Nov. 2, 2014
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Missouri Head Coach
Gary Pinkel
Opening Statement:
“It was a good win for our football team. We played outstanding defense consistently, and I think we improved on offense. There were a lot of good things, and, like always, there are some things we need to improve on. I’m very happy with our team. 1-0 in November.”
On
Shane Ray’s
single-season sack record:
“I’m happy for him. He is such a team player. He is a good leader. He talks to the team just like a senior captain. Players have great respect for him because he works incredibly hard and he performs at this high level all the time.”
On Coach Kadlec:
“I was at the visitation last night, and I told his family that we were going to dedicate this game to Coach. For me, that’s so awesome that we won this football game. He’s just a great person that touched thousands of people. Anyone who knows the guy knows how much he loved the University of Missouri. I thank God that I was able to have a 14-year relationship with him.”
On winning while scoring fewer points than in the past:
“I’m not getting used to it. I don’t want to get used to it. We won a lot of games, a few years back, scoring in the 40s. We’re calling the game a little different. We’re relying on the run more, but we want to get the ball downfield. I thought Maty did a lot of good things today. We’re out of sync too many times.”
On the Maty Mauk-Bud Sasser connection in red zone:
“Bud has been playing great for us. He’s stepping up. He’s the most experienced guy out there. Maty has been around him more than the other guys except for maybe Jimmie Hunt. He’s had limited time throwing to the other guys out there.”
MU Player Quotes
Junior LB
Kentrell Brothers
On the game plan:
“Coach Stec did a great job with the game plan. We knew exactly what they were going to do. They tried to catch us off guard a little bit with the motioning and stuff like that but we knew exactly what they were going to run based off of Coach Stec’s game plan sheets. The coaches did a great job preparing us, so we did a good job following the game plan.”
On the game plan against Patrick Towles:
“We knew that he wanted to run so our first thing was on passes, make sure we contain him and don’t let him get outside of the pocket. Then on the power plays, you know they run a lot of wildcat and they get him out but we knew they still had the option to give it back to him and throw it. Just to contain him a little bit, we knew that their offense wouldn’t be able to do much.
On limited throwing by Towles:
“I knew they were going to run. Looking over the games, they see some teams were able to run against us. It didn’t surprise me that they were going to try that but once they saw that it wasn’t working, they tried to throw a little bit more.”
Freshman WR
Nate Brown
On Kentucky’s talent:
“There are a lot of talented guys on that team.”
On Mizzou’s defense:
“They’re awesome. They take a real load off the offense, just knowing that they’re going to go in and get the job done. Especially Shane, he’s a beast.”
Sophomore LB
Michael Scherer
On Mizzou’s move into first place in the SEC East:
“You’ve got to win every game. It’s been the same thing from day one. We’ve got to finish out the season and win the rest if we want to be back in the championship. It’s on us. That doesn’t matter. It’s been on us. We just have to keep coming out every week and playing and really executing.”
On
Shane Ray’s
single-season sack status:
“The kid’s a freak. I was just waiting for it to happen. I feel good for him. He’s such a hard worker on and off the field. You feel good for a kid like that. Michael Sam got close last year, about this time, and some people were calling it the curse because I think the same thing happened to Aldon, where he had 11 and a half and couldn’t get that extra one. When he got that 12th sack, I knew it right away and went up to him and congratulated him on the field. You feel good for a guy like that to break a record.”
On what the defense would be like without Ray:
“It’s like that for everybody out there, epecially guys on the D-Line, Marcus and Shane. They get after the passer and they get after the runner on the running plays. They make everybody else’s job easier.”
Junior CB
Kenya Dennis
On defensive breakups:
“It’s about staying focused and keeping my foot under me. I was just there, at the right place at the right time.”
On the hype surrounding Towles:
“We try not to get focused on all of that. We just try to focus on the defense and what we can do to get our guys better every week.”
On the challenge of playing against great quarterbacks:
“I love the challenge of playing against great quarterbacks. It really brings out the best in you.”
On personal improvement since transfer:
“I think I’ve gotten a lot better, mentally and physically. This is a great program and they’ve done a great job developing me since I’ve been here.”
Junior DE
Shane Ray
On personal legacy:
“That’s what it’s been about all season, continuing to fight for respect, continuing to show that we’re our own people, we’re our own guys. We’re not Mike and Kony, we’re Shane Ray and Marcus Golden. That’s just how we approached this season and that’s how we’re going to continue to approach it.”
On bat-swinging celebration:
“Man, I wish I could have swung for Salvy in the World Series. I feel like Bumgarner wouldn’t have struck me out! I don’t play too much baseball.”
On breaking the sack record:
“It means a lot. It’s a huge deal, just getting up there with those guys, those prestigious names. Who doesn’t want to be in the same category as Aldon Smith, one of the top players to play in college football and the NFL? It just meant a lot. I really just shared my excitement with my family, which consists of my teammates, my mom and everybody that came up. It was just pure joy.”
On telling Mike he was coming for his record:
“Yeah, definitely. He understood that, and Mike knows the kind of competitor I am. He told me after last year’s Cotton Bowl, `it’s your turn to step up.’ I took that to heart and that has been what’s driven me.”
UK Coach Mark Stoops
Opening Statement:
“Very disappointed in our effort. We really got beat from the start of the game to the end. They really got after us and played very well. Give them credit, they beat us. We need to do a better job. We need to find a way to move the football. Start faster. We need to find a way to get off the field on critical third downs, whether it be execution or them beating us. I think that’s the bottom line and the message with today is that they beat us. They beat us in every one-on-one matchup, they outcoached us, they outplayed us and it wasn’t a good enough effort. I’m very disappointed in the way we came in here and played.”
On his quarterback’s lack of pass attempts:
“Well, we only had 20 plays I think (in the first half). I mean, we couldn’t get a first down, so there are not a lot of opportunities. We came into the game with an effort to run the ball a little bit, and then when you don’t get a first down, you have very few possessions. That’s a big part of it.”
On Mizzou’s pressure up front:
“I think that’s always something you’re thinking about. They’re active up front and play extremely hard. When you’re not running the ball and they can play with more guys in the back end, now you can’t throw it either. You have to hurt them here and there in the run game and then get your shots off of that. If you let them tee off and get behind the chains where they can rush you and cover you, you got problems, as we did.”
On defense playing well in the second half:
“We did. We gave ourselves some shots even early, but Missouri controlled the clock too much and converted too many third downs. It was just a variety of things that we need to do better.”
On inability to throw downfield:
“We did try some shots. We took some. You have to protect it, but they’re active up front, so there are a variety of things. They have a lot to do with it, along with us not playing well. I don’t want to take anything away from them. I’m just disappointed in our effort. We had opportunities, dropped balls and I just didn’t think our attitude was right offensively.”
UK Players
Sophomore QB Patrick Towles
On the match-ups today:
“Missouri’s defense is better, we just have to make plays. When we are one-on-one situation, I have to make it happen and make throws. There are some times where I did tonight, and there are some times where I didn’t.”
On feeling that something like this result was coming:
“This whole week we had a sharp week. We felt prepared, we felt like we could come out and win. The whole week of practice was to prepare us to come out here and execute. We have a really good Georgia team next week. We have to get back to work and go win number six.”
Freshman RB Mikel Horton
On how Kentucky executed in the game:
“We didn’t execute well enough, there is no excuse for that. We have to practice harder.”
On MU’s defense:
“Mizzou has a great defense, one of the best defenses I think we have played against. They were physical and they beat us this game. For next week, we have to be more physical, consistent and have the mentality that no one can stop us.”
On winning one game out of the three left to get to a bowl game:
“We really won’t think about it. We are focusing on being consistent as a team. We really couldn’t care less about a bowl game right now. It’s a great bonus to play with my brothers, but we have to focus on learning how to play as a team.”
Freshman RB Stanley “Boom” Williams
On any level of surprise towards what happened in today’s game:
“No, not really. We Just didn’t execute the game plan that we had. It showed today, all we can do is come back and get better.”
