Oct. 24, 2005
Mizzou Media Day
October 24, 2005
Head Coach Gary Pinkel
Opening Statement...
"Good afternoon, Brad Smith won two awards, a national award and a Big 12 award has certainly stated how awesome his performance was this past weekend. He (Smith) would be the first one to talk about the defense and their contributions, and certainly about his teammates and the offensive line and the others that catch balls and work with him. We're proud of Brad and his accomplishments, and that's certainly a great honor not just for him but his teammates and the University of Missouri.
We're working on Kansas, like we always do on our opponents. We're playing one of the best defenses in the United States. Without question, their numbers are very, very good and you have seen them on film and they're excellent. At an offensive stand point, they threw the ball very, very well last week against Colorado. So, it's going to be a very difficult game. We know it's a rival game. They've out played us and out coached us the last couple of years, and they won because they deserved to win, and certainly, it's a very important football game."
On whether the defense has "turned a corner" in the season...
"Well, turn the corner is a little extreme. I think we're improving on defense, and I think we are making progress and that's good. But, we just have to go out and work hard this week. Continue to practice, continue to get better, and hopefully we'll play better this week than we've played in previous weeks.
There's a little more experience playing, the more you play the better you get. If you keep working hard. I think we've simplified some things, and I think that's been good from that stand point"
On the play of David Overstreet...
"Well, he's doing a lot of good things. He had a lot of plays the other day. You certainly want to see him back there making those plays, and I'm very proud of David because he's quarterbacking in the back and works very hard. I just think the more you're back there, the better you get. The more you're back there in that space, you make better decisions and you don't have to think as much or react. I certainly think he's doing a good job."
On setting up the offensive attack...
"What we do in our offense, we have different tempos on how we run our offense. We can go up there right away or go up there and pause. There are several things that we can do without going into specifics. And we do that with most defenses, so this game was no different from any of the others. When it works, it looks good."
On the scheme of Kansas' defense...
"They are very good upfront, their line backing core is very experienced. Those three guys have been there it seems like forever. They have a good secondary, so there are reasons why they're good because of their personnel. I think we go back and look at the game plan and see what worked well on offense and what worked against the defense and breakdown vice versa, but certainly you must do what's within your scheme. You can't say that this specific team ran these plays against a defense, so let's put them in. It has to work and fit for you, at least that's what we do.
Player Quotes
On the improved play of the defense...
"I just think it's having more reps now. You get more reps, the better the team will be."
On if there was a turning point in the season so far...
"I can't really tell you if there's a turning point, but now it's just the middle of the season and everybody knows and is on top of what we should've been on top of. Now, it's just more experience and just playing hard."
On the effect of winning the previous three games...
"We believe we can win whenever we're down. But of course, having this momentum is going to help us. I think it's going to keep up as long as we're winning."
On the past few seasons playing KU...
"They've gotten ahead of us the past few years. It'd be good just to win, period. That'd be pretty good to have that on our backs."
On whether this game has more importance than some of the others...
"No, I don't think you can overlook anyone at this point. Coach Pinkel has been saying that these games are getting more important each time, especially if we are winning them. So, we definitely can't look over any team now."
On helping out with the pass blocking...
"Our protection is a big part of the offense and is pretty much the key to any offense to get pass game going. Myself and Tony Temple do our best. I'm not too worried about getting all the credit kind of offensive lineman who are the unsung heroes. We're just supporting our quarterback and our receivers. Brad always thanks us anytime we do anything."
On the key to beating Kansas offensively...
"Taking care of the football is pretty much a priority of ours, but the pass game and establishing the run game is always a key factor in the ballgame and that's pretty much what we're working on."
On taking on rival Kansas...
"Kansas is a very good team and defensive wise they have a lot of things going for them. This will definitely be a very physical game upfront. This game is definitely going to be a battle, so we just got to go out there and prepare well and execute and capitalize on the mistakes that they make."
On how Kansas runs a defense similar to Nebraska...
"Pretty much, it's going to be the same look we saw in this past week, and I mean it's definitely going to be a physical game. So, we just got to go out there and execute one play at a time. You got to look towards the future, and this game is going to be a huge one for us."
On playing KU one last time...
"I'm 2-2 right now, and this one will be a deciding factor on my chapter in college football and I'd definitely like to leave here beating them."