games, those were two good games to miss I guess. We did a good job winning those (games), hopefully I’ll be ready to go. I’m ready to get back to playing with the guys.”
On the importance for Kansas to win:
“This is one thing that I think would just make their season. Whether they go to a bowl game or not probably doesn’t matter to them, as long as they beat us. I think it’s kind of the same way here. It’s a rivalry game, and one of the biggest games on our schedule, so we’ve just got to focus on that right now.”
On determining whether he’ll play or not:
“The last game against Iowa State, I was pretty close to playing. I did warm-ups and all that stuff. I followed the coaches around just to see how things were going. Once we started scoring and getting up it kind of sealed the deal that I wasn’t going to play.”
