Missouri’s Gary Pinkel expects ‘mammoth’ atmosphere for Georgia game
Missouri coach Gary Pinkel expects a raucous atmosphere for the school's first SEC game against Georgia on Sept. 8.
Georgia fans have often asked me what awaits the Bulldogs when they visit Missouri on September 8th. Well, I’ve never been to Columbia, Mo., either. But I know the Tigers and their fans will be especially fired up for their first SEC game in history.
Here’s what Mizzou coach Gary Pinkel thinks:
“It will be mammoth here. Our fans are so excited about being a part of the SEC. That being the first game is going to make it a big, big, game here. People are talking about it already; rarely do they ever do that. They understand we’re playing a great Georgia team. We understand that. When we switched leagues, that enthusiasm really for that game and from our fanbase in general has been remarkably positive for us.”
Pinkel was taking part in his first SEC teleconference call on Tuesday. Thirteen of the 14 coaches — Arkansas’ new guy, John L. Smith, wasn’t due to be introduced until about 3 p.m. — answered reporters’ questions for about 10 minutes or so as part of this post-spring-practice tradition.
Pinkel, Texas A&M’s Kevin Sumlin and Ole Miss’s Hugh Freeze were the new kids on the block. Pinkel was asked about making the transition and trying to get ready for the Bulldogs.
“Anytime you make a transition like we’re making to the SEC there are a lot of things that are involved,” Pinkel said. “One is, not knowing any of the personnel or schemes we’re playing as far as our opponents. Obviously we know all the Big 12 teams very well. So we’re doing a lot of analysis right now, not just of Georgia, but of all the teams we’re going to play next year. That’s been going on since the end of February and it will go on into August. That’s kind of part of our transition. We have to do a lot of homework and a lot of study and evaluation of the schemes of all these teams and certainly personnel. . . . It’s very important for us to do a thorough analysis so that when we play these teams we have a pretty good understanding of what their makeup is.”
Georgia and Florida both have the unenviable task of christening the new teams into SEC play. The Gators also play Texas A&M on Sept. 8 in College Station.
“You knew [when SEC 2012 schedules were released] that was going to be an historic game for Missouri and for Texas A&M, for that matter,” Richt said. “It was pretty obvious the excitement for those programs is going to be at an all-time high. So it’s going to be a great challenge for us from a psychological point of view. But, in the meantime, we’ve been able to look at some film of Missouri’s offense and defense and they’re very impressive. You look at their overall record, knowing Coach Pinkel and his history of success, just seeing the players that they have and the big games they’ve won in teh past, we know it’s going to be a tremendous challenge for us. But we’ll be excited about it, too.”
A lot of the coaches were talking about how different it will be playing Missouri because they play such a radically different style of spread offense, often utilizing four and five wide receivers. Florida’s Will Muschamp and Auburn’s Gene Chizik both faced Pinkel’s offenses while defensive coordinators at Texas.
Richt doesn’t believe the scheme itself is a problem.
“Our league is pretty diverse,” he said. “There’s not any one way of doing things in the Southeastern Conference. They’ll be doing some things a lot of teams in our league do. They may spread out a little more than most people in our league do, but not anything that no one has ever seen before.”
Schemes and matchups aside, it’s the sheer electricity expected on Sept. 8th that has everybody so excited. Pinkel expects his team to be pumped up by the atmosphere — but not overwhelmed by it.
“We’ve had some remarkably big games here,” Pinkle said. “A couple of years ago we were both 7-0 when we played Oklahoma in a big night game here. We’ve had a bunch of games like that over the years, like Georgia has had and all the other teams in the country have had. What really is different here is this a new era. This is the beginning of a new era for Missouri football forever. We just happen to be playing Georgia this year in our opener for that and there is just a real enthusiasm for it. It will go down in history as the first game. So to say it’s just a normal game, just a normal conference game, it’s really not. Once you break the ice there, then there it goes and we’ll just move on.”
– Chip Towers, The UGA Blog
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220 comments Add your comment
takedowndawg
April 24th, 2012
5:35 pm
Tide……you are talking a lot of smack so early in the year aren’t you? The gloating about recruiting seven of our state players to ala.. Heard the primary motivator was that they would be “protected” from disciplinary action if they smoked dope at Alabama, both by the coaches and the police. Just a rumor but since there is not a history of punishing players for use, according to the NCAA, itt was amusing though. Only (8) teams nationally have disciplined their players with suspensions. ONLY EIGHT!!!!!! Course we know no Alabama player has every smoked MJ. right tide…..
Bama Dawg
April 24th, 2012
5:37 pm
Red Jello,
I wanted to touch on that embarrassment thing one time. If you pull for the “Tide”, isn’t that one big embarrassment right there? Louisiana Monroe, Utah, Mike Shula, Harvey Updike, The Tea-bagger. Congrats on your recent NC’s as the SEC is very proud of what you have accomplished. But, keep in mind you carry your own shame with you. Winning does not cover that up. Especially when you talk trash to other fan bases who you know will remind you of your “past” discretions. Kind of makes me mad now that the SEC took Bama off our schedule. Would have been nice for Richt to continue building his winning record against the “Tide”. What is CMR on ya’ll; 3-1? Now, go ahead and throw a “Saban owns you”, or a “I’m smarter than you” comment back at me. You know you want to.
moleman
April 24th, 2012
5:37 pm
Its okay Red Jello. Come back over and I’ll hold you sme more.
moleman
April 24th, 2012
5:37 pm
surprises?? like less than 5 more arrests this summer?
The Tide is Rolling and Nothing can stop it
April 24th, 2012
5:38 pm
You can’t lose your conference and play in the championship… if you’re not a top tier program with National respect…
The Tide is Rolling and Nothing can stop it
April 24th, 2012
5:40 pm
No one will beat this post…
Red Jello
April 24th, 2012
4:33 pm
Missouri fans, I apologize for the SEC. You’ll find that the UGA fanbase is easily the most ignorant of all fanbases in the conference. They are big on talk, small on results. You can’t beat them on paper; no one can. The NY Giants can’t beat them before the season starts. But anyone with a winning record can after the season starts. They are 24-15 their last three seasons. They aren’t Bama, or LSU, or Arkansas. They are Kansas in femine red uniforms. Play solid football and you’ll have no problems. And welcome.
The Tide is Rolling and Nothing can stop it
April 24th, 2012
5:43 pm
Alabama got past their embarrassing years by making the appropriate changes. They didn’t have an idiot fan base worshiping a coordinator (who averages 40 pts to ranked teams) because the defense looked good against Kentucky.
This is one of the many reasons you had to get up and turn the channel on the TV after UGA’s last championship showing.
Red Jello
April 24th, 2012
5:46 pm
Bama Dawg, I’m not an Alabama fan, but have a great deal of respect for their program. They are a proud people, the Alabama fans, and rightfully so. The program has the hardware to back it up. Georgia fans TALK like they have the hardware, but, sorry, a Liberty Bowl Participation Ribbon, and an “My team went to Tampa and lost a bowl game and all I got was this stupid t-shirt” memento doesn’t have the same impact.. Glad we talked.
moleman
April 24th, 2012
5:48 pm
Yeah Red Jello but you forget The Bear cashed in his chips shortly afte his last bowl game…in The Liberty Bowl.
philly cheesesteak
April 24th, 2012
5:48 pm
Wonder where I can get one of them t-shirts at?
Macon Mike
April 24th, 2012
5:50 pm
Red Jello stompin on yall like a grass fire.
moleman
April 24th, 2012
5:54 pm
Shouldn’t that be Moron Mike?
rescue dog
April 24th, 2012
5:56 pm
I better call for back-up.
tbomachine
April 24th, 2012
5:57 pm
the tide is rolling and nothing can stop it…………….except for louisiana monroe
GTBob
April 24th, 2012
5:57 pm
Shouldn’t that be moleman the moron?
jrodMIZ
April 24th, 2012
5:57 pm
OK OK OK so the SEC is an amazing confrence but the big 12 was no joke either not to mention miz has a good core of players coming back minus egnew a great TE who we will miss though we did get DGB and if you dont know who that is i suggest you wake up and smell the 6′4″ roses. excited to play some SEC ball an prove some hater wrong, but hater do gotta hate
moleman
April 24th, 2012
5:59 pm
Using someone else’s name is pretty gutless. Probably another example of “The Georgia Way”.
moleman
April 24th, 2012
6:02 pm
jrodMIZ, welcome to the SEC. Don’t pay any attention to these Georgia rednecks. Hope Mizzou rolls their behinds.
The Tide is Rolling and Nothing can stop it
April 24th, 2012
6:02 pm
tbomachine
April 24th, 2012
5:57 pm
the tide is rolling and nothing can stop it…………….except for louisiana monroe
1. The revival wasn’t immediate.
2. We did get a new offensive coordinator after that.
Championship programs don’t make excuses…
The Tide is Rolling and Nothing can stop it
April 24th, 2012
6:07 pm
Championship program: I don’t care if Coach Shula just won 10 games.
Mid-tier program: Our defense is giving up points because our offense is putting them in bad positions.
Championship program: We will sign as many talented players are we can legally get away with.
Mid tier program: Other teams are better because we don’t oversign. It’s just morally wrong, plus Coach Richt is on another mission trip.
Championship program: Beats VT and Clemson on National Stage
Mid tier program: Loses to Boise State on National Stage
I could keep going….
GTBob
April 24th, 2012
6:09 pm
Shouldn’t that be moleman the moron?
Why pretend to be me to bash someone else? Seems cowardly.
Miami of Ohio fan
April 24th, 2012
6:16 pm
I don’t know the rules for this, but here goes. If Georgia fans want to talk trash about past losses by their rivals, I remember a little school from Oxford, Ohio kicking some dog tail in the Tangerine Bowl in 1974. I know it was a long time ago, but Bama and ULM wasn’t yesterday either.
even then?
April 24th, 2012
6:24 pm
back in ‘74 they was embarrassing the SEC. They lucky the internet wasn’t around then.
jrodMIZ
April 24th, 2012
6:26 pm
thank u moleman. I happen to live in columbia an i do attend many football games so any of you georgia fans that think its a mild atmospher that ur just going to walk in an play a decent game an come out with a win GOOD LUCK!!! by the way when we beat OU on that night it happend to be with them ranked #1 in the nation and college gameday was here…big stage? u tell me
bbig city blog critic
April 24th, 2012
6:35 pm
Red Jello’s post at 5:46 was blog “Gold”. You people are lucky to have someone so talented. Obviously Ivy League educated.
kingdaddy
April 24th, 2012
6:46 pm
JrodMiz
Most all Ga. fans know how important this game is to both teams. You’re gonna hear a lot of trolls pretending to be Ga. fans trying to stir up crap. Its gonna be a Dog and Cat fight that we’re looking forward to. Welcome to the SEC dude…
LakeDawg
April 24th, 2012
6:46 pm
UGA should win. However, CMR’s teams traditionally start slow and don’t start playing ball until the 3rd or 4th game. A Mizzou win wouldn’t shock me.
LakeDawg
April 24th, 2012
6:49 pm
Bama fans are the worst in the nation, but they’ve got one thing right…UGA has been a second tier program under CMR. There is no way around that.
takedowndawg
April 24th, 2012
6:49 pm
tide, with a obnoxious fan like you……I think I might start pulling for Auburn when they play the Red Elephants year after year till they.beat you. I am good with that thought. And, you know, it is very hard for a UGA alumni to pull for Auburn anytime, unless, they are playing another conference!. Go Auburn, beat the red elephants!
Talk about embarrassing the SEC
April 24th, 2012
6:50 pm
21 vacated wins, post season bowl bans , still on NCAA probation till June of this year. Bama is 1-3 vs Mark Richt and Georgia, Georgia is 2nd in SEC wins only trailing LSU in Richt era,is tied with LSU with most division titles, and only trails LSU in conference titles during the Richt era. Bama fans like roll tide and tide is rolling embarrass the bama nation with their lack of class. They act as though they’ve never won anything before.
Talk about embarrassing the SEC
April 24th, 2012
6:53 pm
Tide is 4-7 vs Auburn
The Factor
April 24th, 2012
7:10 pm
@The Tide is rolling,
First, you are a Pinhead. Second, you did not go to Bama as you did not come close to qualifying academically (and it isn’t too hard to get in). Third, you are still a Pinhead and embarrass most Tide fans.
kingdaddy
April 24th, 2012
7:14 pm
The Ga./U.M. and the Fla./T.A.M. are going to be on a national stage. I really hope they aren’t both played at the same time. I want to see Texas AM. wearing that Lizard butt out.lol..Fla. probably wants Missouri to embarrass the Dawgs too…
The Factor
April 24th, 2012
7:15 pm
@Talk about embarrassing….
You are a Patriot.
The Factor
April 24th, 2012
7:22 pm
@jrodMIZ
As someone who actually attended UGA on this blog: WELCOME !! You will find the worst offenders on all the SEC blogs are posted primarily by those who did not attend the respected university. I love my Dawgs and the University of Georgia entirely.
RHall55
April 24th, 2012
7:27 pm
It will be a major problem if Coach Will Friend (Gomer Friend) doesn’t get his act together and start gettin his OL together!! Also, has shown so far, Gomer Friend is the worst recruiting OL Coach in the SEC: missing out on top OL in the past (2) years; not recruiting in-state OL very well (none last year) and missing out on Max Garcia recently; C’mon Gomer, do your job!!!
Talk about embarrassing the SEC
April 24th, 2012
7:38 pm
Rhall , Theus was a 5 star lineman , no 5 star O linemen in the state.He was hired in Feb of 2011 so this is his first recruiting class. Get a clue.
Talk about embarrassing the SEC
April 24th, 2012
7:42 pm
Yes friend is horrible, only 1 1st team all SEC lineman and 1 second team . Rhall perhaps you should ask the players that played for him what they thought.Perhaps you would get a little better perspective.
Dawg Alum
April 24th, 2012
7:47 pm
Why is it that the naysayers (and GT Bob) never mention that GT was a RANKED team multiple times UGa has played them. They were no longer “ranked” after those games so I guess UGa and Murray don’t get credit for beating ranked teams. Just a thought.
Talk about embarrassing the SEC
April 24th, 2012
7:48 pm
Rhall, there were 7 5 star offensive linemen in the 2012 class, Friend signed 1 of them the only other SEC team to sign one was Florida.
Dawg Alum
April 24th, 2012
7:54 pm
The Tide is 4-7 vs Auburn
UGa is (I think) 7-4 or 8-3 vs Auburn
CMR has a winning record vs. Bama
Clear to me he runs at least 2 states!!!!
Beast from the East
April 24th, 2012
7:58 pm
UGA and UF weren’t given any favors by having to be the first opponents for our 2 new members of the SEC. Both stadiums will be rockin and those teams will be jacked up. Should be fun.
Go Gators!
DawgDad
April 24th, 2012
8:18 pm
I grew up in Missouri and lived there or on the Kansas side of Kansas City for over forty years. I don’t think the “environment” or extra pump MU might get from joining the SEC will mean much, after all, Mizzou is accustomed to playing Oklahoma et. al. over the years. I do think this is a trap game for UGA, although they SHOULD win pulling away. You can’t just count MU as an automatic win, they have a program and could well challenge in the East.
It’s very disappointing to see Mizzou leave the Big 8/Big 12. A lot of tradition thrown on the trash heap for a quick buck, but they didn’t start the split-up and need to protect their interests. I’ll miss those MU-KU basketball games. Just imagine if there were no more UGA-Tech matchups. Big loss.
This game for me will be like watching the Braves play the Cardinals. My fondest memories are of the Cardinals (hey, I actually saw Stan Musial play), but my team is the Braves.
01HAWK
April 24th, 2012
8:36 pm
UCF…………………COLORADO………………..OKIE STATE…………………….MICHIGAN STATE……………..BOISE STATE
Update
Alabama 49, Michigan State 7: ‘Bama Shows No Mercy In Capital One Bowl Romp
The No. 13 Spartans ended a decade of bowl futility by coming back from a 16-0 halftime deficit to beat Georgia, 33-30
UGA fans need to really be educated before you open your BIG MOUTH.
01HAWK
April 24th, 2012
8:39 pm
Dawg Alum
April 24th, 2012
7:54 pm
The Tide is 4-7 vs Auburn
UGa is (I think) 7-4 or 8-3 vs Auburn
CMR has a winning record vs. Bama
Clear to me he runs at least 2 states!!!!
WHO CARES……………………………………1980 was so 32 years ago.
The only crystal you will see if you go to a department store or in your or someone else’s home.
01HAWK
April 24th, 2012
8:46 pm
Yes……………………..This is what normally happens when an opponent plays BAMA.
“We were outcoached, we were outplayed and we were outphysicaled and that’s just the way it is,” said Michigan State coach Mark Dantonio, who worked under Alabama coach Nick Saban when he was at the helm for the Spartans. “Sometimes, you get an avalanche come on you and that’s just what happened.”
Asked what hit gave him a headache and sent him to the sidelines for good in the fourth, Cousins replied: “It was an accumulation of hits I took during the game.”
A cornerstone of coach Mark Dantonio’s rebuilding project, Cousins led a late rally in the fourth quarter and Dan Conroy kicked a 28-yard field goal in the third overtime to lift the 12th-ranked Spartans over the No. 18 Bulldogs 33-30 Monday in the Outback Bowl.
OUCH………………………OUCH……………………….OUCH AGAIN…………………….LOL
The same guy that was put out of the game against BAMA turned around and put the WHUPPIN STICK on the DAWGS.
Dawg Alum
April 24th, 2012
8:52 pm
Hawk,
If you are going to give a history lesson please don’t forget how UGa has been kicking your ass during the Richt era…..and Dooley did a great job too.
01HAWK
April 24th, 2012
8:54 pm
The last 3 BCS Championships come from the GREAT STATE of ALABAMA !!!!!!!!!!!
That could never happen in GEORGIA. You thing TECH and UGA could win a Championship back to back ?
GET REAL
01HAWK
April 24th, 2012
8:54 pm
The last 3 BCS Championships come from the GREAT STATE of ALABAMA !!!!!!!!!!!
That could never happen in GEORGIA. You thinK TECH and UGA could win a Championship back to back ?
GET REAL
01HAWK
April 24th, 2012
8:56 pm
Dawg Alum
April 24th, 2012
8:52 pm
Hawk,
If you are going to give a history lesson please don’t forget how UGa has been kicking your ass during the Richt era…..and Dooley did a great job too.
WHO CARES……………………………..You need to go and get a VCR and watch the 1980 tape in maybe………………………………..BLACK and WHITE…………………..OUCH !!!!!!!!!!!