Sept. 3, 2007
Missouri Head Coach Gary Pinkel
Opening statement
"Good afternoon. I'll start with an injury update. Danario Alexander has a fractured wrist and is expected to be out for four to five weeks. He may possibly get a hard cast put on. Chase Daniel is OK and Marcus Woods will hopefully be ready to go this weekend.
"Ole Miss is coming off a good road win against Memphis. I'm impressed with the defense. They forced turnovers. The quarterback, (Seth) Adams, is a very outstanding and impressive player. This weekend should be a challenge. We have many things to work on before Saturday."
On cleaning up the errors made against Illinois:
"We need to limit the number of errors we make. There were a lot of plays I was disappointed in and a lot of mental errors. We didn't play well and I'll take responsibility for that. We need to prepare better. We were not as focused as we should be. The errors we made are fixable by this weekend. The players felt the urgency to play better, we found a way to win in the fourth quarter and that's what good teams do, find a way to win."
On the play of Jeremy Maclin and Pig Brown last week:
"Maclin, coming off the knee surgery, played with a lot of energy. He handled the pressure well. And he'll get better. He is an impact player. Pig Brown has proven to be a strong leader, with good character and is an impressive athlete."
On handling the environment of a road game with first true road trip coming up this weekend:
"Good teams win on the road. I don't worry about the environment. We need to prepare well and play our best. That's where our focus needs to be."
Missouri Junior Quarterback Chase Daniel
On if the mental errors on Saturday were due to it being the first game of the season:
"I think so. We haven't played a competitive game in eight months. You're going to see that with any team in America. Just look at Michigan losing to Appalachian State at home or Texas barely beating Arkansas State. It's just getting into the groove again, getting playing time in, and you're going to see those numbers improve. I think there are obviously always some mental errors, but that comes with the first game. I think a lot of media people are taking it way out of context. But the fact that we won, and Missouri can win these type of games, if indeed we do get into a shootout, then it's a positive."
On the hit he took causing him to miss a play in the second half:
"It was a pretty big hit, but it was good to get a little hit in me. That was really the first one where I was really loopy and just stayed down."
On if he was surprised by Illinois' at all:
"No, we knew exactly what they were going to do. It's the first game, we're going to have some mistakes. Again, I think a lot of people are getting away from the fact that we won. They were probably the fastest rushing D-line that I've ever seen in college, with the exception of Oklahoma."
Missouri Senior Saftey Pig Brown
On if he's realized how big of a game he had on Saturday against Illinois:
"It was great. There aren't many guys who have two fumble recoveries and an interception to seal the victory. That's what great teams do, though. They have guys step up and make big plays."
On making a statement in the first game:
"I thing we did a good job of letting everyone know that the safeties are not going to be the weak spot on the defense this year."
On the attitude of the defense as Illinois cut into the lead:
"What happened, happened. It's in the past now. When you have a big lead like that, you don't want to let it slip away. But when you have a great team like Illinois, big plays are going to happen."
On the next time Mizzou has a lead in a game:
"If we get another big lead, I think we'll try take it one play at a time. We'll try to hold them and not put our offense where they have to come out and try to match the score. So, I think we'll try our best to hold on to it."