Nov. 28, 2014

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Mizzou Players | UA Coach Bret Bielema | Arkansas Players

Missouri Head Coach Gary Pinkel
Opening Statement:
"I really am proud. This team is very special and remarkably competitive. One of the great traits they have is that when things get tough, they get tougher. I can't tell you how proud I am of these guys."

On the second half:
"Those two field goals in the first half were so important. It's so important that we came away with points on those. They really only had one touchdown drive against us, that one really long drive. But the rest of the time, they didn't score any points on us in the second half. It was nothing until the fourth quarter for either team. Then we just started executing, and it starts with our quarterback obviously and a bunch of guys making plays. We certainly had to overcome some adversity to go out there and do that."

On kicker Andrew Baggett's performance:
"They were huge points. He had two [field goals] that were really long. It's a testament to him because he had a tough week last week. It was nice to see him bounce back and the players had reached down to pick him up and help him. I told him before the game, `I believe in you, and I want you to know that.' He made two great plays - two huge plays."

On outscoring Arkansas 15-0 in the fourth quarter:
"We started making some plays. They were mostly pass big plays, but once you start doing that, the secondary is going to loosen up a little bit more and they're not going to come screaming down [into the box]. I think it was a combination of all of those things. Once we got going, the defense had to worry about both running and passing, and that was an advantage for us."

On earning back to back SEC East championships:
"It means an awful lot to me. I love my team. This has not been an easy year, but we battled and competed. I feel thankful for all the people around me. Mizzou Athletic Director, Mike Alden, has been tremendously important to me and our fans too. We sold Faurot out tonight and this place was rocking. There are a lot of things to be thankful for. Whoever we play next week, it's going to be a huge game. It's our second time down there (Atlanta, Ga.) in a row, and I'll tell you this, that's hard to do."

Coach Pinkel | UA Coach Bret Bielema | Arkansas Players

MU Player Quotes
Junior PK Andrew Baggett
On hitting two field goals from 50+ yards:
"Coming out and performing well for the team was great. They give it all in everything they do so it'd be a shame if I didn't do the same for them. It felt good to go out and perform well."

On his mindset coming in to this game after missing two PATs against Tennessee:
"I was pretty disappointed. I just wanted to get back to practice and start working on things. I know I needed to be better than last week and I focused on performing well this week and making the adjustments I needed to make. Obviously it worked out for the best."

Sophomore LB Michael Scherer
On winning back-to-back SEC East Championships:
"It's huge. It's huge for this program. I think people will finally start seeing Mizzou as a top tier program. No one can make excuses about a team winning back-to-back titles."

On the team's success in November:
"Coach Pinkel always says you have to win in November and we took it one game a time. We worked our tails off every week, played together every week and the offense kept getting better and better. We kept getting stops and we're a pretty good team when that happens."

Sophomore QB Maty Mauk
On having success on third down:
"We came out here and we looked at what type of plays they were running on second and third down and they were pretty consistent. Coach Henson called great plays and we really focused on second and third downs in practice. It worked. Our guys found open areas."

On the official's call to reverse his fumble to an incomplete pass in the third quarter:
"I was really relieved. I didn't see the guy coming. I was looking down the field and I stepped into it and didn't even see him. We were fortunate there. We're going to get better and get that protected."

On clinching back-to-back SEC East titles:
"It feels great. A lot of people play for respect but I don't think we need to. What people say to us doesn't bother me. They call us underdogs every week. We're here to win championships, and that's what we're focused on doing right now."

Junior DE Shane Ray
On the defensive second half adjustments:
"We understood what mistakes we were making as a team. We corrected those mistakes and came back out and played Missouri Tiger football. Fast and physical. We just took over the game."

On Markus Golden's play today:
"I'm ecstatic for him. He's playing at a high level right now. The entire defense is playing really well. It's incredible to see what we can do with our chemistry. It's amazing."

On the defensive mentality in the fourth quarter:
"We train for when the fourth quarter comes and people expect us to be tired. We're prepared to play through that at a high level. That's hats off to Coach Pat Ivey and how the coaches train us to play. We're just happy that in the fourth quarter we play as well as we do."

Senior DE Markus Golden
On the significance of tonight's win:
"All year we've been talking about respect. We want people to respect this Tiger on our shirt and Mizzou. We put in just as much work as anyone in the country. That's what we wanted. Now we have a chance to win the (SEC) championship. We feel like we have everyone's respect. Now we want to get a championship for Coach Pinkel and all the other coaches."

On the second-half run defense:
"We went in at halftime and Coach Steckel fixed everything. We said we had to go out there and play. We had to get after the running backs and stop their guys from getting so many yards. We had to change from the first half and we did that."

On the Arkansas rivalry:
"The crazy thing about it is that it felt like a rivalry after we did the coin toss and everything. The fans were out there yelling. This place was crazy here today. It felt like a rivalry. Coming down to a 21-14 win, it's going to be a great rivalry."

Coach Pinkel | Mizzou Players | Arkansas Players

UA Coach Bret Bielema
Opening statement:
"I thought our guys embraced the short work week. A lot of guys played through some pain today. Obviously, you could see the determination of Brandon Allen. It was 100-percent effort. He just wasn't 100-percent. We thought he gave us the best chance to win and he wanted to be out there. I think our defense played well but might have wore down in the fourth quarter. For us to beat an SEC team of this caliber on the road, you've got to play a lot more cleanly. One of the things that we preach on everyday is to eliminate unforced errors and there were some uncharacteristic offsides, a couple personal fouls then we obviously have to take better care of the football. We've been able to take care of the football the two games prior to this. We'll come out of this and I think we learned a lot of valuable lessons for the guys who will come back with us a year from now. We'll take this next week to get ourselves a little bit healthy and let our guys focus on some academics. My guess is we'll be a very energized and very excited bowl team."

On playing QB Brandon Allen throughout the game:
"Before the game started, you're trying to temper him as best you can about if he wants to play or if he's going able to play and I think he felt fine. It was when he started getting hit. Those were the plays where it really started bothering him. I tried to get him to come out, but he wanted to preserver through it which I admired. I probably should've forced it on him a little bit but I knew our guys believed in him as well."

On Mizzou's fourth quarter offense:
"They did a nice job. They were attacking the bubble. They were wrapping the center around. They took advantage of a lot of our guys. They got it corrected the next time out though. We got really sloppy in our tackling too. I think we were a little bit defeated there at the end."

On Arkansas' 6-6 record going into the bowl season selection:
"I'd put our 6-and-6 football team against anybody. As we proved here today, they're (Mizzou) going to go play in Atlanta for a chance to win an SEC Championship and I bet you they don't want to go play four quarters again (after tonight). I think this is a nice start to the rivalry. Our guys will be spirited and ready to play."

Coach Pinkel | Mizzou Players | UA Coach Bret Bielema

Arkansas Players
Senior G Brey Cook
On the game in general:
"We played a good team down here at Mizzou. They are very well coached and a talented team. We didn't do the things we needed to do to win. Simple as that. We came to an away game in the SEC. We had too many penalties and too many mistakes."

On QB Brandon Allen going out with an injury:
"The way Brandon came out and played today was something to be credited. He played very well and to see him come out with that injury and know how badly he was hurting; it was very special to see him out there. It was fun to go play for him."

Junior QB Brandon Allen
On his injury (how he prepared and how it affected the game):
"We knew it was going to start tightening up on me, but I thought I was healthy enough to play so I played. I missed a lot of easy throws. Hurt or not. A lot of third down throws I missed would've kept the drives alive. We rehabbed all week and used some medicine [today]. Late in the last couple of drives Coach Bielema asked me if I was good and I said I was fine. I wanted to stay in. It was my decision to stay in."

Senior DE Trey Flowers
On the game in general:
"They found some holes in our defense and they ran the same plays to try to gas us a bit, especially on the perimeter as far as complete passes went. I feel we should've had better tackles today."

On how big the reversed turnover (4th quarter fumble) could've ended up being different for them:
"It was pretty big. It was in their territory and almost in their red zone. If we had gotten that then we could've put more points on the board. That's just adversity you have to get through though. The officials make the decision."

On whether or not he feels that (at 6-6) they are a strong bowl team:
"No doubt. I know what we're capable of. When you have penalties like that and you're playing in front of the other team's home crowd, it messes with you a bit on the snap count and turnovers."