Everything LaNorris Sellers said after beating Missouri

LaNorris Sellers threw for a career-high 353 yards and five touchdowns and led the game-winning drive against Missouri. Here’s everything he said after the come-from-behind win.

Q: If you could just take us through the final drive? What’s your thinking right there especially as you get up to the last play of that drive?

Sellers: They was up by three. So I knew if we got to the red zone, we had points. So once we got to the red zone, it’s like, just protect the ball at that point. But I wanted to score, obviously. So we went down there.

We felt good about it. We threw something like the shovel pass early in the game, too, but they overplayed it the first time we ran it. So it’s like, we came back to it because they were overplaying it. Once you came back to it, gave it to Rocket, and he scored.

Q: Can you kind of just take us through that third down play where you almost got sacked, and then you throw the ball to Brady Hunt for the first down? Do you feel like it was kind of a momentum changer on that drive?

Sellers: I felt like when they first caught it, it was like, we’ve got to have it. So, I mean, we caught it. I think they were in man. They’ve been playing, like we practiced for man all week. They showed him third down, so like, we got to have it. It’s called a man-beater.

I saw the backer come in, but I don’t know if he was the one that hit me up or somebody else, but once he grabbed me he didn’t have enough leverage, so I just got out of it, and I seen Brady, just hoping he saw the safety when he caught the ball. He did and he made first down

Q: Talk about what’s going through your mind during those moments and what got the offense going in those last couple of drives.

Sellers: Really, just staying calm. Not budging, not flinching, just taking it one play at a time, not worrying about the outcome, not worrying about we’ve got to score. We’ve got to score. We got to score. Because if you say we’ve got score, we’ve got score, you get desperate. You’ll just start trying stuff. So just take one play at a time, and then whatever happens, happens.

Q: What kind of work have you seen Delvon Campbell put in while maybe not getting as big of an offensive role?

Sellers: He puts in all the work. The season probably hasn’t been going the way he thought it was gonna go. No matter what, he never got down. He just kept working, just kept his head down. He just kept pushing, kept pushing.

He made two of the biggest plays of the night. He takes, like, a 10-yard route, takes it 40 yards down the field to the two- or three-yard line. And then on the second (catch), he catches probably the biggest ball of that drive, just to get us all the way down, so Rocket can score. But you know, that’s that moment he’s been waiting for him. He executed real well, so I’m proud of him.

Q: Four lead changes in the final quarter and you guys win it on the final drive on a scale of one to 10, how intense was that postgame celebration in the locker room?

Sellers: 10.

Q: On your touchdown pass to Nyck Harbor, would that be considered a butt-naked route that he ran?

Sellers: It would be.

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Q: On that game-winning play to Rocket after the shovel pass, did you think he was going to score? What’s your impression of the way he’s able to finish that run?

Sellers: Once he broke that talk from the backer, I don’t think any DB in the conference wants to tackle Rocket. So once he did that, he broke the second one. I was like, all right, maybe get down to five or something like that. But then he broke another one, and another, it’s like there’s the game right there.

Q: It seems like it’s happened to a bunch over the last two years where you guys get up big, then the other team comes back, gets the lead, and tonight, you guys kind of flipped the ending a little bit. How did those defeats earlier in the year help you prepare for what you did tonight?

Sellers: Anything that you aren’t successful at before now, you learn from. So I feel like tonight was just a moment I learned from, brought it to the field. Just executed.

Q: This is like the third game in a row where you’ve broken a tackle in the backfield, which should have been a sack, and you roll out and find somebody. Once you break a tackle like that, what kind of goes through your mind when you’re trying to weigh out the option?

Sellers: Once I break the first tackle, I’ve just got to make sure nobody else is around me. Then it’s find a receiver downfield, depending on the down and distance, if I can run it. But it’s find a receiver downfield. If nobody’s open, then I’ll run it. But Brady was open. Just had to make sure he saw the safety when he turned his head and caught the ball.

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