Mizzou / Eastern Michigan Post-Game Quotes
Mizzou Head Coach Barry Odom
Opening Statement:
“I’m really excited for our guys to get into the winner’s circle. You never as a competitor like to lose. We let one end up on the wrong side last week. More than anything, I’m really happy our guys were able to get their first win. We have got a lot of work to do, we will continue to get better. We still have to clean up a lot of things.”
On the play of quarterback Drew Lock:
“He is doing a great job of running our offense, and things are slowing down tremendously for him. I think he will continue to grow by learning from his mistakes, while learning from the good things he does as well. He’s got a chance to be special. If the 10 guys around him continue to play well, his game is going to continue to get better. He did some really good things tonight.”
On the explosive ability of wide receiver Johnathon Johnson:
“He has got playmaking ability and continues to work and develop his skill set. The things he did on the field tonight he does in practice on Tuesdays and Wednesdays. It’s important to him that he is a total package player, having the ability to not only play out wide, but to return punts and block. He is only going to get better.”
On the play of the defense:
“I think we made some moves in the right direction. I still felt like we were on the field too long. We need to get better at getting off the field on third downs, and we also had some penalties. We will get it going.”
On next week’s SEC Opener against Georgia:
“Obviously, we have a lot of respect for their program, and a lot of respect for Kirby (Smart). We will have to practice and prepare well to give ourselves a chance.”
On the impact of the Mizzou fans:
“I am just so proud to have a chance to lead these guys out there. These fans mean a great deal to me. You can feel that support when you walk out onto the field, and that’s important for us. We want to make sure we do all the things we need to do to keep getting them out to games.”
Eastern Michigan Head Coach Chris Creighton
Opening Statement:
“I congratulate Missouri. First home game, first game of coach’s career here at home and he’s first class. I can tell that just from talking to him before the game. They were disappointed last week, and so congratulations to Missouri. I got a hurting team in there right now because we fully believed that we could come in here and play Eastern Michigan football and come away with a victory. It didn’t end up that way, for sure. Their passing attack proved to be too strong. The long balls and even just the quick game would eat up yards. They did a really nice job of that. I was really pleased with our offense. Very consistent. I think at halftime we were 7 of 12 of 3rd downs. We were mustering some yards on the ground and in the air. We had a really bad second quarter. That was two weeks in a row. It was 14-7 at the end of the first quarter. We had the punt situation, and then soon after that was the interception that was returned a long way. At halftime I told our guys that we’ve got to live what we’re talking about and let everyone know each play and each series. Our guys fought to the end. It’s difficult when you put everything into something and you believe it’s going to happen. Then it’s not happening. Our guys, we’re a good group, we’re a group that’s going to stick together and weather this. We’re going to learn from it, flush it, and then get better. Tough night for us, but we’re undeterred in what we want to do in this season.”
On preparing for Mizzou’s offense:
“We had prepared for a very, very fast offense. You know, I think that Missouri just may have been a little out of sync last week. There were a lot of plays that balls were dropped or just missed and whatnot. There were a couple today that were missed, but they really connected at the same time. We were ready to keep things in front of us with the quick game. We just got run by on some of those long balls, some well placed balls and the size and speed of those receivers. We just weren’t able to combat.”
On Todd Porter’s performance:
“I’ll answer that by telling you that our offensive line really kept him clean. I think the stats had him down for one sack. Our offensive line did a good job with pass protection tonight. We’ll go back and watch the film and whatnot, but he was not rattled at all. He ran our game plan, both the run game and the pass game. We’re far from perfect, but we moved the ball, didn’t score as many points as we would’ve liked, but without having watched the film, I think Todd played a pretty good game.”
Mizzou Freshman WR Johnathon Johnson
On his outstanding two touchdown performance:
“I was just trying to take advantage of every opportunity I had, and just, try to score.”
On Redshirting last season:
“It was difficult but my coaches and all of my teammates just made sure I kept my head up and just told me that I was going to be able to play as a freshman. It was a good thing (that) I redshirted.”
On his 86-yard catch-and-run TD:
“My blockers set me up well. Jason Reese and J’mon Moore, they set me up well, so I just found an alley and a lane, and I just hit it.”
Mizzou Junior QB Drew Lock
on his great performance:
“I was super excited the way we came out and played. (The) offensive line played their game. I didn’t get touched once. It’s safe to say we’ll be going out to a little Sunday dinner. But I think the coolest part about tonight wasn’t necessarily tying the record or what not, it was giving five guys on our team touchdowns. That have never had a touchdown. J.J, Emanuel (Hall), (Ray) Wingo, and Kendall Blanton. That was the coolest part for me, just seeing their faces when they caught that touchdown. It’s the kinds of things that I won’t ever forget, but I might forget about throwing five touchdowns.”
On Josh Heupel’s positive influence:
“One of the things he preaches to me, is just let it rip. Don’t be tentative, you have an arm that god’s given you for a reason. Use it to your advantage. He’s just instilled confidence in me in to go out and play, and to let me know I’m the man, and what not. He’s just helped me out a tremendous amount, that you really can’t put into words.”
On facing Georgia next week:
“We’re super excited to get the conference play underway like that. It’s a good team coming here to Columbia. I’m excited for the challenge. We definitely have to step up and have a good week of practice. And play our “A” game because that’s what it’s going to take.”
Mizzou senior DT Josh Augusta
On the victory:
“It was great. We game together as a team and went and got one.”
On the new leadership coaching the defensive line:
“It’s a little different. We’re a little farther off of the ball, we’re playing sideline to sideline, instead of tackle to tackle.”
On facing Georgia's Nick Chubb next week:
“He’s a good runner. We just plan on stopping him the best we can.”
On carrying the football on offense the last two games:
“I’ll do anything just to get us a team win.”
EMU Offensive Lineman Cole Gardner
On how his team’s offensive and defensive lines approached the game:
“We have a great offensive line, so we knew coming into it that it was going to be a big game for us - a big game to show what we have. So, we just focused on the little things, and knowing that if we got our guys room to go that they would have some space and make some room and make some plays. So, that’s all we thought about – just giving our guys the opportunity to make some plays. They have a great defense, so it was a good challenge for us.”
On what he saw out of quarterback Todd Porter during the game:
“Just his ability to stay relaxed no matter what. They were bringing some heat and he was taking some shots, but he stayed in the pocket and stayed calm and made some throws near the end of the game that were impressive. Just knowing when I’m back there, he got hit on me once, and I’m back there the first one to apologize to him. He said, “Hey, you’re good, you’re good. We made the first down, don’t worry about it.” So, as an offensive lineman, as the guy who is taking shots for you, it shows unbelievable confidence.”
On running back Ian Eriksen’s performance:
“Ian is a great kid. He’s got a great attitude and always comes to work every day, so you knew that once he gets that shot he was going to perform. He had a great game last week too so we knew that he would step up in that role if we needed him to and he did a great job doing that today.”
EMU Punter Austin Barnes
On how he felt playing in a stadium close to home:
“I was born over in St. Louis and I’ve always been kind of around this area. So, it was just really cool to see, just all the fans, and I had my mom and my mom’s side of the family here rooting me on.”
On his punt that was returned for a touchdown:
“I definitely took the blame on that one. I left the ball out there in the middle of the field and against a good returner, that’s detrimental. I’ve just got to work on getting that direction down, that way we can really limit their returns.”
On things he believes special teams needs to work on:
“For me, I need to work on my direction and fine-tuning my craft. I try to take pride in what I do and I love being a part of Eastern Michigan and especially special teams.”
