Posted by ESPN.com's Tim Griffin
KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- Missouri coach Gary Pinkel took his team to its first Big 12 championship game last season, but lost to Oklahoma.
Unprecedented excitement has been found around the Missouri program as the Tigers return many of the individual stars from last season's 12-2 team, including quarterback Chase Daniel, wide receiver/kick returner Jeremy Maclin, tight end Chase Coffman, defensive end Stryker Sulak and free safety William Moore.
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| | Ronald Martinez/Getty Images |
| | Missouri coach Gary Pinkel isn't talking about a national championship -- yet. |
Expectations are booming among Tiger fans. Here's what Pinkel had to say about that excitement and other topics at the Big 12 media day.
Do you mind that some people are talking about winning the national championship, or do you encourage that?
Gary Pinkel: Not at all. We haven't won a Big 12 championship around here. What are we talking about a national championship? Are you kidding me? We've won one Big 12 North title. That's people who are kind of just maybe handling it the best way they can. I'll handle it internally. Tell me their names (laughing).
Are you satisfied with your team's maturity level approaching the upcoming season?
GP: Our seniors are so driven because of what they've done for Missouri football. You look at Chase Daniel and Chase Coffman and that's where it starts. This is real, real important to them.
It's kind of interesting, I talked last year that we could win at Missouri now, but can we win at a higher level? I said then to stay tuned. I'm going to say the same thing right now. Can we win two years in a row at a very high level? Can we do that? I don't know. That's my job to get it done. Player-wise we will be good enough to do it. We're going to have to coach well and play our best game every week in order to accomplish it.
Do you believe in carryover from last year? Did players experience something from going through what they did last season?
GP: I think everything is new. There's some experience. Did we talk about it much? But teams are different. I'm not naïve that we can't lose some of the players we lost and some of the chemistry. But to just think it will carry over and everything will work out nice doesn't work out that way. This is whole new football team and we have to rebuild that chemistry.
What's your position on a college-football playoff?
GP: With playoffs, I'm thinking the plus-one model would work. We're doing all the right things. College football is more popular than it's ever been. It makes more money and attendance is better than it's ever has. Plus-one to me just makes it better. We're closer to having the best teams in the tournament than any other, year-in and year-out.
You've developed a friendship with NASCAR Sprint Cup Series racer Carl Edwards, a Columbia native. What has that meant to you?
GP: We text each other couple of times a month, after a win or a loss. He's a great competitor. He was out working out at 6:30 a.m. (at Faurot Field) after he had raced the day before and he was out there working. The guys were out there and they looked up and saw this guy running up and down the stadium steps. That's the work ethic that guy has. Carl then talked to the team, which was very inspirational. He's a very driven guy and it was cool for us to have him there.
How are injured linebacker Van Alexander and wide receiver Danario Alexander progressing from their recent knee surgeries?
GP: Van is doing really well and we expect him to be ready to go in two weeks. Right now Danario is ahead of schedule and we're looking at the first of October. With Danario, we'll see where he's at. He has a redshirt year. He'd like to play this year and we'd like him to play. But time will tell.
What were you thinking on the booster circuit this year from fans?
GP: What I kept hearing was that they couldn't wait for the Illinois game. My comment was I can (laughing). It's great to see the enthusiasm. I knew if we won at Missouri we could build on it. But we've won one Big 12 North championship. We haven't won a Big 12 title yet. It's a step. There's a lot out there. We want to be good this season and just go from there.
Tim Griffin joined ESPN.com in February 2008. He has covered the Big 12 since its inception, among a variety of beats during a 24-year career at the San Antonio Express-News. Griffin, a Memphis State University graduate, lives in San Antonio with his wife and son.
