Oct. 13, 2003
MISSOURI HEAD COACH Gary Pinkel
on the Oklahoma Sooners:
"Oklahoma is a great football team. It's pretty remarkable to see them play. As you watch this team against a great Texas team, to see what happened in that game is pretty staggering. They have players playing at a high level at absolutely every position offensively and defensively. They lose two of their starting linebackers and it's like nothing ever happened, which is remarkable because the players they lost are great athletes. Bob Stoops and his staff deserve all the credit in the world for what he's done with that program."
on the Oklahoma passing game:
"(Oklahoma quarterback) Jason White is just playing outstanding. He releases the ball well, he's very well coached; it's fun to watch a guy like that - as long as we're not playing him. I really admire him and how he throws. His receiving core is doing an exceptional job too. I think that's something they were a little concerned about going in, but they have been improving every single week."
on the fake field goal against Nebraska:
"Bruce Walker is in charge of our field goal team. He will go through and analyze the rushes, and try to see if there's a weakness that maybe we can take advantage of. We have a game plan for each area of the kicking game. For about half the games we've gone in with a specific fake field goal play. We felt this one had a pretty good chance of working if we could get onto the right hash marks. It's not like (Sesay) was wide open, either. Sonny made a great throw, and when plays like that work, they look good."
on Brad Smith's rushing success against Nebraska:
"Every play he ran in that game was exactly the same as what he ran two weeks ago (at Kansas). There were none different. None. What we did differently was block for him. It's called blocking. That allowed him to get in to the perimeter of the defense, and when you get him there he's a natural athlete and can do things. That's the only difference - better execution."
MISSOURI SOPHOMORE QUARTERBACK Brad Smith
on Oklahoma's victory over Texas:
"They showed that they are the number one team in the country. They're playing well in all areas of the game."
on the opportunity to make mistakes against Oklahoma:
"There aren't very many. They give you very little and you have to take advantage of what they do give you."
MISSOURI JUNIOR TIGHT END Victor Sesay
on confidence gained and an upcoming challenge:
"Beating Nebraska gave me a sense of security that I can perform, and let us know as a team how we can perform against a top ten team. But we have to move on. We will have forgotten about Nebraska by tomorrow and will start focusing on Oklahoma."
MISSOURI JUNIOR FREE SAFETY Nino Williams
on Oklahoma quarterback Jason White:
"He's very composed and has a very strong arm. He's a good leader that doesn't get rattled easily, and he makes great decisions. His arm is very good."
MISSOURI JUNIOR LINEBACKER James Kinney
on a win over Nebraska:
"Getting a win was what I wanted. At halftime, I had to let my teammates know that, and what we had to do to win."
on the team's mindset for facing Oklahoma:
"It's not hard to get in the right mindset when you're looking at a team like Oklahoma. We must go out and attack. We want to be able to go in there and come out with a win."