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UNIVERSITY OF TULSA FOOTBALL MEDIA CONFERENCE

November 7, 2015

Philip Montgomery

Tulsa, Oklahoma

UCF - 30 Tulsa - 45

COACH MONTGOMERY: You know, terrific team win. I mean, it took all of us. I thought we really played a complete game. Obviously in the third quarter we got three basically back-to-back turnovers, put our defense in a bad bind, really allowed them to get back into the game right there.

I loved the competitiveness and the battle that our guys put up. They continued to fight, got momentum back. Put together a good drive running of the football.

I thought our offensive line, especially in the second half, did an outstanding job. Ramadi and Brew both ran the ball effectively.

Excited for our football team. That's number five for us. That's what we've been counting on and working towards. We still got to go get one more. We're taking them a week at a time, but this is a big one.

This is one of the most talented teams that we've seen on tape up to this point. They got guys that are big, they can run. As you look at it, two years ago, I took an 'L' to them in the Fiesta Bowl. Last year they're tied for the conference championship. You know they've got talented kids. That's one of those teams you just don't want to give any hope.

I thought we did a really good job in the first half of setting the momentum, setting the tempo. Like I said, in the third quarter, got away from us a little bit. We had to reestablish that. I thought our guys did a great job of that.

THE MODERATOR: Questions.

Q. You talk about reestablishing that. When that third quarter was going the way it did, what are y'all saying to the guys?
COACH MONTGOMERY: Just to calm down a little bit. I mean, really, we get the ball at the start of the third quarter, and we're doing exactly what we want to do. Get down there in the red zone, we throw the pick. We didn't read correctly right there. That's part of it. That's part of the learning process.

But obviously you got a chance right there to either pick up the first down and/or we're going to get points off the field goal. That's what you want to do. The start of the game, start of the half, you want to go out and reestablish.

We had a good drive, were doing what we wanted to do. We gave them a glimmer of hope right there by giving them the pick. It's a close call. I haven't seen it on tape yet. We'll look at it.

But we had the fumble there on the kickoff return. Puts our defense in a real bind. Coming off the field, now they got to go right back on with that type of field position. Then we go back out, we pick up a couple first downs, we make a poor decision again. Our defense, again, put them in a bad situation.

Those three touchdowns, in my opinion, are on us offensively. I thought our defense played extremely well all game long.

Q. After that second interception, the drive was like 13 plays, 12 runs, was that something where it's like I've given up on the passing game or where you wanted to run more?
COACH MONTGOMERY: It goes back to our philosophy. Our philosophy has been all year long the way we established it. We were running the football effectively, had the looks we wanted, we're moving the chains. If you're doing that, why not keep doing it?

We're going to take what they give us. If we can run effectively, that pass game will open back up, we can hit what we want to hit.

I think it's a tribute to our offensive line and runningbacks to go ahead, pound out yards, make first downs, put a drive together like that to give the defense a breath. They'd been on the field quite a bit. We wanted to make sure we did that.

Putting a drive together like that, working the clock, getting a touchdown out of it, that was just even better.

Q. Is Zack Langer hurt again?
COACH MONTGOMERY: He ain't been well in a while. At SMU, he played limitedly. We used him in certain areas and used him in some short-yardage situations. He's still battling through it. He was really tight all week, didn't practice a couple of days in there.

He and I talked before the game. Felt like at this point I could use him in some short-yardage stuff. As we got into the first half, didn't come up in those situations that we needed it. I didn't want to risk it. At halftime we made the decision to pull the stuff off, let the other guys finish it out.

Q. Sticking with the runningbacks. D'Angelo Brewer, a lot of carries. Ramadi as well. Langer comes out like you said he did. Is it one of those things, runningback by committee, but they're becoming workhorse backs in their own right?
COACH MONTGOMERY: No doubt. That's always been our mentality, especially in that room. We got to be guys that are just grinders, that get jobs done. You have an opportunity to make a big play, make a big play.

I told those guys at the first of spring, first of fall camp, we're always going to play the guy that has the hot hand. If you're making yards, popping runs, you're going to get more carries. We're going to be runningback by committee. You can't obviously finish a season or in this league with one runningback all year long.

We're a dad-gum MASH unit back there in the runningback position. You saw it today. Brewer's got some stinger. We got to sub that out. We're always going to be dealing with that right now. That's just part of it.

Q. Obviously you've had success in your career. You're on the verge of going to a bowl game with one more win as a head coach. Can you taste the bowl game? Can the team taste it?
COACH MONTGOMERY: You know, I think they really can. The win last week was a huge win for our program. I mean, first of all, it's a conference road win. It was a quality opponent. I don't care what everybody else says. If you watch that game last night, SMU had an opportunity to beat Temple at home. They're a tough football team. That was a big win. That was number four.

Our focus all week has been about attitude and effort and getting number five and getting on a roll, putting together a stretch of good wins. We've got a tough opponent next week. Obviously we got to go all the way to Cincinnati. They're an extremely good football team, very talented.

Our guys, they're in that mindset right now. We just got to keep getting better the way we are. Defensively and offensively, correct those things. But use this momentum, go attack everything that's in front of us.

Q. Every game you played, wins, losses, every game this year has been a struggle. You've had to grind them all out.
COACH MONTGOMERY: Don't I know (laughter). It was typical. I went in at halftime and told them, We haven't been in this situation all year, understand what we got to do. I really thought we had the right mindset going out. I thought our first drive was really exactly the way I wanted it to go until we throw the interception.

I think if we go down right there and get us a touchdown, I think we put the ballgame away and it's over in about the middle of the third.

But a team with talent like that, you let them get excited, you let them have the opportunity to get some momentum, it's going to be a dogfight. Every one of our games this year has been a dogfight. Win or loss, our guys have competed, worked. That's what makes us so proud as a coaching staff of them.

I think it really shows what we're trying to do as a program. We're going to be that blue-collar team. We're going to continue to work and grind and get better every day. We're going to live as a family, protect and take care of each other.

Q. (No microphone.)
COACH MONTGOMERY: I've been a part of a few of those. I really enjoy them. I like those ones where you can kick back a little bit and rest. Right now I'm getting more gray hair and less hair I think altogether. My wife just tells me to keep eating because I'm losing weight. I'll sleep and eat better don't, I know that.

Thank y'all for being here. Appreciate you supporting our cause today.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

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