Mizzou/Furman Post-Game Quotes
9/19/2009 12:00:00 AM | Football
Sept. 19, 2009
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MU Players | Furman Coach Bobby Lamb | Furman Players
Missouri Head Coach Gary Pinkel
Opening Statement:
"First off, I thought Furman really battled well. He (Furman Head Coach Bobby Lamb) has done a great job with them and playing within their league. Coach Lamb used to play football for Furman and he's done a remarkable job with this program."
Regarding the first half:
"We had pretty good focus and execution overall. We started a little slow on offense again, which was disappointing. We made some big plays though later on. I was a little disappointed on our run block in the first half. Overall, we got more focused and played better as a football team as the half went on."
Regarding the second half:
"In the second half with that kind of lead, we didn't play as good as defense and we started making substitutions on both sides of the football. We got to play a lot of players. We're real excited about being 3-0 and our goal is always to be undefeated in these non-conference games."
On Jared Perry and Danario Alexander's contributions so far:
"They've both had their injuries and tough times. JP and Danario came in their freshman year and some of the plays they made, especially against Kansas, were very impressive. They both have had their ups and downs in their career, but they have turned into big time players."
On Blaine Gabbert:
"I was really excited about what he did today. He's got a lot of things going for him right now and he's very prepared for his first road game next week at Nevada."
Overall performance from the team today:
"The defense forced a couple turnovers today, which was very good. The offense did a great job attacking all game. Win or lose we're always looking to improve our game. Obviously, it's more fun to practice during the week following a win."
Coach Pinkel | Furman Coach Bobby Lamb | Furman Players
MU Player Quotes
Senior WR Jared Perry
On his touchdown reception:
"I told him (quarterback Blaine Gabbert) that if I'm wide open like that, just throw it where I can catch it."
On his opinion of Missouri quarterback Blaine Gabbert:
"I would say he is (ready for the season), if we just tell him to calm down, make plays and keep doing what he's doing. He's got a whole team of guys here for him that are going to keep fighting for him."
On what he says to motivate himself:
"I tell that to myself everyday, that we've got to keep doing plays and pushing forward."
On his contribution to the team:
"I think of myself as a playmaker. I just go out there and try to make plays."
Junior LB Andrew Gachkar
On going into the road game against Nevada:
"It's going to be a huge task, especially since it's on ESPN. They're a tough team. You know they've got everyone coming back and they have a good quarterback coming back. We're definitely going to be tested there. "
On the improvement of Missouri's defense today:
"We got off on the third downs a lot. We did better against the rush, besides that one big play, where they had a reverse and three on top. I think we did well and we handled the ball."
Freshman DE Jacquies Smith
On Missouri's win:
"It was a good game and the defense came through. We had a nice performance. It turned out pretty good. "
On his interception return:
"It was crazy. I went to sleep about halfway through the interception. I kept seeing the running back flashing in my face and I kept thinking what was going to happen. It took me two times to get a stab and grab. When it hit my hands, I felt very confident. I think I have nice speed. I kind of saw him (the cornerback) out of the corner of my eye but I knew I was going to get there. "
On his touchdown after the interception:
"They (his teammates) told me to act like I'd been there. I was very excited. It was tough (to act like he had been there before)."
Coach Pinkel | MU Players | Furman Players
Furman Head Coach Bobby Lamb
On Missouri's big plays:
"We have a young secondary and I think they got welcomed to college football today. Certainly the two things we couldn't do, we couldn't cover their offense and we couldn't stop the big plays. We gave up big plays in the first half and every time it looked like we had good plays we were half a step away. Missouri made a lot of plays and we couldn't get to them."
On his team's play today:
"Certainly the players were upset. We were stopped on our first two drives and we had a couple of mishaps on offense. We were going toe to toe with them and then it all snowballed after that deep pass. The whole key is we couldn't get enough pressure on them. Their offensive line is huge and they outweigh our guys. We couldn't get pressure, which made it tough for our corners. We learned a lesson today, I was very proud of the way we battled today in the second half. I told them at halftime there was only one thing we could do, we could try to win the second half."
On this game's effect on the season:
"This is a game I'm glad we had early. We go back into conference next week and our conference is very difficult. However we won't be outsized or outmanned in a lot of positions. I told them at half time that a game like this would show what type of team we are. If we go out there and do what were supposed to do and get after it like we know how to do, then we're going to have a championship team on our hands. But if we start letting it add up we're going to be in a lot of trouble as a football team. I'm proud of what happened in the second half because it told me a lot about our team, that we're going to compete and have a good season."
Coach Pinkel | MU Players | Furman Coach Bobby Lamb
Furman Player Quotes
Senior Quarterback Jordan Sorrells
On second-half play:
"We fought hard, we put up a good effort. We really won the second half. We made a lot of mistakes in the first half. It was a little bit of a different ballgame there in the first half. We came back and fought and we've got to pick ourselves back up and go play the Southern Conference next week."
On playing in the Southern Conference:
"In the grand scheme of things, all of our goals are still in reach. (Our goals are) to win the Southern Conference and the Southern Conference championship and a national championship. Not to take anything away from this game, because every game is important and we want to win them, but we've got to go out and play some good football next week to meet our goals."
On playing Missouri:
"They're a good team. They're a really good football team. They're really fast and have an athletic defense. They're doing a great job on offense. They do a great job of getting the ball to playmakers. We didn't execute very well in the first half. I think the game would have been a little bit different had we done that."
Junior Rover Max Lerner
On the loss to Missouri:
"We're obviously disappointed, but we've got to come out and make a bigger statement than that. Things just went wrong in the first half and we dug ourselves a hole and couldn't really get out of it. We've just got to move on."
On the challenge of coming to Missouri to play a Division I program:
"That was a little bit tougher than we thought. When we first came out there, we were stopping them. They were running a bunch of stuff we'd seen on tape. And then, they just gave us a bunch of different looks and a bunch of different breakaways, and it kind of, it was a lot different that we had thought."
On winning the second half:
"At halftime we didn't give up. We knew the game was getting out of hand. We knew we had to win the second half. So we just wanted to go out there and win the second half. We wanted to learn something from this game and take it back to conference play next week."
