The Missouri offense was unproductive in Saturday’s 10-3 loss at Vanderbilt.
Here are some of Gary Pinkel’s comments after the game.
Opening statement:
“First off, congratulations to Vanderbilt, I thought they did a really good job. We had a chance in the end to drive and at least tie it up, and a gallant effort until that point. They held on, got us on downs. We’re frustrated because we’re playing really good defense and poor on offense.”
On whether personnel changes are needed on offense:
“We’re looking at everything. When you switch personnel, you have to know what happens with the spot with the person that’s leaving, so it’s really easy to throw people all over the place. We have to analyze all that stuff. It’s my fault, so I’m charged with getting that changed.”
On locker room morale:
“Disappointment, frustration, high anxiety — certainly, you know, we had a shot at the end. We get one throw in the end zone, a catch, and we would have gone into overtime. It’s a lot of frustration. We’ve lost some close games — really the last three have been reasonably close except for the Florida with interception and the touchdown. But the bottom line is you gotta go do it and we’re not getting it done.”
On if the same mistakes are causing the same game outcomes:
“You know I can’t tell you that. How would I know that? Turnover wise, I don’t think we turned the ball over except for the punt. We all know how critical that was. I shouldn’t have had him back there. He’s a freshman, a really talented young guy, but I shouldn’t have had him back there, so I’ll take the hit on that one too.”
“Our inability to run the football with a young quarterback puts a tremendous amount of pressure on him.”
On his approach to coaching moving forward:
“I run my offensive coordinator the same way I’ve been a head coach for 25 years.”
On Lock’s lessons from the game:
“He matures a lot. Any experience he has, is new for him. He did a lot of good things. He couldn’t hit on a couple of long ones, they were playing a squad coverage.”
Sean Labar is an SEC football contributor for Saturday Down South.
