BYU at Missouri Postgame Notes and Quotes

NOTES

ATTENDANCE: 42,824
FLAG BEARERS: ALUMNI: Jeff Bell (LB, 2007-09) TEAM: Harvey Langi (Jr., LB) SPECIAL TEAMS: Trey Dye (So., WR)
GAME CAPTAINS: Bronson Kaufusi (Sr., DL), Mitch Mathews (Sr., WR) and Remington Peck (Sr., DL/TE)

TEAM NOTES

Series Record. BYU is 1-1 in the series with Missouri along with a 5-5 mark against the SEC as currently constituted.

Narrow Margin.BYU falls to 3-2 on the season in games decided by seven or fewer points with wins over Nebraska, East Carolina and San Jose State along with losses to UCLA and Missouri.

TFLs and Sacks.  The BYU defense recorded seven tackles for a loss and has at least six tackles for loss in 9 out of 10 games this season. It is only the second game this season without a single sack.

Receivers.BYU now has two receivers with 500 or more yards, four over 400 and five over 300 (M. Mathews 519, Blackmon 517, Kurtz 468, Juergens 468 & Houk 378).

Pass Yards. BYU has thrown for at least 240 yards in nine of 10 games this season.

PLAYER NOTES

Tanner Mangum
Completed 23 of 41 passes with 244 yards and one touchdown. His first completion of the second half went for 11 yards, surpassing the BYU freshman passing yard record (2,316) set by Jake Heaps. With the 6-yard TD pass in the fourth quarter, Mangum surpassed another school freshman QB record for pass TDs in a season with 16. Heaps had 15 in 2010.

Bronson Kaufusi
Recorded 10 total tackles for a career high and to go along with three tackles for loss and two forced fumbles. He is the first BYU player with two forced fumbles in one game since Brandon Ogletree in 2011 against Oregon State.

Harvey Langi
Recorded a career-high 10 total tackles with eight solo stops. He also had his first kickoff returns as a Cougar with two for 45 yards.

Francis Bernard
Had four catches for 56 yards and a touchdown. Going into the game he had five receptions for 40 yards.

Algernon Brown
Scored his ninth rushing TD of the season on an 11-yard run in the third quarter. He has 10 total to lead the team this season (9 rush, 1 rec.).

Micah Hannemann
Had his second interception of the season and returned it 29 yards.

Jonny Linehan
Notched his 16^th punt inside the 20 and had two punts of 50+ yards upping his total to nine on the season. He averaged 46.5 yards per punt,  topping his 43.4 average.

CAREER HIGHS (The following players recorded notable career highs)

Long Reception – Francis Bernard (35 yards on 3^rd & 11)

Total Tackles – Bronson Kaufusi (10), Harvey Langi (10), Jherremya Leuta-Douyere (tied career high–9)

Solo Tackles – Jherremya Leuta-Douyere (7), Harvey Langi (8), Bronson Kaufusi (tied career high–8)

FIRSTS (The following players recorded their first in a respective category)

Career Firsts

TFL— Michael Shelton

KO Return – Harvey Langi (22 yards)

BYU QUOTES

BYU Head Coach Bronco Mendenhall

Opening Statement…

“I think 3^rd down was one of the downs that controlled the game. Missouri’s ability to make great calls on 3^rd down and put their players in great situations allowed them to hold onto the ball. I think our team was resilient, we fought hard, but had a few critical mistakes. A few penalties and turnovers at the wrong time. In a close game, you expect those things to make the difference.”

On Tanner Mangum’s play against a tough Missouri defense…
“I thought he fought really hard. I thought their defensive backs were really aggressive on our receivers. But overall, I thought he played well.”

On what a win would have meant to BYU’s season…
“It would have been the next nice building block for this season. We have had a long nice stretch that we have put together. This game was a long way from home against a good opponent in a really cool venue. It would have been a great building block for this particular season.”

On what he said to Coach Pinkel…
“We talked a little bit before the game. He told me he is looking forward to enjoying his life away from football. I wished him well. Gary is a class act and a really good coach.”

On the mood of the team…
“They are really hurt. We really believed we would come here and win and we thought we were going to win right up until the end. So the loss stings.”

TE Remington Peck

On why the offense took so long to get going…

“Man, I don’t know. They were obviously a good defense, but it just seemed like we were hesitant. I do not know the reason for that, but it seemed like we turned it on a little bit in the second half. We just need to start faster. It sucks to fall short like that when you know you are capable of winning a game like that to an opponent like Missouri.”

On the feeling after the loss to Mizzou…

“I would just say overall just a feeling of disappointment. It is tough when you feel like you lose a game to a team that you are better than. They played a better football game.“

QB Tanner Mangum

On the feeling after the loss to Mizzou…
“It stings. It is never fun to come out on the losing end, so it’s frustrating but we have to keep our heads up. You cannot dwell on it too long. You have to be able to learn from it and bounce back.”

On what he would change during the game…

“In the beginning of the game, we were a little bit hesitant coming out and playing against a tough team. And maybe we did not come out firing like we should have. I thought we picked that up later in the game. I think we could improve in that aspect, starting out with a better mind set, with a more fierce mentality.”

On what he, as quarterback, takes on in the loss…

“I take all that on. There are a lot of things I need to improve and a lot of things I can work on. I will always continue to do my best to get better every day. We can’t dwell on this too long. Obviously it hurts, but we had some positives. We did some good things, so we have to go learn from those and take that and get back to work.”

MISSOURI QUOTES

Missouri Head Coach Gary Pinkel 

On the team’s win…

“I am very proud of our football team, with all of the adversity and everything that went down this past week and how they stayed focused to play and compete and to battle through all the things that went down in that football game. Which is a great lesson for that one, do not ever think that you are out.”

On the next three games…

“All we are going to do is play for each other or the guy next to you for these next three games, and that is exactly what we did for this one.”

On the meeting on Friday to tell his team about his resignation…

“It was the most emotional 15 minutes of my life, and it happened the day before a big game.”

On the team’s support…

“It means everything to me. I have watched them grow up and become the resilient players they are today and it means the absolute world to me to have their support.”

On how he feels with his sickness…

“I feel pretty good right now, and there are a lot of people who have cancer a lot worse than I have, and my prayers go out to them.”

On the team…

 “I always tell our guys, you never know when greatness is around the corner. You keep working hard and you never know when greatness all of the sudden just flips.”

On where this goes down in game history…

“After this week, this game is definitely one of the greatest games I have been apart of and it is one that will stick with me forever.”

On the fans chanting…

“It is very flattering. I love Mizzou, I love this place. I stayed here because I thought Mizzou could be even greater than what we have accomplished, and I think there is a step here that could lead to a whole different level so to all the fans I am very appreciative of them.”

Mizzou C Evan Boehm

On 50^th straight start being in Kansas City …

“You know it’s special, it’s an honor, it’s a blessing. There’s not a lot of people that are able to do what I’m able to do. I take each day as a blessing and as an honor to be out here and play the sport I love and be with the people I love and play and represent my family.”

On meeting with Coach Gary Pinkel Friday…
“You left with a full heart man, you left with a heavy full heart. It was one of the most emotional meetings that he’s ever had. Without Coach Pinkel none of us would be here and none of us would meet each other. None of us would be able to play the game and the sport that we love. And having Coach Pinkel be the first head football coach to offer me when I was in eighth grade hits home and it’s tough to see. Prayers go up for Coach Pinkel and prayers go up for this coaching staff and this team with everything that’s going on this week. I’m glad we ended this week the way we did and BYU is a tough team and they were a very competitive team and they are a good team. We did alright tonight and I was proud of the way we played and the way we fought this week and tonight.”

Mizzou QB Drew Lock

On Coach Pinkel…

“He kind of let us know then and there were some heads that dropped for sure, some teary eyes. You know it’s hard, obviously you know me being here for one year, I’ve grown a relationship with Coach Pinkel but not like the guys that have been here for four to five years. It was a little disappointing. One thing that Coach Pinkel does is that he relates to you as a person, not necessarily as a tool to help him win football games. He’s like a dad to us really. He gives us some Pinkel advice and that’s been cool to me, just learning life lessons from him besides just strictly football.”

On Preparing for the BYU Game…

“My whole idea behind this is that we’ve had anything and everything thrown at us and obviously your head coach resigning is a stab to the chest but we kind of looked at it like alright; here’s just another thing to add to the top of our table. Granted it’s the biggest thing we’ve had to add on but we’re going to come in here and fire on all cylinders. It was a little difficult but it’s definitely what I signed up for, maybe a little more than I signed up for, more than I was expecting, but this is a game that I love to play and I’m out here at a Division I level, I couldn’t ask much more.”

On His Performance Tonight…

“I think you saw us click on all cylinders from all parts of our offense. We haven’t really had that so to say. You know we’ve been killing them on the run and I’ve had a bad game and couldn’t really throw the ball or the opposite but it was cool just to have everyone come together and fire off like we did.”

Mizzou WR J’Mon Moore

On Coach Pinkel…

“That meeting was the most emotional meeting that I’ve had at Mizzou. You could definitely tell that he had something to tell us. And he was crying. There was a lot of hurt people in that room. Some of us were confused because it just hit us so fast.”

On the upcoming Games…

“Just right now we are just focusing on Tennessee and watching film on them. Studying them as much as we can. We’ve got to focus on one game at a time. We have to focus on what’s most important and that is the game.”