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UNIVERSITY OF TULSA FOOTBALL MEDIA CONFERENCE

October 27, 2015

Philip Montgomery

Tulsa, Oklahoma

COACH MONTGOMERY: Coming off last week's game, again, just kind of reiterate, I thought our guys played extremely hard. We had opportunities, especially there kind of midway through the third quarter. We pulled within seven and they go down and score and we kind of have a chance to get a big play, get back within seven, keep putting pressure on them. You know and it got away from us.

Made a couple mistakes there in the fourth quarter, both offensively and defensively that could set the tone there. But I thought our guys battled all the way through it. I think Memphis is an extremely talented football team led by their quarterback, Lynch, who is a guy that can play at any conference at any level. He's got a lot of career starts underneath his belt and I thought he was exceptional the other night. And so they are a good football team.

Chad Norris, he and I go back a ways. Good coach. He's got a great staff with him. They are in the building process just like we are and so they have got an extremely talented quarterback in Matt Davis, who I recruited out of high school and went to A&M. He went to -- he wanted to be a quarterback. Went back to the JC and went through the recruiting process again. He's playing out standing football right now. He's the sparkplug to what they are doing. He's a guy that's great with his feet. He's throwing the ball extremely well, especially the deep ball.

And so we have got our hands full on that side of it. Defensively, they have been strong throughout. You know, if you look at their games, especially the first half, they are giving people fits. And so we have got to have a good, strong start early and try to establish some momentum, especially when you go on the road, it can always be a difficult place to go find a win.

So we have got to find a way to do that.

Q. Sometimes you are what your regard says you are as a team and sometimes inside a locker room, coach's office, you think your record is better than you think it is. I'll ask about SMU. When you turn on the film many, do they appear to be a better team than what their record says they are?
COACH MONTGOMERY: I think they are. You look at the Houston game, went up 14-0, and Houston scored again and they were 21-7 and the wheels came off midway through the second quarter and then it got a way from them. If you look at the east Carolina game, it was 23-21 at some point in the first half and so they have been playing extremely well and just haven't finished.

I think they are much better than what their record shows. I think we are much better than what our record shows. I'm guessing that fixing to be your second question, so I'm going to go ahead, is that all right?

If you look at us, out of our losses, you know, three of those teams are all ranked opponents. And between the three of them, they have one loss. Oklahoma has one loss and everybody else is undefeated. I think our schedule has been extremely strong. We have played really good people up to this point and I think our football team is much better than what our record is showing right now.

I think what we are doing on the field is much better than what our record is showing. Now, at the end of the day, they are all just going to look at the win/loss column. I think our guys have taken a lot of steps forward and our team has improved each and every week. Again, I think some of the people that we have played are outstanding football teams that are going to make some noise at the end of the season.

Q. You talked about Paxton Lynch and he's obviously really good, and Memphis, too. Is your biggest concern defensively coming out of that game, giving up the big plays early and spinning it forward this week, taking on Matt Davis, worried about avoiding giving up big plays?
COACH MONTGOMERY: I mean, that's always one of our concerns and it's one of the things that we talked about at the very first of the year. We've got to limit those explosive plays. There are some games in there that we have done a really good job of that and there's other games that we haven't. Obviously last week we gave up some explosive things. Some of them were great throws and some of them were great catches. Some of it was a combination of the two.

Obviously you worry about that going in, looking at SMU's tape, Matt makes a lot of great plays with his feet but they are throwing the ball down the field, trying to hit some big ones there, as well and so we have got to do a good job of maintaining our rush lanes, keeping him in there. When we get our hands on him, being sure tacklers, and we have to eliminate that explosive play, especially with number 16, Sutton, out there, who has made big plays all year long against some really good people.

I mean, you look at SMU's schedule, they have played some good people, as well.

Q. Do you know who you would like to have at running back?
COACH MONTGOMERY: Well, your guess right now is as good as mine. We'll learn more as we go throughout the week. I thought Langer ran decently Sunday. He strained his hamstring on Wednesday. Was just a game-time decision. Prior to the game felt like -- or he felt like he could go as he got out there and started doing more, just kept tightening up.

It's one of those things where you just have to make a choice. He can go out there and pull his hamstring and we lose him for the rest of the year, or you take the chance on resting him and trying to get him back and getting him healthy.

And so we'll see there. De'Angelo, he ran some yesterday, and Sunday. We'll see how he progresses throughout the week. Ramadi, we'll see how he progresses throughout the week. James Flanders, kind of the same deal. We have kind of a M.A.S.H. unit right now set up back there, and we are trying to pull them out of the tent and put them back out on the field. So we'll see how it all plays out this week.

Q. You talked about the other receivers, but how much of an asset is Connor Floyd? Seems like he's pretty consistent?
COACH MONTGOMERY: Yeah and I think that's a great word for him. He's a guy that runs really good routes. He's sure-handed. He's kind of your quarterback friend guy that's going to be in and around things. He has good speed. He had an opportunity a couple times where he got behind people, whether we had to scramble, get out, move, took a sack here or there. So he's got speed to stretch the field, as well, but he's kind of the unsung hero of the receivers in my opinion. He's a guy that's not getting a lot of press but a guy that is very, very vital to what we're doing.

Q. After the game, you said that you wanted losses to hurt the guys and then Mudoh came in and said that losses like this do hurt. Are they taking losses the way that you would like to see them?
COACH MONTGOMERY: Yeah, you know, and that's kind of that double-edged sword type deal. You know, our football team, when we step on the field, we're expecting to win. I mean, there's no doubt in anybody's mind what the intent is and how our guys are playing, and when you get in between those lines, it's a battle and those guys, they are playing with confidence and they are bouncing back and we're trying to get to the next series and get to the next play.

But at the end of the game, when you have to go in that locker room and you look at the scoreboard and you're not on the topside of it, our guys are hurting. Our guys want to win extremely bad. They have been working to get those wins, and we are improving. We just have to get over the hump.

Q. Going back to the preseason, you were still predicted to be behind them -- you always talked about that Chip on the shoulder. Does something like that still encourage them, just for this game particularly, knowing that this is still -- and with the couple losses that you've had, a lot of motivation going into this one to turn the corner?
COACH MONTGOMERY: Well, I mean, I think more than anything else, they are the next game on our schedule. As far as the respect part of it, we are still playing with that Chip. We are still trying to fight and gain respect and we don't have it yet, but our guys are working towards that. I don't know that it's singled out more towards SMU or anybody in particular within the conference.

I think both teams right now are both in that same boat as far as fighting for respect and trying to gain that respect throughout the conference and the country. And so I have played there several times at SMU. It's a tough place to go play. Strange things happen there. So we've got be to on top of it and we have to gain momentum and try to hold onto it throughout the course of the game.

Q. Memphis is a good team and I think --
COACH MONTGOMERY: Pretty good --

Q. Has played their best since Keegan went down and seems like Keyarris had a lot to do with that. I assume you had to force the ball to him some because Memphis knows you want to go to him, so what was the difference and is that something you feel like he should be able to replicate week-after-week?
COACH MONTGOMERY: Well, should be able to replicate; hope he's able to. I mean, any time you have that type of performance, that's an unusual day, obviously. I mean, 14 catches for 268, that's just not your normal day going out there. I think obviously they are going to spin some more coverage to him. They are going to try to double him and do those things.

For Keyarris to continue to have the success that he's having, he's got to continue to keep working on his craft and getting better, but those guys around him have to continue to keep stepping up and making plays and making you respect both sides of the field and down the middle.

If we can do that, which I think we can. Josh has been consistent all year long and I think Hobbs is getting better each week and he's gaining some confidence. He had an opportunity, a big play the other day, but a tough catch with the situation like it was. And then Connor has got to continue to keep moving and stepping up.

If we'll run the football effectively, if we can get healthy in the backfield, that always helps, because as you start spinning coverages and doing things, you've got to give up something and if that box gets light, we have to be able to run the football effectively in those situations and make those guys at least second guess what they are going to do to Key.

Q. Even before you were here, like his biggest games have been against best opponents, Arkansas and Oklahoma and those guys. What do you think is the reason for that? What is it about him?
COACH MONTGOMERY: Well, I think more than anything, big players step up in big games. He's a big player. No. 2, I think he does play with that Chip on his shoulder. He's a guy that wants to prove that he's the best receiver out there. He's the guy that can dominate a game and he's a guy that takes it personal when you walk up in his face or you double him or do you this or you do that. He's a guy that always wants to prove, doesn't matter what you can do or what you're going to do; you can't cover me.

And when you have receivers like that and players like that, those are the ones you want to continue to keep giving touches to and giving opportunities to.

Q. I want to ask a coaching philosophy question. You say and coaches say all the time, it's next-game-up mentality. Is there ever a point in the season, where a game, other than the National Championship, where a game matters a little bit more, like if you're trying to break a losing streak? And what would be the downside of possibly allowing a game to matter more?
COACH MONTGOMERY: Any time you start putting emphasis on one special game here or there, you always have to be careful if it comes back and bites you in the butt. You've got to fight to get your team back and so you know, for us, every game on the schedule matters. Obviously the next one is the most important.

When you look at it across the board, at the end of the year, it's not going to say, well, you know, you won that one special game but you lost these. So that's why I think it's more generated in that sense of next-game-up, next opponent and making sure all of our focus and attention is where it needs to be. Where we're at in our program, you can't overlook anybody and you can't overlook anybody in this conference, because of parity in it. I wish Memphis would have overlooked us coming off a big win; I don't think they did. They were geared up and ready and I think they played extremely well.

Q. As a first-time head coach, you got a ton of questions early in the year, what's it like getting ready for your first game and what's it like after your first win, on and on. Now in the Doug days in the middle and how badly you want to get this team Bowl eligible for the seniors who worked hard; do you feel a dish responsibility as a head coach than as an assistant?
COACH MONTGOMERY: Yeah, I think there's more things on your plate. You're responsible for all of it.

Especially when you see the guys and they are working the way they are working and they are preparing the way they are preparing and they are doing all the little things right to help you get to that point. You want to see the success for them come off in W's, not just, hey, we made a good play here or we made a great catch there or we did this, we did that. At the end of the day, it still comes down to wins and losses. You want those guys to feel that joy and that feeling of what it's like in that locker room when you win; and to be able to always walk chest bowed out and excited about where you are and what you're doing and proud of the success that you're making.

Q. Inaudible?
COACH MONTGOMERY: I mean, hate it for him and I hate it for them. But more importantly, he's such a good kid. He's kind of waited his turn in that line of quarterbacks as they come through and prepared himself and to have the start to the season that he's had; and to have such a freak-type injury occur. I mean, he's running with the football and he's trying to fight for yards and just he's probably had that same hit a hundred times and never have that reaction to it. And so I feel for him, because I know how hard he's worked and how much it means and the season, how it started.

He and I have texted back and forth and talked. Like I said, my prayers go out to him and his recovery.

Q. Not that you would use that as a teaching tool, but kind of Chad runs in a way, when he's running his package where he doesn't go down easily and he's always fighting for yards. Is there a point where you go to them and tell them, hey, look, if it's done, get down, just so they don't get hurt?
COACH MONTGOMERY: Yeah, those guys are so competitive. It's difficult to tell a kid like that, hey, you've gotten all you've got and safe your body and go down. Those guys, they are always going to continue to keep fighting and grinding and competing for extra yards and extra momentum.

So you know, we talk to them about that and we talk to them about all the little things, because when you get stood up in that pile, lots of things can happen: Taking care of the football, taking an extra shot here or there, getting rolled up on. And you know, at some point in there, enough is enough. But for them, where's that line stop? It's hard to determine when you're out there on the field.

Q. You've got conference rivals obviously that you'll see every year but some of them, you're going all the way to North Carolina or Maryland. This is a conference rival and regional rival. How good is it for Tulsa that you have SMU and you get to see those guys?
COACH MONTGOMERY: I think it's great to see them every year. There's always been a rivalry between, especially these three teams, because they have been not only in this conference together but other conferences together, so it kind of goes back into that.

Obviously you're recruiting a lot of the same kids in a lot of the same areas. You're all talking about a lot of the same things. So any time you can get a win against one of those opponents that you know you're going to face, not only on the field but in the recruiting trails, it always adds a little more emphasis to it.

Q. Just talk about the connection with Chad; any similarities going on with you guys in terms of just knowing people or how you guys coached, if you know anything just from talking to him?
COACH MONTGOMERY: Chad took over at Stephenville after Art had left and went to Tech. Mike Copeland took over at the head coach there. I stayed there in that era for part of it, as least and then I left. And then Chad came in after coach Copeland decided to retire.

We had the Stephenville connection. We were not there at the same time. As far as what we do offensively and those type of things, kind of all branchs from different areas. He's obviously more from the Gus side of it. We are a little bit different than that.

But as far as our connections, you know, we know a lot of the same people. The coaching industry is such a small, tight-knit group and so whether you're on the recruiting trail or you're at clinics or you're at Texas high school coaches association, you're going to see each other in a lot of those same friends and acquaintances that you have are going to be the same between the two of you. And so we've got some really close friends between both of us, and I think it will always be that way.

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