Quotes from Coach Gary Pinkel
10/1/2001 12:00:00 AM | Football
Oct. 1, 2001
On this week's opponent Oklahoma State: They're (Oklahoma State) certainly a much improved football team than a year ago. I'm very impressed with them on film. Offensively they have some weapons. Their quarterback Pogi is really an excellent player. He's a sophomore and started 6 games a year ago. He's got good size, he's athletic, and he can run. I'm very impressed with such a young guy. The quarterback Tatum Bell is also a young player, a sophomore, but he has excellent quickness. They have Woods, a wide receiver. I'm very impressed with the weapons they have. I'm very impressed with their defense overall. I thought their defense played exceptionally well. In looking and analyzing film, it's very obvious that they are playing a much improved defense. Certainly it (the game) will be a challenge like every game is. We are going to start perpetrations tomorrow, our normal preparations, that we do for every game.
On quarterback Kirk Farmer: He's (Farmer) has got to play. He's missed so much work that he has to play. I thought he played really well the first half overall, also considering the limited amount of practice he has had. He missed some throws in the second half. He did some good things executing the game plan protecting the football and those types of things. I thought his feel got a little tired, and his feet got fundamentally broke down a little bit in the second half. He won't deny that, which is good, and I want him to. I think he's capable of being a very good quarterback, and he's our starter.
On dealing with a loss: I have a passion for winning, and I absolutely despise losing. I think if you start evaluating the team that you play and start giving yourself excuses for why you lost the game that's not very good for our football team. That's not how I want my players to think, or to act, or to react. I felt bad about that game more than any other game I ever lost. There's never a good loss. There's never a moral victory. There's never a, we played against the 4th ranked team in the country and we played a good half. We're not going to do that. We're never going to have that attitude.
On building a program: I could sit here and talk 3 hours about building a program. You got to recruit, you got to build the program, you got to change attitudes, you got to change habits. You got to get bigger, stronger, and quicker. I could go on and on and on. That's the program that everyone puts in. I think some programs are more difficult to build than others depending upon the circumstances. I take it day by day. I said when I got here at my press conference that it was going to take a lot of energy. I knew that. But I still don't have to like it when things go wrong.
Evaluating players that are playing new positions this year: You take Antwaun Bynum, Keith Wright, Dan Davis, Gary Anthony, Kevin Johnson, and Tauras Ferguson. They're all playing different positions. They never played their positions before, and that's not real smart to do that. As a coach, program wise, to have guys that have never played a position before playing spring football and then going out and playing in games. I've been pleased with their progress. I think they're getting better, and in this past game, we gave up just a couple big plays which you can't do against anybody let alone a great team like Nebraska. But, as I said, I am very pleased with all of their progress thus far.
