Missouri head coach Gary Pinkel participated in the weekly SEC teleconference on Wednesday. Click the above player to hear what the coach had to say about last week's game, Sheldon Williams' comments and the upcoming home game and SEC opener with Georgia among many other things.

Below you can find a partial transcript from Pinkel's teleconference with the complete interview above in the player.

On hosting Georgia and the SEC opener:
“It is a very historic Saturday for the University of Missouri. Our fans have been waiting for this for a long time regardless of who we are playing because it is the first SEC game. It is the first conference game at Mizzou in our stadium. It is a very historic game and then, oh by the way, a great football team like Georgia is coming in here. It is developing into a really great game. We are excited to be able to play this game here. Certainly we have great respect for Georgia and the job that Mark (Richt) has done.”

On the importance of the Georgia game and what it means on playing a team from the SEC East:
“All these things have been pointed out to all of us, but the bottom line is that you still have to go out and play well and function as a football team. There is a lot of things here. It is the second game of the year but certainly there is a huge impact in this football game.”

On Georgia’s passing attack:
“I am very impressed with Aaron Murray. I have heard a lot about him last year about what a great player he was. I am just very, very impressed with him. I have been watching film all summer (for) evaluations and such. They are utilizing his ability, which I think says so much for their staff. He can throw and he is good at throwing the long ball. The people he has around him, they are playmakers and they make plays and they run after the catch and they have great speed. There are great challenges there (and) we understand that. With that is a really good offensive line. You have a very complete football team.”

On Sheldon Richardson's comments and whether Missouri has something to prove in the SEC:
“What Sheldon did was wrong an irresponsible. That doesn’t happen around here. He got caught up in the moment and he made a mistake. We handled that internally. We don’t do that here at Missouri. There has been a lot of talk as I anticipated, I told my football team this in January, about us playing in the SEC and the talking points are going to be all along, and it is consistent with what I told them, is ‘how are we going to match up?’. It is the same thing for Texas A&M. I told my players to expect that. That is what it is going to be. We are going into a great league with a very rich tradition of championships and winning and a league that has a lot of good football teams. That is why it is the best league in the country. What I tell my football team to do is that we’re new, we have to go earn respect. I have no problem doing that. That is the way I was brought up (and) that is the way it should be. You have to earn respect. Nobody is going to hand it to you and that is where we are at right now. Our players recognize that. We have certainly great respect for the league and Georgia.”

On Jack Meiners and Travis Ruth’s status:
“Travis Ruth is definitely out and Jack we have as questionable and he is still that way.”

On Max Copeland and Evan Boehm’s play last week:
“I think overall they did a good job. He is going to be a great player in terms of a true freshman out of high school, Evan Boehm, and that is quite a task to ask as Georgia has a young offensive tackle playing also. Max has been around a little longer. What they understand too is that the people we are going to be playing against are going to be a whole lot than we played last Saturday night. We all understand that and it takes about a few clips of film. They have a great defensive line and it is going to be a great challenge for us.”

On what things feel like Coach Pinkel in the new conference:
“For me personally, I never thought in a million years I would be doing a transition to another league and staying at the same BCS institution, so it has been a bit different there. Am I excited? Yeah, I am excited. We want to get in and compete and get after it. I am glad it is here. People are putting a lot into this game much more totally than I am. Win it or lose it, you get up the next day and you have 10 games left. We are excited and our fans are certainly excited.”

On Mizzou’s ability to score in a variety of ways:
“It is important for us to spread the ball out, but not only spread the ball out but put it in different parts of the field. We complete passes to different parts of the field to stretch defenses. Defenses do studies on where the ball is thrown and what parts of the field teams cover and not cover…I think we have a pretty good receiving corp. I think some are capable of stepping out and playing at a higher level than they are playing. It would be nicae to see them do that.”