Nov. 7, 2000

Freshman Quarterback Darius Outlaw Could you have imagined this season would have turned out this way ... "No. Not at all. We thought we were going to have a great season. We're still fighting. We're still going out there and giving it everything we've got. We're not going to give up."

On pressure this weekend ... "There is some pressure. We need to go out there and click. I made some costly turnovers last week that I should never have made. They were mental mistakes. I need to go out there and do my best, trying to make plays rather than hurt the team."

Team's personality this week ... "We feel confident every week. We just have to go out there and click like we did last week except I just need to avoid some of the turnovers. We need to let things go and make plays."

On Terrence Curry on offense ... "He's always been a playmaker to me. He's a great person on and off the field. To have him on the offensive end, catching balls and making the plays he makes helps the offense out even more. Terrence can run with the best of them. All he has to do is catch the ball, turn upfield and run. I have great receivers in Tay Jackson and Justin Gage and Terrence just adds to the mix."

On Justin Gage ... "He's actually getting a chance to get the ball in his hands and make plays. He works hard during practice. I try my hardest to get the ball to all of the guys. Justin's probably our go-to guy. If he's double-teamed, I look to "Spence" (Eric Spencer) or TC (Terrence Curry) or Blake (Dwayne Blakely). But when you know you have a guy (Gage) 6-5, 205 and who can jump out of this world and catch a ball, it's a great feeling knowing you can throw it up and he's going to get it. How often do you see a guy catch the ball five times for over 100 yards like he did last week?"

On turnovers forced by the MU defense ... "It's something else. When the defense gets a turnover, we're jumping up, saying `Let's go, let's go and score.' I don't know what it is as we try to pound it there but something keeps holding us back. We're working hard and you can see that in everyone's face. Things are coming together and I think you can see that."

Junior Linebacker Justin Smith On this week's game ... "We're playing for pride and playing to win. We do that every game and that doesn't matter if we're playing Florida State or who it is. If we play hard and play well, I think we're going to win."

Head coach Larry Smith On Colorado game ... "It came down to the three mistakes in the first quarter. The onside kick was a gamble that we lost and they got a 50-yard touchdown drive out of it. The blocked kick and the turnover added to it and put us down 21-0. Defensively, I think we played very, very well. After the first quarter, I think Colorado had 90 yards in total offense. Offensively, I thought we moved the ball but giving up the sacks took away our momentum. The key play was the turnover, the fumble, when we were going in. We had the momentum and had them reeling a bit. It was a big turnover. The kicking game cost us 11 points. We had the blocked field goal, hit the goalpost on an extra point and the blocked punt. One man blocked man instead of zone and as a result, they got a blocked kick out of it. Those things are things you can't do if you want to win a football game. Even if you rolls up 400 yards of total offense, you have to do all facets of the game well. We have to learn from it and take it into the next game.

On Baylor ... "Baylor is a team much like ourselves. They have a ton of injuries. They have five offensive starters who have been hurt. They got off to a good start but hit some pretty tough football teams. I think they've played five of the top 25 defensive football teams in the country the past five weeks. So they hit some pretty tough competition. They're a young football team, trying to grow but right now they're taking their lumps."

On Kirk Farmer's possible return ... "The x-ray looked much, much improved. He'll practice this week. We'll x-ray him again Friday before we leave. It's pretty likely both he and Darius (Outlaw) will play."

On Antoine Duncan ... "He's got good speed and breaks on the ball well. He's a very aggressive corner. He doesn't lay off a whole lot unless required to do so. He attacks the ball when he gets to it. He's made plays in terms of interceptions or breaking up screens or plays like that. One has to have a ball-hawking ability and good hand-eye coordination. Antoine has good hands, could be a receiver, good athletic ability and an ability to break on the ball."

Why Justin Gage was moved to receiver from quarterback ... "His athletic ability. He's a big body and tall. He's a tall strong guy who can jump with good hands. Obviously, anyone who can play two sports has to one heck of an athlete, which he is. He has a great understanding of the game. He could probably move back to quarterback and do a pretty good job in a certain offense. As a receiver, we saw a playmaker ability and that's what you need in this offense. I think he's had a better year than we imagined. We had to go to him a lot more in the standpoint four of the top five guys are gone. He's not just won it by that, he's done it by the fact every time we've gone to him, he's come up with a big play."

On Aaron Crittendon's return to the lineup ... "He had shoulder surgery before spring practice last year. He went through part of spring practice but something didn't feel right. The doctors checked it and had to go back in. Then he went through summer workouts but he wasn't ready to let it go yet. It took five or six weeks to get his confidence back in the shoulder. In that period of time, he was able to play in a game 5, 10 or 15 plays and his confidence gradually built up. Now, when you watch him, he doesn't hold back. It was just a matter of gaining confidence."

On Daryl Whittington's first start against Colorado ... "He had a good game. He ran and hit well. He also had a couple of batted down passes. I thought he played real well. He's done an excellent job with leadership. He's well-spoken. The kids have great respect for him because he's come up through the ranks. He's taken an exceptionally tough load in school."

On Outlaw and the opponents' pass rush ... "He can't look at the rush. If he looks at the rush, that takes time away from looking at open receivers. And there have been plenty of open receivers. It's a matter of getting comfortable back there with people coming at you. It's easy when you have three or four people coming at you but when they bring six, or maybe seven, people then you know most likely there's going to be a free man. Don't take time to find him, find the receiver and get the ball in front of him. Kirk went through the same thing. It didn't bother him the last game or last game and one-half he played as Nebraska brought the house against him and played very well."

Playing for pride ... "I think the key thing is they want to win. It's pride but it's getting back to the good feeling of winning."

Mike Hayes and this season ... "Mike's had a very good year. He's probably the most knowledgeable guy we have up front. He's a very bright football guy. He could almost coach the protection scheme. He's stepped up at a very tough time as we have one senior on offense, Joe Glauberman, and become a spoken leader. He's not afraid of the leadership role. He'll be the main leader in the future. He knows how to do it, does it well and very confident in what he's doing."