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INSIGHT BOWL: MISSOURI v IOWA

December 28, 2010

Kevin Rutland

TEMPE, ARIZONA

Iowa Â– 27
Missouri - 24

THE MODERATOR: Good evening, ladies and gentlemen, we've been joined by head coach Gary Pinkel, Blaine Gabbert, T.J. Moe, Kevin Rutland.
COACH PINKEL: First of all, congratulations to Iowa. You know, it was a hard-fought battle that you get two good football teams play. Some mistakes were made at both sides. Both sides competed, and they came up on top at the end.
So very proud of our football team. It's been a great year for Missouri. I'm very disappointed. It is very difficult in the locker room with kids that you love and you have been through so much this year and you come out of a tough, close game and a loss.
But, anyway, they have a lot to be proud of.

Q. T.J., can you just describe on that last bowl that you dove for how close you thought you were to it and did you think you had it?
T.J. MOE: I thought I had it, but I guess they had some evidence that said I didn't. And that's just the way it goes sometimes.

Q. Blaine, can you kind of take us through the interception and kind of what happened there?
BLAINE GABBERT: I just got greedy. It was a scramble drill and I thought Wes was going to release and go on the sideline because they were in man-to-man coverage. He stayed with them, and the guy made a great play. And that's really all I can say about that.

Q. Blaine and T.J., when you guys go back out there, how confident were you to be able to score on that last drive? Did you think at all about San Diego State? I mean, it was kind of similar circumstances.
BLAINE GABBERT: That thought never crossed my mind. We had all the confidence in the world. We had been driving up and down the field for the majority of the game. And it was a game of inches. You either catch it or you don't. It is all up to the refs at that point.
And T.J. I know for a fact gave 150 percent out there today, like we all did. And it stinks that the outcome wasn't better. You just got to live with it and move on.

Q. Blaine, your stock has been rising in the NFL draft evaluation talk. Do you think -- are you coming back or have you decided?
BLAINE GABBERT: Everything is going to be evaluated after the season. Like we always cover for the past month, I have told you guys, of course, a few people filed their name in the committee. It goes from there. We haven't heard any results back. We will address that situation when it arises.

Q. Kevin, just talk about the pick and how it kind of gave you guys a momentum swing and how the defense really showed up in the second half?
KEVIN RUTLAND: I think it was something that was needed. That D was looking for a play that he made. And I'm glad. I'm blessed I was able to make that play to give the team a spark. Unfortunately it wasn't enough.

Q. Blaine, coming into the game, did you think this was a game where you guys were going to tilt that heavily and maybe that successfully to the passing game?
BLAINE GABBERT: What?

Q. Coming into the game, with the game plan, did you think the game -- that you were going to throw the ball so much and maybe so effectively against this gun defense?
BLAINE GABBERT: We were going to do what was working. We had great practice all week throwing the football and running the football. It depended on how they came out with fronts they were giving us and what coverage they were giving us.
For the most part of the game we were pretty successful throwing the football.

Q. Blaine, can you talk about that play? What did you see as you were rolling off to the left?
BLAINE GABBERT: They were in a two-man shell. I got greedy. I forced it. I thought Wes got behind the cornerback and I was releasing down the field. I underthrew it a little bit, and the guy made a great play. Like I said, it was a game of inches, and I just threw the ball away.

Q. Blaine, early on -- and also T.J. -- early on, you were hitting a lot of receivers, but Egnew, it wasn't until the last minute of the first half that he caught a pass. Were they taking him away? What was happening there?
BLAINE GABBERT: They were leaving pretty much the outsides open. The corners were in bail coverage. And they played great coverage on Michael for the first part of the game. Sooner or later, he is so talented he is going to make a play. We hit him on a big play down the seam, and he stepped up big for us in the game.

Q. T.J., despite the play at the end and some of the other plays throughout the game, it seemed like the receiving core made great strides not only throughout the season but in this game particularly. Talk about the guys out there, not only yourself but some of the other guys like Jerrell and those kind of guys.
T.J. MOE: As a wide receiver, you take great pride in being able to catch the football. And we struggled with that a little bit this year sometimes.
I feel like we have had a lot of good practices under our belt with Bowl practices and guys really starting to get it together. Especially not just the starters, but we have some reserves that are really coming forth, too, and making a lot of plays for us. When we get tired, they can hop right in there with us.
Tonight I think all the receiving core played really well.

Q. T.J. and Blaine, can you address with everybody that's coming back next year what you anticipate, how much better is this team next year than this was?
BLAINE GABBERT: We are going to have one hell of a football team, I can tell you that right now. This team is a bunch of competitors. We will fight our tails off to the very, very end. Having this bitter taste in our mouth will make us work that much harder, and people should watch out for us next year because we got a lot of guys coming back because we're hungry.
T.J. MOE: I agree with Blaine. I don't think you ever want to stay the same. We have a lot of work to do. We will start as soon as we get back. You take a little bit of time off. We get to go home before school starts, and we got to be right back at it, because, I mean, it kind of showed tonight this team is not where we want to be. So we got a lot of things to do.
COACH PINKEL: Thanks, guys.

Q. Gary, I know it goes with the position, but how tough is it for Blaine to play as well as he did for 3 1/2 quarters in that play to kind of turn the tide in the last five minutes?
COACH PINKEL: He talked about the play. He took responsibility for it. And there is a lot of plays out there that, you know, if you could -- one play is not going to decide a football game. It is not gonna. That was a particular play. He also made a lot of great plays. We left the ball on the 3-yard line at the half. We didn't get a chance to score there because of a tipped ball. Gave us some big plays on defense.
There is a lot of plays you can go back and change and it would change the outcome of the game. And in close games, it's always going to be like that.
So you look at that one, but I thought he played remarkably well. And the receiving core, also. We lean on the pass because obviously it was working at a very high level. And so these games are difficult. These are tough.

Q. If you could address how the run defense played in the game, especially with Coker not really being heralded coming out of this game and you guys giving up 221 yards to him?
COACH PINKEL: He had several big plays, too. First of all, he is a very good player, a very tough runner. As I mentioned in the press conference this week several times that they have good players, they recruit well and they have got good depth, and I think that's obvious there.
I thought we played a little bit better in the second half in defense but, you know, in the big plays -- you get big plays, there had to be several, maybe four plus-25-yard plays. He is going to get a lot of yards. I think he is a good player and should get a lot of credit for it.

Q. Talk about when they went to review on that last catch. Did you have any doubt that the catch would be upheld?
COACH PINKEL: You know what? It doesn't matter. So why talk about it?

Q. Can you elaborate a little bit more on how effective the passing game was? And going in did you feel like that was a real advantage for you against this defense?
COACH PINKEL: We thought a little bit, we tried uptempo a little bit. We were running a faster-tempo offense that we practiced. And I think that helped us a little bit. If you can stay on the field, you can tire them out a little bit.
But, yeah, you know, it's -- I thought that -- we felt that we would -- a lot of times you get in the game and it depends how they play on defense. If they're overplaying the run or overplaying the pass, then we just adjust accordingly.
And Blaine was playing well and good protection. But, you know, you look back in a game like this and you look at the scoring opportunity at the end, even if you get a field goal at the end of the second quarter, you can look back at so many different plays that if you had a chance to make, it would have been a lot different.
But they deserved to win. It was a tough game, competitive game, and they did the things necessary to win.

Q. You have talked about that interception play, Blaine taking responsibility. But did you have the sense, at least for the naked eye upstairs, it seemed like there was some kind of miscommunication perhaps on that play, too, where Wes was reacting differently?
COACH PINKEL: I think that when you are out there in space, you know, you are not really sure. It is not designed once you are out in space. It is just this guy is going to react this way, this guy is going to go this way.
You know, he was -- if he had a chance to throw it over again, he probably wouldn't. But he also had a lot of great throws, and I thought he played a great football game. He is a competitor. And, you know, he is a great kid, he has gotten remarkably better as the -- this year compared to a year ago.
But there's -- I'm just telling you, done this for a long time, in games like this, you go back and change four plays and the whole game will change. That's the way it always is. What you want to do is make sure you are making the right plays. We were in control of the game pretty good at that point. Not only was it a turnover but we also obviously didn't cover well enough, and the guy made a great play. He ran well. He is a great athlete and made a great play.

Q. Just your thoughts more on the offensive line against their front four, they didn't get a whole lot of pressure on Blaine and also Palmgren didn't play. What was the situation on Palmgren?
COACH PINKEL: Palmgren was a discipline issue. As far as -- they are a great defensive line. You know, they're -- I think what helped us is a little bit -- how we upped the tempo because they don't substitute a lot. That gave us a chance to tire them out a little bit. But they also did some great things and we -- they might have had a couple sacks. They flushed them out. They did some great things.
It was one of those kind of games. I think if you can uptempo it and get a few first downs, I don't care who you are playing, you have a tendency to tire people out. That's something we tried to do a little bit more coming into this game, and I thought that was effective.

Q. As opposed to last year, would this game qualify as a game where you got basically maximum effort, got everything you asked for?
COACH PINKEL: Our kids prepared well. We did a heck of a job. Any time you get in close games -- this year we are generally in the close games, we were on the upper end. Generally you are the one that's making that one or two more plays. That's the difference in winning.
But, no, we competed well, we prepared well. Very disappointed for my team.

Q. What would be your role as Blaine kind of makes this decision over the next couple weeks in talking to him and how much will you be advising him about going pro or coming back?
COACH PINKEL: You know where I stand on that. So, I mean, I'm not going to talk about that. Everybody knows where I stand on that.
What I want always is the best thing for my players, that's the number one thing. And any time I -- if I give advice, I give advice as I've done with Ziggy Hood, and I can -- Ziggy Hood and we did it with Spoon and Wayne Moore and we did it with all those guys, Jeremy Maclin. The information and what you add to it is how I would do it -- how I would counsel my son. That's how I would do it. And that's just the way I think it should be.
THE MODERATOR: Coach, thank you very much for joining us.

End of FastScripts

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