Sept. 29, 2015
Head Ball Coach Steve Spurrier
Opening statement
Once a year we play the Missouri Tigers, battle of Columbia, nice little trophy. We’ve been fortunate to win it a couple of times, (didn’t win) it last year. I think it is sort of neat you have a game like this. I think a lot of Big Ten teams have a game where they have a little trophy at the end, winning team gets to carry it off and so forth. I don’t think you need to have one every game, but one or two a year like that makes it a little special for the players. They get a kick out of it, when they are fortunate to win it. Missouri is a good team as always. They have won the Eastern Division the last two years. They lose one game somewhere along the line and then they win the rest of them. Whether or not they can do that this year, time will tell. Their defense I think is the best in the conference right now, as far as giving up points and yards. Their offense has struggled a little bit, a little bit like ours has struggled at times. Who knows what will happen this Saturday? We are looking forward to it. Lorenzo Nunez is ready to play and we have most of our guys pretty healthy. Our defense played very well in the second half again. Amazingly, we have shut out three of our four opponents in the second half this year. (The defense has) played real well at times.
Has there been an update on Brandon (Wilds), Alan Knott and Chris Lammons?
Chris Lammons I think is going to practice today. The other two are not. We’ll see how they are doing late in the week. Right now, I would doubt that they would play.
How difficult is it for (Lorenzo) to assume the leadership role of a team?
I don’t know if he assumes it too much. He is just out there playing ball. He doesn’t have to worry about all of that, it will take care of itself. He does a good job of just being tough. The block he made the other day ââ’¬” the players said, ‘Hey this guy is pretty tough.’ I loved it when he was running the ball against Georgia, – when he went down the sideline ââ’¬” instead of running out of bounds he lowered his shoulder and knocked one of their little DBs about two or three yards backward. Those are the kind of things your teammates admire and respect about you. He doesn’t have to talk a lot. Just play tough, compete and it will take care of itself.
It seems like every year Missouri has some pass rushers that come after you. I guess this year it really isn’t any different?
They always have a good defense. This year is no exception. They are quick, fast, they take great pride in the toughness they play with. It’s always a battle. We’ve had two real close games the last two years. We’ve won one and lost one. Who knows how this will go?
In terms of the mechanics of play-calling, no matter who makes the call, how does that work?
I don’t know how exactly everybody does it. Most (teams) have just one guy that calls it. I guess every now and then the head coach makes some suggestions to the play-caller. I don’t know how they do it. Normally, I do it. We put G.A. up top and we had our list of runs, this that and the other. I started pitching in a few plays here and there. Coach Elliott calls half the runs probably. We have sort of a team effort right now, ultimately I ‘m responsible for the plays.
How does the offense differ right now under Nunez then it did under Connor Shaw?
I don’t know how much different. We didn’t call a whole bunch of plays for Connor Shaw. He would take off in pass situations. Right now, both of them are very good about running and not taking a big hit. We didn’t know what was going to happen last week, but when Lorenzo took off running he had the ability to get all that was there, get down, dive forward and not take a real hard hit. We were talking the other day, Russell Wilson at Seattle, he runs all the time and never gets hit hard. Some players have the ability to take care of themselves. Emmitt Smith ran for more yards than anybody in the history of the NFL and I don’t think he ever got hurt. It’s a knack to protect yourself when you go in there.
Coach are you comfortable with a (Noon ET) start?
We like the (Noon ET) starts, especially the road games when you get home at a decent hour. Some of those games you get back 3 or 4 in the morning, it tears you up pretty much, you finally get back to normal Monday afternoon or Tuesday. The (12 noon ET) have been fine with us, we are looking forward to it.
You’ve talked since preseason about plays with Nunez and Cooper together? Do you like the chemistry of the two together? Is it just a matter of getting the ball in the hands of your better players?
It’s what it is. Trying to get the ball in the hands of your better players. Brandon Wilds was certainly running well at the end of that North Carolina game. Shon Carson is averaging probably more than any of the backs. David (Williams) had a couple of lost (yardage) plays that we messed up some blocking assignments up front. Pharoh can obviously make guys mix and we have to put him back there and let him run some too.
