Postgame Quotes
Nov. 28, 2009
Recap | Final Stats | Notes |
KANSAS CITY, Mo. –
Postgame Quotes
Missouri 41, Kansas 39
Nov. 28, 2009
Kansas Head Coach Mark Mangino
On the Kansas’ overall performance:
“I’m certainly proud of the team. It was a game either team could’ve won. Give credit to Missouri. They played right to the end. I’m very proud of our players and proud of their efforts all season long. So many people thought they would come out tonight and play dead, and that didn’t happen. I know these kids, and they don’t do that. They’re competitive and they care. They’re great kids. They won’t be judged by their record this season throughout the rest of their lives. They will be judged by their character and their effort. They will be remembered as a very cohesive and tough group of kids.”
On the play of WR Dezmon Briscoe:
“It was a bittersweet day for Dezmon. He had some fantastic plays and some fumbles that hurt, but Dezmon has contributed great things to this program for a long time. Nobody feels worse about it than Dezmon, but it’s not Dezmon’s fault that we didn’t win the game. He gave us a chance to win, but we just didn’t get enough done as a team. Offensively, I thought we played decently well, except for the turnovers. Defensively, we struggled a little bit with Missouri. They had some offensive weapons. I don’t think we responded enough with three-and-outs tonight. That would’ve helped greatly. We’re learning, and we’ll get better on defense. For some of those kids, it’s been a learning process.”
On Missouri’s punting game:
“It made all the difference in the game. We got some drives out of there, but we spent a lot of time trying to get the ball out of our end of the field. He (Missouri punter Jake Henry) may have been a difference-maker today.”
On Kansas’ senior class:
“I told our seniors that they’ve already left a legacy with some of the things that they’ve done. More people will remember all of the good things they’ve done than the negatives, especially our fan base. They should be proud that they fought and gave their very best. You can’t ask for anything from a player but their best effort, and they gave their best effort every single week. They should be proud of the fact that they gave their best every day.”
Kansas Player Quotes
Senior Quarterback Todd Reesing
On what the team and coaches talked about after the game:
“It was an emotional time, especially for us seniors. The reality hasn’t really set in yet, but that was the last game we’re going to play in a KU uniform. It hurts that it happened that way, but we’re holding our heads high because we played hard the entire game. We gave it the best we had, and we fell short. Things didn’t go our way just as they haven’t this whole season. It’s just the way things go sometimes. I started 11-0 and finished 0-7, so I’ve had an up-and-down career and we’ve been through a lot as a senior class.”
On his performance today:
“I think the main thing was we were either playing to stay alive and earn another game or it was going to be our last game. There was a lot on the line for us. We were playing Missouri, which is the biggest game of the year for us. I did the best I could in this game and left it all on the field. I think I had one of my better games of the season and it just sucks that we weren’t able to pull it out.”
Senior Running Back Jake Sharp
On the legacy the 2009 seniors have left:
“We are a bunch of hard-working, hard-nosed guys. We like to have fun while playing football. That’s the way it’s supposed to be played. We give absolutely everything we have when we play. I feel very lucky to have played with the guys I’ve played with. I will remember these guys for a long time and I’m blessed to have had the opportunity to play with them.”
On the team’s emotions after the game:
“Darrell Stuckey gave one of the more touching speeches I’ve ever heard. He got up and said some words, and that just shows you what a great guy he is.”
Junior Wide Receiver Dezmon Briscoe
On recovering from mistakes:
“The coaches tell me to keep my head up and that I will come back and make more plays. I just try to stay in the game.”
On recovering after today’s mistakes:
“I’m usually the type of player where if there’s a mistake and it’s my fault I shake it off and move on to the next play. But after the second fumble, it really hit me hard. Coach (David) Beaty came over to talk to me, told me I’d be alright and I’d make my plays, and I ended up doing that.”
Senior Safety Darrell Stuckey
On disappointment from the game:
“We can’t rely on circumstances. Sometimes things don’t work out the way you want them to. It’s not about what position you’re in, but how you take advantage of opportunities. It doesn’t affect the way in which we play. I don’t wish one thing or another about the game. We just went out there and played like a team.”
On Missouri’s punting winning the game:
“I would have to agree. They made a lot of great plays on their punt team. When you have to 90 yards on offense, it makes it more difficult. It also affects the defense. It’s hard for us to get a stop.”
Senior Wide Receiver Kerry Meier
On today’s successful offense:
“It feels great. We’ve been struggling with that for five or six weeks. To come out today and play the offense we were playing felt good. Todd (Reesing) and I were seeing eye-to-eye and we were moving the ball. We just couldn’t get it done in the end.”
Missouri Head Coach Gary Pinkel
Opening Statement:
“First of all, I feel like I have to mention Kansas, with all they’ve been going through, to battle like they did, I was very impressed. They really, really battled, and that says an awful lot about Mark (Mangino) and certainly his football team with all they’ve been going through. With that being said, it’s hard to win. I told our guys that at halftime, it’s just hard to win. A lot of things happened out there, my team found a way to win at the end – and I’m proud of that. Proud is not even a good word to describe. We had a lot of penalties, which I was really disappointed in – I just cringe when were out there doing things to hurt ourselves. We get caught up in the emotion. Anyway, we just had to battle through all that stuff. Sometimes it’s going to happen. I’m just proud of our football team. Grant Russell, every Thursday, we work on game-winning kicks. Sometimes we count the time down, and have him kick it – we do that every Thursday and we put him through that. It did not surprise me at all, I thought we might have been able to run it in, but we just wanted to use the clock up, and (Russell) kicked it right through; good snap, good hold.”
On his decision to punt the ball with three minutes remaining:
“I didn’t think there was anything wrong with that. I just thought it was the right thing to do – I heard that after the game, and everybody thought it was a great decision.”
On the emotions with the coaches, as opposed to the players:
“I think when you’re in the game, you’re in the moment and are just trying to focus. You just try to make good decisions out there as best you can. We were jumping around after the game, and I’m just so proud of our team.”
On if he felt “exposed” when he decided to punt the ball:
“No, I just did what I thought was right. Sometimes the right thing doesn’t work. (Kansas) threw the ball three times – and that safety was huge for us. We did very well on the kickoff after the safety. As I recall, Derrick Washington played great on the last drive – when we get inside the 30 yard line, we feel o.k.; obviously we’d like to get it closer. If you miss the field goal, people will ask why you didn’t try to get the touchdown. We work on that all the time, I trusted the kicker, the snapper and the holder.”
On the instinct that made him know punting was the right thing to do:
“It was all about field position – I thought we were punting the ball well, we got it at the one, two and four yard lines. I just felt we were punting well, and that it was all about field position. I just trusted the guys to go out there and do it. You don’t want to give up on them. Honestly, I had no idea this was a big deal. I’m just sure glad we won a game. I just looked at our odds and our experience. If they would’ve scored, I still would have thought it was the right thing to do, and you would have disagreed.”
On trying to create crowd noise with Grant Russell during practice:
“What we’ll do is pull him out of practice, and guys will be throwing towels at him and jumping up and down. It’s like Tiger Woods, being able to focus and be mentally tough. We were doing the same thing – and he’s obviously a heck of a player.”
Missouri Player Quotes
Sophomore Kicker Grant Ressel
On the being put in pressure situations in practice:
“It is really not a big deal to me as long as the guys don’t say things that are too mean. I think it helps because you become comfortable with people yelling at you and trying to get in your head.”
On what was going threw his mind when Missouri elected to kneel:
“It really wasn’t much of a concern to me because the kick wasn’t very long compared to what it could have been. It really didn’t bother me at all.”
On his thoughts after he made the kick:
“My first thought was that it was a great hold. Then I saw a flag go up and I alarmed at first because I thought we were going to have to kick again. Once I saw it was on KU though I was really happy.”
Sophomore Wide Receiver Jerrell Jackson
On what the offense was thinking after Missouri elected to punt late in the fourth quarter:
“We have faith in our defense and I was alright about it because I knew our defense would get the stop. We were really saddened as an offense that we weren’t able to get a few first downs.”
On the defense getting their first three-and-out late in the game:
“Our defense will never give up. Sean Witherspoon will always get in there and get them pumped up. They will always fight and I will always trust them.
Junior Offensive Lineman Tim Barnes
On kicker Grant Ressel:
“He is an excellent guy that is pretty quiet and a hard worker. He works very hard in practice and he has worked hard all year to get the kicking job. What he has been able to do this year speaks a lot about him.”
On electing to punt late:
“It ended being a good plan for us. Would I have maybe wanted to go for it, I don’t know. Emotions can be high out there. Jake (Henry) had been ripping punts off all day and he was in a good position to do it again and he did.”
