Mizzou / Kansas State Post-Game Quotes
11/17/2007 12:00:00 AM | Football
Nov. 17, 2007
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Coach Gary Pinkel
Opening statement...
"I thought Kansas State played well. I told my players five weeks ago that, if you want to take a run at this, you have to understand there isn't going to be anything easy about it. We respect Kansas State and how they played and the trouble they caused us. But that being said, I thought we overcame some adversity. We got three turnovers to none. I thought we played better in the second half. We did the necessary things, and I'm real proud of our team. We're 10-1 and still going."
On how he got his team to stay focused before next week...
"I don't know that I did. I would like to think I did, but we never talked about it. I also knew that there's no way in the world that you're going to win a game like this if you're thinking about somebody else. You're not going to have a chance. Kansas State is just too good and the Big 12 is just too tough. Now they can talk about it and I think they're excited about it."
On next week's game...
"We're excited about the opportunity. That place is going to be wild. That's going to be a lot of fun. They're one of the undefeated teams in the country, they're playing great football, and we're obviously great rivals. It doesn't get better than that."
On this becoming a magical season...
"I think it's wise just to focus on the task at hand. I know that isn't the right answer you want to hear, but I think it gives you the best chance. We'll settle down and we know it's going to be a huge game, but the bottom line is you have to settle down and do your best. I didn't think overall that we played our best game today. I thought at times we did, but in order to compete against Kansas, that's where I suggest our focus should be."
Missouri Player Quotes
Senior Running Back Tony Temple
On the Kansas game next Saturday...
"It is a pretty big game. We haven't been thinking about it at all, I promise. I can't wait to go back to Kansas City, it is going to be fun. It has to be up there with the Ohio State-Michigan or the Oklahoma-Texas rivalry. With the success that we keeping gaining throughout the years it is going to be like that."
On the risk of overlooking Kansas State...
"You can't think about Kansas because K-State is a great team; they are really good. We respected them until the clock struck zero. They played great and now we can focus on Kansas."
On Missouri's halftime adjustments...
"Sometimes it is just one thing you have to correct and everything goes fine. It's all about communication. This team is really good at being calm and keeping their composure and communicating. We did that at halftime and it showed in the second half."
Junior Quarterback Chase Daniel
On Missouri's win today...
"It's going to be an unbelievable atmosphere. I don't even know who we played this week, it's over with. I don't even care about anything; we won, that's all that matters. Kansas, Kansas, Kansas, we can finally worry about it. We didn't let this team worry about it until now. It was out there but coach Pinkel did a great job at focusing on the task at hand, which was K-State."
On freshman wide receiver Jeremy Maclin...
"Unbelievable, I think he had 360 total yards. He broke the freshman record and all sorts of (records). He's an unbelievable guy. He's open a lot and we want to give him the ball as much as we can."
Kansas State Head Coach Ron Prince
Opening statement...
"Losing a game is no excuse for being a jerk and I want to make sure that I don't ever do that. I want to give Missouri credit. I thought a year ago, we had an opportunity to play three teams that legitimately had a chance at the National Championship - Louisville, Rutgers and Texas. I clearly feel after today, that we played a team that has a legitimate chance from a talent standpoint, an organizational standpoint to win the National Championship.
"With that said, we made mistakes - physical mistakes, youthful mistakes at times, mistakes of being a little bit cautious. We have to be very aggressive and we have to play real well, have to create a lot of momentum and make some plays to beat a team like this team.
"If you would have told me before the game that we would have a chance to hold Missouri to less than 50 percent on third down and have a real balance in the time of possession, I would have felt pretty good about our opportunities. Unfortunately, the mistakes that we did have were really critical.
"I want to thank all the fans for their support this year, today in particular. I thought the attendance was terrific. I thought they were very much behind us and waiting for us to perform in such a way to make this the kind of environment that we know it is, it can be very difficult. We just didn't do enough to validate them today. They've been terrific all year. We're going to go on the road for one last game. We have a chance to win it, we have a chance to play on. If we can do that, then we'd like to reward our fans with an opportunity to play in the postseason.
"It was very disappointing, this loss today. The way that the third quarter transpired with some mistakes by our most veteran players - that really hurt us, I was very disappointed for them. I was confident that they would be able to play and make these plays that they were in a position to make, but Missouri made theirs. They're a terrific team. I was really disappointed with the fact that we couldn't protect our quarterback better. He wasn't able to have the kind of day that we would have liked, he wanted to have, we needed him to have. We had an effort by James Johnson (and it was really unfortunate that we lost the game) because that's the kind of effort you'd like to see validated by winning the game.
"We did some nice things today, but against a great time like this you can't do a couple nice things. You've got to do a lot of things right. That's my responsibility as a coach and we've got to get it done. I take the blame for that. I really liked how the players bounced back in practice this week. I liked how they responded and came out and played the game even though the game was about as ugly of a game in the first half as you could ever imagine. They kept scrapping and fighting and I was really proud of that effort. We blocked a punt in response to a return so we started to show some of that grit and battle in there. Down the stretch it's the same in every game when you watch these guys on tape. Teams hang with them, hang with them, hang with them, then what happened to us has happened to previous opponents.
"This is a terrific team. Coach (Gary) Pinkel has done a great job. He's got my vote for coach of the year for sure. I don't think anyone can question the type of team he's put together. I've got a lot of respect for him and how he does things and his coaching staff and the team that they have. At the same time, I thought we could come out here today and stand toe-to-toe with them and win the game. We did not do that, my hat is off to them. This is clearly the best team that we've played so far this year. That's a team that we aspire to have and then defeat someday."
