Mizzou/Buffalo Post-Game Quotes
9/20/2008 12:00:00 AM | Football
Sept. 20, 2008
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Missouri Head Coach Gary Pinkel
Opening Statement:
"First of all I'd like to compliment Buffalo. I think Coach Gill is doing a great job with that football program. I said that a week ago. They are a very well-coached team and they play hard. He's done a great job building that program. We made a lot of mistakes that I'm disappointed in. You know, you look at the statistics and you'd think it was a dominating game. Most of the mistakes we made we can improve on. Maybe it's good that you get a little adversity so you can see how you handle it. I thought we handled it pretty good but I thought we overdid the adversity with all of the turnovers, penalties and the kickoff return for a touchdown. From my standpoint as the head football coach, there's a lot of stuff that I don't like, so I've got to deal with that. I like to think I'm a pretty good coach and we're a well-coached team, but we didn't look that way out there today. Our kids battled though and they made a lot of plays, so I'm pleased with that. We've got a lot of stuff we're going to try and get done this week. I want to get my players rested, and I want them to get a jump on their academics since we've got time to get caught up there. It's time for us to start working on Nebraska. We've got coaches going out and recruiting. The bye week comes at a very good time for us. We're sitting here 4-0, we've done a lot of good things, but we've also got some things we need to improve on, so we'll continue to work on doing that."
On the three Missouri turnovers:
"I coach them so it starts with me. We work hard at that, but we obviously didn't get it done. We get inside the twenty twice, we turn the ball over. We get inside the fifty, we turn the ball over. We get out of a drive, you hit the punter. It was just a comedy of errors. If you do that too many times, you usually don't survive it. Winning is never easy, but I thought we rallied back and played good at times in the second half."
On the special teams:
"I'm a little disappointed in our kickoff and punt return teams. We've got a playmaker back there, so I'm a little disappointed in how they've been playing, so we're going to work on that. Obviously, our kickoff team gave up a touchdown, so there are a lot of things we need to get better at."
On correcting the mistakes before Nebraska:
"These aren't rocket science mistakes. It's all about focus. We've got to focus on ball security, we've got to focus on not hitting the punter, and we've got to focus on not jumping offsides. Again, give them some credit, they went out there and caused the fumbles. Those mistakes will get fixed right now. We don't need two weeks to work on them."
On the positives:
"We held them to 49-yards rushing, which is good, and only 286 yards, so that's pretty good. We've just got to focus more on both sides of the ball."
On the upcoming week:
"We'll have meetings and walkthroughs on Tuesday and Thursday and get a jump on our game planning. We'll get two more full practices than we normally would, with practice on Saturday morning and Sunday afternoon. It'll pretty much be similar to how we prepare for our first game, which is how we've always done it."
On Chase Daniel:
"He made some outstanding plays today, and got some great protection and the receivers made some great catches. He brings his A-game every time he plays. He's smart about what he does. He's like a coach out there; he knows the offense so well. He always keeps his focus."
On the possible advantage of making mistakes:
"You learn from your mistakes and you learn from adversity. Things aren't always going to go well for whatever reason, but you've got to find a way to win and battle back. All of those things can turn into positives later on."
Coach Pinkel | Buffalo Coach Turner Gill | Buffalo Players
MU Player Quotes
TE Chase Coffman
Opening Statement
"It's always good to win. We're happy for the victory, but turnovers and mental errors just killed us today and that's something that we need to get fixed. It might even have been a good thing for this game to be close like that, but we've just got to keep working to get better."
On the offense making mistakes, but still putting up numbers
"You've just got to leave it behind you, leave the turnover or mistake behind you and just go get it the next play."
How to improve after a "sloppy" game
"You go in and watch film tomorrow and see what you did wrong even if we already know. I fumbled today. I've got to keep telling myself over-and-over again to keep doing the little things right."
On the fumble
"I was just trying to fight for more yards and got the ball away from my body and got hit from behind. It's just one of those things where you've just got to do the fundamentals right every time and not think about what else you've got to do to stay in it."
On the week off
"The week off will be nice. I'll get to rest up a bit and have more time to prepare for Nebraska, so that's a good thing."
LB Brock Christopher
"We're going into Big 12 play now and that's going to be crucial. You give up big plays in a game that's crucial, that haunts you forever."
On defending the deep pass
"Imean there's been a lot of balls that have been caught deep, but we made a lot of good plays on deep balls today and Castine (Bridges) made a lot of plays. Tru (Vaughns) was on top of a lot of guys today, so yeah, we're getting better. It's just one here and one there and we've got to be able to stop it there."
On learning from today's game
"It was sloppy, whether it be the turnovers on offense or whether it be us not getting enough turnovers, or whether it be giving up the big pass plays again we've got to get it cleaned up. "
WR/KR/PR Jeremy Maclin
On the turnaround catch
"I kind of saw it, but when you're running full speed,it takes a lot to gather it, so you've just got to make a play and be a playmaker out there."
On the fumble
"It was unacceptable, all three coming from the receiving core. We're better than that and we've got to get that corrected. High-and-tight is what the coaches preach to us and that's what we've got to do."
On constantly improving
"We're going to get better every game. We're battling adversity and good teams pull through and that's what we did. We stalled drives four times because of our fault and that's 21 points."
Coach Pinkel | MU Players | Buffalo Players
Buffalo Head Coach Turner Gill
On the momentum swing after the Buffalo penalty:
"Well, we had some things going and unfortunately we had a penalty there, a chop-block, and unfortunately we had gotten a first down on that throw. I definitely think that was a determining factor in the game. There were several opportunities but again our guys played very hard. We talked about great effort, and they did that. We talked about playing physically, and they played physically. We didn't do the third thing, and that was execution. We didn't do the execution part very well. We did have some good things, it wasn't totally negative, but Missouri was the best team today."
On Missouri's offensive and defensive successes:
"I know it's a very, very potent offense. I've been there before, but I didn't necessarily compare it to the way I myself played, I was just evaluating what they had to do. They are a very explosive offense. They can make a play at any given time and make a big play. Chase Daniel today was scrambling and extending plays, and that makes it tough for any defense because they get pretty tired. I've also got to give a lot of credit to their defense. I thought that, having a pretty good offense too, we'd be able to get some more points on the board, and we did get some points, but we had one or two opportunities where we didn't capitalize."
On the considerable use of wide receiver Ernest Jackson:
"We feel very good about all three of our receivers. Naaman Roosevelt has had the most success, but with Ernest Jackson we thought he had a matchup on the one corner, we decided to attack it a couple of times and were successful in doing that. All three of our receivers, though, we feel very good about, especially Naaman and EJ when it comes to beating somebody deep, but Brett Hamlin can do that also."
On how future teams Missouri plays can learn from Buffalo's game plan:
"We'll just have to see. Everyone will just have to look at it and see what they feel is best for their team. That's a situation for their personnel and what they feel is best suited for them to win the football game. The way we played was the way we felt was the best opportunity to give us a chance to win the football game. We talked about tackling and creating turnovers and making sure players stayed in their assignment. We just wanted to run our defense, tackle and strip the ball."
On returning to Faurot Field after playing and coaching here for Nebraska:
"I'm so familiar with everything here, nothing really fazes me because I've been here so many times. I just tried to describe to the players what it was going to be like so that they could be like I am, somewhat comfortable, and just realize that it's just another football game and another football field."
Coach Pinkel | MU Players | Buffalo Coach Turner Gill
Buffalo Player Quotes
Offensive Lineman Ray Norell
On how he felt about today's game:
"We did what we had to do. We were hit-or-miss on some plays. Some plays we took it all the way, some plays we didn't."
On battling with Missouri:.
"A lot of people did not expect that. We knew we were going to come here and play as hard as we could. We hung with them for the first three-and-a-half quarters, and we couldn't hold on.
They have a lot of depth. They had a lot of guys rotating. We only have one offensive line, and I think that (depth) helps going into the fourth quarter, especially on a hot day. There is only so far we can go before people start cramping. We knew we could be there in the fourth quarter."
Kickoff Returner and Wide Receiver Ernest Jackson
On his kick return for a touchdown:
"I kept telling coach I wanted to go back there [to return]. I just got the ball and I ran with it."
On his overall feelings about the game:
"Overall, I feel good about what I have done. I am going to try to continue doing what I do. It's a tough loss. Any loss is a tough loss. We have to move on and get ready for the next game."
Quarterback Drew Willy
On Ernest Jackson:
"We have play makers on the outside, and [Ernest] Jackson had a good day today. He usually does back-up kick returns, but he started today. He did a great job today. He broke out to the right, found the hole and cleared it pretty fast. Just because he is 6-2 and 215 (pounds), he can still run with the best of them."
On Naaman Roosevelt:
"We wanted to give him a little break. He has a lot of responsibilities."
On the injury to his hand:
"I injured it [his hand] this week in practice. It kind of got pushed back on the turf. It didn't affect me. It was my left hand."
Defensive Back Josh Thomas
On his mindset of the game:
"My coach told me, `you play how you practice.' I happened to be in the right spots at the right times. I guess it's an okay performance."
On his thoughts regarding the game:
"We were playing a lot of cover-two. They were the better team today. We have a lot of work to do, and right now we're thinking about the next game."
His thoughts about the upcoming game against Central Michigan:
"I feel great about my team. We came out and we finished. We played them like any other team we would. If anything, I trust my players. I'm excited about this season still, and I'm looking forward to the next game."
