Nov. 15, 2010
Head Coach Gary Pinkel
Injury Update:
"Will Ebner, we thought he was going to be able to play last week and he didn't. He still has a sprained neck. We're going to see how it goes, but hopefully we get him back. Kevin Rutland had a strain in the other side of his back and he's probable. Luke Lambert will be out this game again."
On playing Iowa State: "Iowa State's really good football coach, Paul Rhodes, has done a really good job with that program in a short amount of time. They're a football team that beat Texas, they're a team that went to the last play against Nebraska, a team that dominated us. So it's certainly going to be a challenge for us."
On the bounce-back performance by the offense:
"You try things if you're having some struggles, you try some new things. But the reason we played better was because we blocked better, we threw the ball better, we caught the ball better, we made better decisions and we're a better focused football team. So you can throw all the stuff you want in there, bottom line is it's more about preparing and playing well. The execution was better, for the most part."
On letting Kansas State get back in the game late:
"We had a 24-point lead, thought we lost our focus. And that just tells you the story that obviously I'm not coaching well enough or we're not mature enough yet. It's a work in progress to become a better football team. What happens is when you look at the scoreboard your focus changes. When your focus changes that's not very good."
On tight end Michael Egnew being named a John Mackey award semifinalist:
"It was pretty cool. You know, you see the tough catches he makes. Talk about being in traffic and making plays, talk about a guy that is a completely different player than he was a year ago. And that's just through time. It's like any player, if you're a good athlete, eventually, if you work hard, you're going to develop into a real good player. So, I'm excited for him. That's certainly a great honor to be in a select group of tight ends around the country. Hopefully he will continue to play well, but he's a heck of an athlete and a big athlete that can make plays."
On the amount of injuries this year, especially at linebacker:
" I've never really had a position like that since I've been coaching. I guess when I was at Toledo one year, I think 1996, we lost our top three running backs for a significant amount of time. Other than that I've never really faced anything like this. It is a very difficult position to play and it's not like you can stick a guy in and just have two or three things to do and know what to do and go do it and play the game."
T.J. Moe, WR
On Wes's block on Saturday:
"We set a goal at the beginning of the year that we wanted to get three big hits a game as a receiving group and we've really under achieved at that this year. But this past game I think we got four. Jerrell (Jackson) had two and Wes (Kemp) had two or three. That's what we look for out of our wide receivers. We take a beating, half the time we go across the middle and we just get clocked. That's part of the job but there are times we get the opportunity to give it back and we want to take advantage of that and we feel like we have a pretty physical group of wide receivers if we choose to be and that's an attitude we try to take."
Blaine Gabbert, QB
On Iowa State:
"They don't blitz a lot. They kind of do their stuff, take coverage, and make you drive and you have to execute your offense at high level to score points against them."
On T.J. Moe being a folk hero at Mizzou:
"He's done some pretty great things this year but he's only going to keep getting better. He's a sophomore, he's still young and his career is still young. I'm looking forward to when I'm gone, and he's a senior here. He's going to be a leader of this team."
On Iowa State's quarterback being out for this game:
"It's definitely more difficult because you don't know (the backup's) tendencies, the type of reads he uses. Does he use one receiver or does he use multiple reads? So we have to pick up the things that we can from the film that we have and it definitely is kind of difficult to do that."
On linebackers helping him transition from safety: "Well of course they help, especially from their experience. Gachkar helps me out a lot. Of course they can help out a lot, anything they can tell me out on the field or in practice will help tremendously."
i>On needing to gain weight for linebacker position:
"No I didn't think I needed to get bigger. I'm 212 and Gachkar and Zaviar (Gooden) are about 225. I just know I have to use my quickness inside there and don't let the lineman get their hands on me because if they did it would be over."
On safeties giving him trouble for the position switch:
"They give me jokes every day. After team meetings I don't walk into the safety room anymore so they are like `don't be late to Coach Steck's meeting'. They give me a lot of stuff but I asked them the other day if they miss me in there and they said yes so I feel good about that."
Michael Egnew, TE
On what contributes to his success:
"All of my teammates getting it done. Blaine getting it done, all of the offensive line getting it done. All I have to do is catch the ball so my job is the easy part."
On learning from former Mizzou tight ends:
"Well Coffman, I used to look at him play, he was a calm player. He would just stay calm the whole time. He was calm and confident. And then Rucker, I used to see him and he used to run so hard. So I try to take up running hard, too."
On Iowa State:
"They are good, it's going to be a tough game. It's going to be cold and they're going to be ready but so are we so it's going to be a good game."
On confidence after the Kansas State game:
"It's good to be back on top with a win. So were just going to keep our confidence up and go into this game again how we felt before the last game with pure confidence and knowing what we can do."
On the importance of blocking:
"It might be just as important as running. Blocking downfield, that's where the big plays happen. We're responsible for that, the plus-10 plays blocking down field and all of that."
On being named a Mackey Award semifinalist:
"It's an honor to be mentioned amongst these names. These guys are great athletes out there, all the tight ends out here, they're all great athletes. It's just an honor to be mentioned amongst them and especially former Mizzou tight ends like Chase and Rucker.
Aldon Smith, DE
On nickname between Jacquies and himself:
"We don't have one right now. We're thinking about something right now because we heard someone call us the Smith Brothers. But no, we have to find something cool so we got to think of something."
On help from other defensive ends:
"I think it makes a difference. Whoever is not getting double-teamed, it makes their job easier. So if I'm not getting doubled-teamed or if Brad (Madison) isn't getting double-teamed, or whoever is left open on one-on-one, it increases your chances of getting to the quarterback."
Wes Kemp, WR
On his big block against Kansas State:
"It's just a part of the offense. You catch balls, you block, you just have to love it all. You just lick your chops when you see something like that open up. You have to do whatever it takes for this team to win. And if you don't block this team doesn't work. So that's just part of being a receiver, and just part of being a player on offense."