Illinois v. Missouri
8/30/2003 12:00:00 AM | Football
Recap?|? Box Score?|? Notes?|? Photo Gallery
Missouri Head Coach Gary Pinkel
opening statement:
"First of all, I have to say I can't believe I do this as a living. I'm very proud of my football team. It was a fery emotional game because of the rivalry status of it. I think Illinois is a very good football team, they did a great job against our offense for most of the game, and stifled us often. We were fortunate a couple of times to come up with some drives when we needed them. I certainly want to give credit to Illinois, they did a great job. We were just fortunate enough to win the football game. I'm very happy for my players and staff. We've developed character and the toughness that I think is necessary to win in the fourth quarter. I think we learned a lot of that a year ago, and maybe some of it is starting to pay off. I'm very happy for Mizzou fans, I know this game is huge for them. It is emotional and the rivalry is big. It got started with basketball and gets bigger every year."
on the keys to the game
"We did the things when we needed drives, but that's not very good. It wasn't a very good offensive performance overall, and we need to get better than that. The good news, is that it's nice to go back and try and improve after coming off of a win. It's a lot easier. Illinois did a great job. They were able to stop our running game when we came up front and we just couldn't get into a rhythm. If you keep an offense off their rhythm, especially us because we are a momentum driven offense, we like to execute and make big plays and for the most part today they were difficult to get in. We've got a lot of work to do."
on the defense's improvement:
"Our defense held them to field goals and one touchdown, that's not bad defense. We had five new players start start in their first Division I game this afternoon. We gave up a big play in the end but personnel wise
I think we're much better than we have been. Now we just need to get really good."
on Brad Smith's performance:
"I thought he did OK. When he threw out of bounds there in the end I have to say I was in shock. He's a smart guy, a very sharp guy, and he just wanted to protect the football. He thought he saw a couple of guys open, but didn't want it to get picked. But, what we had told him is was to don't throw inside the clock. We wouldn't have had to face those last eight or nine seconds where we had to force a time out. When you get in that situation it's all clock. Everything we do is timed down for the clock. It was huge when he took it out of bounds and stopped the clock, if not they would have had to take a time out later. Did he make some big plays? Yes, he's a big play-maker. They stifled us on offense but when push came to shove he was able to step up and come through. And, that's what good players do."
Quarterback Brad Smith
on the offense's production at the end of the game
"We kind of struggled early on. Our offense was starting to get first downs, then on that last drive, we were finally able to put it together for the last important score."
on handling the ball the majority of the time on the last drive
"That was the coach's call. He told me when I was going out there that they were going to put the ball in my hands, and that's how I like it. I just thank God I was able to help the team out."
Offensive tackle Rob Droege
on the importance of that first win
"This was a big jumping off point. The sky's the limit at this point. It was a confidence builder. We didn't play the best on offense. We have a lot to improve on, but that's the nice thing about it."
on pulling out the win in the final quarter
"That's something that Coach Pinkel stresses. It's one of those confidence things we have from all those hard workouts this summer and all the heat we've been through. So, when we get to the fourth quarter, we know we're alright."
Strong safety Nino Williams
on Illinois taking the lead early in the fourth quarter
"We had some adversity there, but you have to fight through that adversity. When we fought through that adversity, it brought us together. With that being in the first game, that's going to help us down the line."
on the defense ending the Illini's final drive and the game
"The offense took care of business, and we put it (the game) in our hands. And, we took care of business.
Tight end J.D. McCoy
on his snap on the two-point conversion
"Actually, that was my second time doing that. My first snap since I was a true freshman against K-State. It was still a little nerve wracking. Now, I know how Ricker feels everytime."
Center A.J. Ricker
on the two-point conversion play
"That was a real cool play. We practice it, but I never thought we'd use it. But, it came in clutch today.
Illinois Head Coach Ron Turner Quotes
On Missouri
"The first thing I want to do is congratulate Missouri, they've got a good football team and they came in and made no mistakes and made plays when they needed to make them."
On feelings about the loss
"We'll bounce back from it. I really believe we are going to be a good football team. I'm disappointed, obviously, with the score. We played our hearts out and did some good things and need to clean up some things. It hurts. When you play this hard and care very much about a team, it hurts."
On Illinois' mistakes during the game
"We made mistakes and they didn't. They took advantage of opportunities and we didn't and that was the difference."
On E.B. Halsey
"He's a football player. He is a tremendous competitor, very smart, a very versatile kid, and he is a winner. We are going to win a lot of football games with E.B. and a lot of other guys we have on the field."
About call to go for it on 4th and One
"I felt confident. I felt confident on two things. First that we would make it obviously, and if we didn't we'd stop them and get the ball back which is exactly what happened. We got it back with great field position and went down and scored."
Missouri Player Quotes
Missouri Center A.J. Ricker
On the final drive
"It just started going our way, and the offensive line got a mindset that we had to put this game on our shoulders, and we got it done."
On the two-point conversion
"We practiced it and I never thought we'd use it, but sure enough, it came in clutch today. When we ran that 'Polecat,' I was shocked it came up to help us.
On TE J.D. McCoy, who snapped the two-point conversion
"In practice he makes me critique him on his snaps and he does a good job. He got it when it counted."
On Missouri's offensive inconsistency
"We struggled early on. I don't know if we weren't mentally prepared, but we've got to get it done. We can't do that anymore. We've got to watch film and learn from this game, and get better."
Missouri Defensive Lineman Zach Ville
On Missouri's defense
"We played like a fist. If that fist opens, you aren't going to play as tough as a balled fist. That's the idea: to play like a balled-up fist."
Missouri Cornerback Dedrick Harrington
On the fatigue factor
"As much as we prepared, we were mentally focused and ready to go."
On Missouri's defensive performance
"As a unit, we stayed together today. Everybody was together and we worked as hard as we could today. I knew it was going to be tough. We knew it was going to be a fight coming in. With as good a team as Illinois is, they were going to bring it to us. They were going to bring their 'A' game, so we had to pick it up in the fourth quarter and bring ours. We're taking too long to get started, but we picked it up in the long run. The first downs are going to have to get picked up a little bit. We let them drive down and kick field goal after field goal. We've got to get some stops out there and get off the field a little faster. Our chemistry worked well. Things didn't always go our way, but we stayed together."
Missouri Quarterback Brad Smith
On his team depending on him
"That was the coaches call. They told me they were going to put it in my hands, and that's where I like to have it. If my team needed me to make something happen, I wanted it to be in my hands."
On the third-and-three pass when he threw the ball out of bounds
"I threw the ball away and stopped the clock and gave them an opportunity to win the game."
On the offense
"We executed well. Hopefully we'll open it up a little more. I think the offense played well as a whole, we just need to make more big plays."
On the importance of the win
"It shows how much character we have. I'm glad that happened to us today. It gave us a big push to know we can do something like that. It's something we can be excited about and build on when it comes down to it. We can make plays and that we know we're going to score when we need it."
On the two-point conversion
"We work on it all the time. That's something that coaches draw up at midnight when they're by themselves."
On why Missouri won
"It was determination. The whole game we were doing the right things with the football and making good decisions, we just kept telling them to stay with it, do what you do, execute out offense and it's going to happen."
Illinois Player Quotes
FB Carey Davis
On coming back from his injury...
"On Monday after the surgery, I could walk so I felt that I was going to be able to play. I would not have played if I could not play my best and contribute to the team performance."
On new faces in the starting lineup...
"Everybody did their part today, we just have to finish drives and score touchdowns, rather than settling for field goals."
RB Ibrahim Halsey
On feeling confident in the second half...
"Coach Turner gave me the ball in practice which gave me confidence going into the game. I would rather have the ball in the clutch. The older guys made it a lot easier for me today."
On gaining something from the loss...
"With a loss you always want to gain something, I think that we learned something about ourselves today, we will improve every week throughout the season."
QB Jon Beutjer
On E.B. inspiring the team...
"I think that very first long run he had really got himself pumped, in which the team responded, and everyone increased their intensity."
On the final drive...
"We had been running the two minute drill since practice started. We scored almost every time in practice, and when we got down inside the 30 I felt confident we would score, but we just did not finish it."
LB Matt Sinclair
On the last touchdown by Missouri...
"It was the best they moved on us all day, they executed when they had to and the little things beat us on that drive."
On the failed punt attempt...
"They sent a guy off the corner and we honored our rules to protect the inside because nine out of ten times the guy on the corner will not have enough time to reach the punter. That punt just happened to be one of those times."
DE Derrick Strong
On Missouri making offensive adjustments
"We did not reach very well, they saw we were blitzing a lot, and they adjusted by running more screens and draws, and we did not make the right adjustments to counter."
