Missouri Coach Gary Pinkel Quotes

Missouri Postgame Quotes
#14 Nebraska 31, #7 Missouri 17
Saturday, Oct. 30, 2010
Memorial Stadium (Lincoln, Neb.)

Opening Statement
"I thought Nebraska played a great game a very intense game, and did a lot of the things you need to do to win games like this. I give them credit. Obviously it's very I'm very disappointed in the way we played. I wish we could have played better but they certainly did the right things and played a very, very good game."

On what happened in the first quarter
"Well we went three-and-out about four times and they got three big plays, with two runs and a pass. I think they got four big plays and (24) points. Obviously you can't give up big plays like that and win games like this, especially when your offense isn't moving the football. We battled back, we battled through it but didn't get it done. That's unfortunate but you go to get that done."

On how he thinks Nebraska scouted this game
"Well I gotta go back and look at it but generally, we blitz a lot and when you blitz it's a gap-oriented defense, and if you don't get gaps there are creases, and there is secondary contain issues. We've done a good job of covering those up this year, and they did a good job blocking the point of attack, and that's unfortunate for us."

On the Nebraska defensive line and secondary
"Well I think it's a combination of both. They are very good at what they do. It was going to be a battle out there and I knew that. In the first part, we had a lot of three-and-outs and didn't move the ball. We had a chance at the end with the 4th-and-1 down there, and had to settle for a field goal. Their coverage was excellent as you can tell when it's on film. We got to run the football better. And they put a lot of pressure on us, too."

On if they planned on running the ball more than they did
"We wanted to, but they did a good job, when we did run the ball, they stopped us, so I give them credit."

On what was the most disappointing part of today
"Losing! Nobody likes to lose. I've been in this business a long time but we will get back. We need to do a better job coaching. I mean we lost all three of our timeouts in the third quarter. Are you kidding me? And that's on me. It's our first loss of the year. It's very difficult for all of us and were battlers and competitors, and we'll get back out there and compete."

On no longer controlling their own destiny in the Big 12 North
"We understand that, and what we need to do is next week is try and get back in the winner's circle. First loss of year and it's a difficult one."

On if there was any hangover affect from last week
"Nope. That's an excuse. We got to play big game, after big game, after big game and play your very best and we didn't play well enough."