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SOUTHEASTERN CONFERENCE CHAMPIONSHIP GAME: ALABAMA v MISSOURINovember 30, 2014Gary PinkelATLANTA, GEORGIA THE MODERATOR: Good evening and welcome to the SEC football pre‑championship teleconference. We'll begin with Missouri head coach Gary Pinkel. Missouri is making its second consecutive appearance in the SEC Championship game. Coach, take a minute to talk about your team that you prepare for Saturday. COACH PINKEL: Certainly we're excited and elated that we won the SEC East and we have an opportunity to participate in the championship game. It's an honor for us. We played it in Atlanta last year. Just a great stadium and a great venue. Certainly the SEC does everything actually first class. We just get in our game‑week mode. We'll get going pretty soon. Our players are excited about the opportunity. We're playing a very, very good football team. Looking forward to the opportunity to compete. THE MODERATOR: We'll take questions for Coach Pinkel. Q. You have been to a few championship games now. You haven't had a lot of success. Is there anything in your analysis after those games that you might change? What do you think you might need to do to have a little bit more luck this time around? COACH PINKEL: I think you create your own luck. We always analyze everything we do. Usually if you haven't played well or if you haven't got the results that you want, we analyze everything that happens in that game. But most of it will be about preparation with our team. We prepare for this game like we prepare for any game. We won't ever change that. This is the fifth divisional championship we have won in the last eight years. We haven't won a championship in the Big 12 or the SEC. That's my responsibility. Hopefully we can play well and have an opportunity to do that. Q. Do you know better what Russell Hansbrough and Taylor Chappell's injuries and status will be? COACH PINKEL: Taylor just had an arm, elbow problem. But he's going to be okay. He'll be able to play. Hyperextended it. Russell had a slight ankle sprain. We expect him to practice Tuesday. Like everybody right now, you have a little bumps and bruises. No question about it. It's been a long season. But we expect to have everybody who played this past Friday ready to play next Saturday. Q. From what you've seen of this Alabama team so far, what are some early impressions? What stands out about Nick's team? COACH PINKEL: Obviously they have high‑level personnel. He runs a program with attention to detail, very well‑coached. Stands out certainly that they're a high‑level defensive team, an offensive team that has certainly a lot of talent. Sims, their quarterback, was impressive the other night. To make the mistakes he made, then come back. Then Cooper, what do you say about him? It's a very, very good football team. Very well‑coached football team. Q. I know it's not a great game, but the Georgia game you played, after that game you said, I've been here before, this is not a fun place. Was the turnaround immediate, gradual? What got you out of what you called 'not a fun place' after that Georgia game? COACH PINKEL: Well, I think, first of all we turned the ball over five times. Anytime you have that many turnovers, it's going to be very difficult to win any games. First of all, Georgia played well.  I think that's important to understand that. I think what we did with that as a football team afterwards is we said there's a sense of urgency that we have to go through and take it one game at a time. Actually we've got to continue to get better. Just determination by a lot of guys. I think we're a lot better football team right now than we were then. Q. Obviously this season you weren't picked to win the East. Have you used that as fuel because you weren't talked about in terms of winning the conference? COACH PINKEL: I think our players, obviously they know what's going on. They watch TV, they hear things. Certainly they're competitors and they have a lot of pride in who they are. I think our players drew off of that a little bit, the underdog, maybe not getting the respect that you want to. I think that's okay a little bit. But honestly, we don't talk about that at all from the standpoint of my coaches with our players. We focus on ourselves playing well. That's what we do. We don't focus on where we play or who we play. Our whole focus is on playing our best football. So we don't bring those things up. I don't bring those things up. But certainly our players are certainly aware of what's happening and what's out there. Q. What thought have you given to the possibility of sneaking into the four‑team playoff if you can beat Alabama? COACH PINKEL: Honestly, those things take care of themselves. I don't make predictions. We're just doing what we do. It's the next game we're focusing on. We want to play well, and whatever happens happens. Q. I know several of your coaches have been with you throughout your time at Missouri and even before then. How much does the stability on your coaching staff contribute to the sustained success you have had in contending for these division titles? COACH PINKEL: I think it's been really important. I've had five coaches leave, one of which retired, in the years that I've been here. That's very, very unusual. I would say it's one of the least numbers in the country. Certainly the consistency of staff, the consistency of attention to detail, how we do things in our program, we have certain ways we do absolute everything. Having that continuity also in recruiting has been really important for us. Q. From a defensive standpoint, how challenging is it to attack a quarterback like Blake Sims, who does a lot of things that typical spread quarterbacks do? COACH PINKEL: Well, he's athletic. He can run. As I mentioned before, for a young guy, he struggled a little bit like he did the first half in the game the other day. To be able to come back and play the way he did certainly says an awful lot about him. So you have your problems with a guy like this, athletic as he is. So we understand that. I don't think you stop him. I think you contain him the best you can. I think Cooper is the same way. You're not going to stop him. He's a great, great player. You try to limit the amount of damage they can do. I think that's where you start. Q. With Maty, the struggles he went through earlier in the SEC season, have you seen him carrying himself any differently on the field, seen much of a change in him? COACH PINKEL: Yeah, he's pretty consistent. I think he's that way if he gets nicked up, if his arm is sore or leg is sore, anything like that. Demeanor, he'll never, ever show but one consistent face to his teammates. That's a type of leadership. I think it's pretty cool he does that. He's kind of back a little bit in terms of I think he's throwing the ball well. I think he's reading defenses better. Certainly going to be a challenge this week. But it's nice to see him making plays again, like we expected him to do. Certainly people around him are playing at a high level, too. But it's nice to see him improving. Q. Alabama, when you see them score 55 points, run a little bit of no‑huddle, mobile quarterback and everything, how much of a change have you seen in these guys and how scary is that when they can score 55 points and play defense like that? COACH PINKEL: Well, that's interesting. You're exactly right. When you're that potent offensively, you can play defense at that level, high, consistent level, that's certainly problematic for anybody that's going to play against them. I think they've done a good job with their offensive system. Obviously defensively they've always been good. So that's going to be a challenge for us, there's no question about it. Q. With recruiting rankings, is that something that is ever used? Sometimes you're at the bottom of the SEC. Alabama is always at the top. Is that something that you ever use as motivation when you got into this league and people would point out how Missouri is at the bottom of recruiting rankings? COACH PINKEL: I've never looked at a recruiting ranking since I've been coaching. We have an evaluation system we use. We have a system in use. We never talked about stars on any player ever. We do a thing called 'Mizzou Made' here. We think we've developed players as good as anybody in the country. We have a plan and infrastructure set in to do that, professionally, personally, academically, player development. We have our system. It's a system that I learned from Don James when I was a coach with him at the University of Washington. We tweaked it a little bit. You always try to make it better. So I've never looked at a ranking ever. We just do what we do. I think it would be hard to say that we haven't had a little bit of success doing it our way. Q. After the Arkansas game, Maty mentioned something about being healthy. You mentioned being dinged up. Was he dealing with an injury at some point this season that maybe was limiting him a little bit? COACH PINKEL: On his shoulder, he tweaked his shoulder a little bit. Nothing really bad. But obviously if you're a quarterback, your shoulder is hurt a little bit, your throwing shoulder, it certainly affects you. He doesn't have excuses for it, nor do we allow it. There's no question about it, if you're healthy, you're going to throw better. A few weeks ago he had been struggling with it a little bit. Anyway, you have to work through those things. No player for either one of these teams is 100% healthy. That's the nature of business, especially after you've played 12 football games. Nicked up or not, you got to be able to compete and you got to be able to perform. Q. Last year, prior to the SEC Championship game, you talked about the respect level for the Missouri Tigers. Two years in a row now, SEC East champions. Do you feel like you're making that next step towards the respect level? COACH PINKEL: Yeah, it's a consistency of winning, winning at a high level, in a very, very difficult league, very competitive league. I've always sort of brought up you earn respect, that's how you get it. You're probably asking the wrong person. Hopefully we've gained some respect. We'll see how it goes from here. Q. You've talked about Alabama, Coach Saban. You have a common point with Don James. When did you two first cross paths? How much do you think Coach James influenced you and him as coaches? COACH PINKEL: I think Nick can probably answer that better. He's certainly very complimentary of Coach James. Coach James, I was a captain for him a year behind Nick. I was a captain a year after Nick had left. I coached with him for 12 years at the University of Washington, the last five years as offensive coordinator and quarterback coach. The program that we put in at Toledo where I was coach for 10 years, then we brought it here to Missouri, the infrastructure is on James' program. So he's had a huge effect on me personally. Coach James passed away a year ago. I mean, I'm indebted to him forever. But that's what we are. We have a system in place, built on many, many components of organization, attention to detail. He's had a tremendous influence on me. And from the things I've read, certainly Nick has great respect for Coach James. Certainly he took away some things very positively also. Q. A quick question about the attendance. Last year you had some problems with attendance. There was a big snowstorm on the way to Atlanta. What are you expecting attendance‑wise? COACH PINKEL: I don't know. You have to tell me. I don't know. I have no idea. Hopefully we're going to have a great turnout. We're excited about that. Our fans have been traveling as good as anybody in this league. We're very proud of them. Hopefully we're going to have a great turnout. Q. Maty Mauk, you talk about being a play‑maker, having that 'it' thing. How gratifying is it for you to see his growth to be the patient quarterback this last half of the season? COACH PINKEL: Well, you learn. There's so many different things. You have adversity as a quarterback. He came in a year ago as a freshman, (indiscernible) started four games. Went over to Georgia at their place. He had struggled here. Changed, a little bit different situation for him. I told him when he was going through this that this is something that he's going to learn from, it's going to make him better, no one likes going through adversity. Don't question your ability. The most important thing is keep very focused on making yourself a better football player. I think that's what he did. He sees the field a lot better. I think he's making better decisions. I think he's quarterbacking better. Big thing I always tell our players, most any player has had adversity, what you want is to have that adversity make you better. I think he's working hard on doing that and he's making progress. Q. Now that you've been to one SEC Championship game, how is your approach to this year any different? COACH PINKEL: Well, again, it's like a neutral‑site game for us. We've had neutral‑site games in St.Louis and Kansas City, NFL stadiums. We're going to do what we do. We believe in what we're doing. I think obviously when you've been in that environment before, it's truly a great, great venue. I mean, try to explain how awesome it is in that stadium when it's filled, the energy level that's in there. Certainly you're proud to be a part of the SEC and be part of a big game like that. The players now I think really certainly have experience, the older ones have experience. I think that certainly helps. Anytime you gain experience, whether it was a good experience or bad, you can learn from it and apply it to the next time. Certainly I think that would apply to our football team. Q. Going back to a previous question you answered about Don James. You said his attention to detail, this is something you've taken with you. What is one detail you'll remember about him as you head into this weekend's game? COACH PINKEL: Well, I mean, there's so many. I guess the thing that Coach James was, he was an organizational genius. The detail of organizing every little tiny aspect of your football program, having a plan in place for everything, evaluate everything you do after you do it. I've been a head coach for 24 years now. We have an infrastructure in place. I would say that in itself is probably as important as anything I've done, I've learned from him. Not only having this detailed infrastructure, but constantly evaluate yourself to make yourself better and to learn, in everything we do. Those things are very invaluable to me as a head coach and our organization. Q. Everyone always talks about how to build a different style of team to win in a different conference. You did a great job doing it in the Big 12. Having been in the SEC a few years, especially defensively, what if anything did you change philosophically about the way you went to recruit and build your defense to win in this league versus the Big 12 or did that not change much at all? COACH PINKEL: There's a lot of good teams in the Big 12. There's not the number, in my opinion, of teams that you play. One thing I've always felt about the SEC when I was in the Big 12, since I've been coaching, is the SEC is a line of scrimmage league. If you want to be good, you have to be good on the line of scrimmage. It's a very physical league. Consistently throughout the league it's that way. So to me that was very, very significant. But we did not change our recruiting. We always try to recruit the best players. We didn't change our player development. We always try to develop our players, speed, mental toughness, all those things. We didn't change anything. But we're certainly aware that the line of scrimmage in the SEC is different, and you've got to play physical, compete physical, if you want to have an opportunity to win. THE MODERATOR: Coach, that's all the questions we have for you this evening. Thank you for your time. We'll see you in Atlanta. COACH PINKEL: Thank you very much. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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