What Missouri said about loss to Alabama

Missouri head coach Barry Odom reacts as his players walk off the field during the first half against Alabama, Saturday in Tuscaloosa.

Missouri coach Barry Odom and some Tigers players met with the media Saturday night after the team's loss to Alabama.

Here's a rundown of what they said:

Barry Odom

Opening statement:

"There are things we talked throughout the week on, having this opportunity to, in this environment, to play the best team in the country. We needed the turnover margin to be in our favor. We needed to eliminate explosive plays when our defense was out on the field, and obviously we didn't start that way. You look at the opportunities throughout the game to continue to stay in the moment and battle, and I thought our football team did that. We didn't make enough plays to extend drives offensively. They got rolling there in the second quarter, and they are a good football team, as good as I have ever gone against and as I have ever seen. They are solid in every area, and Nick (Saban) has done a tremendous job.

"You look at our football team, where we are, and dealing facts and reality, and we are 3-3 and we have a lot of great opportunities coming up ahead of us if we take care of business. That is the process of taking everything that you have done. You learn from experiences and you apply them and you move forward to try and become better. We still have an opportunity to be a really good football team. We've got guys that will battle no matter the circumstance, and when they get the opportunity they are going to go all out when they are out there.

"I know that hurdle of where we have become in our program, we're there. Now we have to go get in a position that we can go win a football game against a really good opponent. The last three weeks have been tough on everybody. You play Georgia, who at the time was No. 2. Go back even before that and Purdue is a good football team. South Carolina and us were very evenly matched, and they made enough plays to win it and they were a good team. Tonight, we had the best one. It doesn't get any easier with the schedule and grind of our conference the way that it lays out. It's unforgiving, and if you are not ready to go it will expose you pretty quick. The challenge for me and for us as a program, being 3-3, we have an opportunity to go back to work as soon as we get home, and let's get focused on our next opponent for homecoming."

On the pressure of having to score a lot against Alabama:

"I didn't think we were going to have to every time, and as you go through the thoughts of preparing and you watch them, they have scored on the first play of the game multiple times. They are really good, and the thing that we talked over and over and tried to do this week was eliminate explosive plays. We got that opportunity there on second down, and our deep safety jumped on the deep over route and they got it behind. He was expecting someone who was in coverage. Cam was expecting our other safety to climb high. Then we got put in a couple bad situations with turnovers, and playing against that team is a recipe to get swamped real quick. I thought for us to get it into the fourth quarter we needed to focus on the moment of playing right here and right now in keeping on our blinders in limiting the explosive plays and not turning the ball over, and unfortunately we were not able to do that."

On Drew Lock and the offense's performance:

"I know we turned the ball over, but I have not had a chance to go over any video or talk to the other coaches on their thoughts as well. We weren't efficient enough offensively to sustain drives, and that is on all 11 guys. We need our quarterback to play really well to have an opportunity. My assessment right now wouldn't really be fair, but I know I am glad he is our quarterback."

Wide receiver Jalen Knox

On the pressure of having to score a lot:

"We know what type of offense we are. We came into the game knowing we had to put up points. We just didn't put up enough tonight."

On what broke down during second half:

"I thought we moved the ball good in the first half. Then, in the second half, we kind of got away from that. We got out of focus."

Defensive back Demarcus Acy

On his takeaways from the game:

"We're in a tough three-game losing streak, and we just got to turn it around. It's a good learning curve for us."

On the biggest difference between what was seen on video and what was seen in the game:

"There really isn't that much difference. We knew what we were facing. We felt like we were matched up athletically, toe-to-toe. It was just a lack of execution on our part."

Matt Zenitz is an Alabama and Auburn reporter for the Alabama Media Group. Follow him on Twitter @mzenitz.

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