Missouri Football Media Day Quotes
11/10/2003 12:00:00 AM | Football
Nov. 10, 2003
MISSOURI HEAD COACH Gary Pinkel
on the Texas A&M Aggies:
"They just came off the Oklahoma game, and like everyone that plays Oklahoma that's often not a very good experience. It wasn't a good one for us. They are a very good, very balanced offensive team. They average almost 200 passing and 200 rushing yards a game. They have a lot of young players, including some freshmen, playing on defense. They have good football players."
on Brad Smith's ability to rebound from a four turnover game:
"There's a natural concern, but he's got to be aggressive. We want him to be aggressive. His production was probably as good as it's been for a long, long time. He threw about 69% completions for 280 yards. Obviously, he had some critical errors, but I'll take a little bit of blame for that. I was brought up in this business not allowing a player to reach out with the ball for a first down or for the endzone. Since I've been here, I've allowed it, and a few times it's been a positive. That won't ever happen again from another Missouri football player - it's over with. I allowed it, it stung us, and that's my responsibility."
on Aggies quarterback Reggie McNeal:
"He's a great player. He's got great quickness and speed, and certainly he's a guy that can put a lot of pressure on us. He's a great athlete. We have a player like him on our football team so we understand what he means to them. He's certainly going to mature. I'm afraid of him this year, so I can't imagine what he'll be like for the next two years."
on A&M first year head coach Dennis Franchione:
"It's a new program. I've been there - it's a whole different thing. Coach Franchione is as good of a coach as there is in the whole country, and he'll build a great program there. I was kind of disappointed when he came into our league, because we already had a lot of great coaches and we didn't need another one."
on Damien Nash:
"I think it's probably been a very frustrating year for Damien. He'll watch what he says, because he wants to be a team player, but I think he's got to be frustrated. Here's a guy that was a superstar in high school, and the field was his canvas. He could go out there and do about anything he wanted to do. When you have major knee surgery, miss two and a half years and then jump into this level, there are lots of uncertainties. You've seen him slowly get better and better."
MISSOURI JUNIOR WIDE RECEIVER Thomson Omboga
on Texas A&M rebounding from a 77-0 loss to Oklahoma:
"They want to come out and prove that they're a better team then last week's score showed, so they're going to come at us with their best game, and we're going to give them our best game."
on this weekend's Kansas State-Nebraska game:
"In the back of my mind I have interest in it, because if one team loses that could help our goal of winning the Big 12 North. But we don't want to be out there and focusing on a different game, we want to focus on playing Texas A&M."
MISSOURI SOPHOMORE QUARTERBACK Brad Smith
on making changes to his game after four turnovers at Colorado:
"I'm not going to change anything I'm doing. I just need to keep playing hard, and not change anything. If, at some point, that happens again then we'll see what I'll do. But I don't plan on that happening again."
on expectations for this week's game with Texas A&M:
"You expect their best shot. A lot of people come here and want to beat us. Especially with what happened last year, I'm sure they're looking forward to coming here and getting revenge. I'm sure it'll be a tough game."
MISSOURI SOPHOMORE TAILBACK Damien Nash
on changing his running style since arriving at Missouri:
"My style hasn't changed too much. The only thing that's changed is my patience. I've gotten more patient and learned to wait and watch things develop."
on the season:
"I wouldn't say that it's been frustrating. It hasn't been a year that I expected, but there have been some good things. We've got a winning record, so it hasn't been frustrating."
MISSOURI REDSHIRT FRESHMAN ROVER Dedrick Harrington
on Texas A&M quarterback Reggie McNeal:
"I know he is an awesome athlete. He is like Brad and it helps because we have a good feel for what he will do. It will be a great challenge for us as a unit."
on preparing for Reggie McNeal:
"We have to prepare not to stop a typical quarterback, but rather to stop an athlete. It will take all 11 guys in the guys on the field to stop him."
MISSOURI REDSHIRT FRESHMAN DEFENSIVE END Brian Smith
on the Texas A&M offense:
"We just want to step up and stop the run. Our goal is really to make them throw the ball."
on coming off a loss at Colorado:
" No matter what the score a loss is still a loss. We now want to come out here and show people what we are capable of and get a win."
on Texas A&M after losing to Oklahoma:
"I know coming off a loss like that one you do not want to loose again. We need to match their intensity to get another win."
