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UNIVERSITY OF TULSA FOOTBALL MEDIA CONFERENCE

October 12, 2018

Phil Montgomery

Tulsa, Oklahoma

South Florida - 25, Tulsa - 24

PHIL MONTGOMERY: Pretty tough one to swallow. I thought our guys played extremely hard and I thought that for the most part we controlled that game. Our guys -- take your hat off to South Florida. Good football team, obviously, number 23 team in the nation. I can promise you I'm proud of our men that are down in the locker room, with the effort and the attitude that they're playing with and we're right there. Got to continue to keep working, continue to keep finishing. And big call right there at the end, have to see it on tape, but big call right there at the end. But very, very proud of our men in the locker room. And we got a big came next week that we got to get up and get ready to play. But I don't think I can ask any more out of them than what they gave tonight.

Q. How frustrating is that though because the things you've been stressing, the turnovers, playing four quarters, the things that you've been stressing it seems like most of those were accomplished tonight?
PHIL MONTGOMERY: Yeah, we didn't turn the football over. We played a full dadgum 60 minutes. We just -- when you get first down right there when we got the ball back, first down right there would have set the game done. Defense played extremely well all night. Gave up a just couple explosive plays to start that one big explosive run they had on the third down.

Offensively, obviously, this, it's a good defense that we're going against. And had a few explosive plays in there, weren't consistent enough early, we missed some things that could have been some big plays for us. Made some big plays in there. So I mean when you're playing the number 23 team in the nation, it's going to be a back-and-forth type game. You can't get frustrated, you've got to stay on top of it. I thought our guys did that. Made a ton of plays. I think our secondary made a ton of plays tonight knocking balls down, had a couple of opportunities to have some really good picks. But that being said, I thought our guys took care of the football, that's for sure. We have been stressing that hard and you saw the difference in it tonight. We're right there.

Q. You mentioned needing a first down. On that third down play what was supposed to happen on that play?
PHIL MONTGOMERY: Well, it's in one of those situations from a time standpoint, I mean if you're, those three downs right there, if you're throwing the football, the clock's going to stop. And it's one of those things we need the clock to run, everybody's sitting there kind of in that same type of scenario and an opportunity right there, it's a double-read thing for Chad and depending upon how the defense end played it, I mean he actually, he read it right. The linebacker scraped really, really fast over the top of it all and we just missed him. So you got an opportunity to get him outside and get away from all the stuff that's inside and try to get him outside, get him a chance to run, get on the edge and have an opportunity to kind of get you close and good play by them.

Q. Did not having Tyler Bowling there late, how much of a role did that play.
PHIL MONTGOMERY: It's a huge factor. Tyler, in my opinion, is a NFL player. He's guy that could do a lot of things to help us in the run game. Him coming off the football and creating some movement, and not having him is obviously a big factor.

Q. When the defense had played so well for the majority, for that last pass to go the way it did, how did you keep them from being down on themselves when, like you said, you can't ask for a whole lot more?
PHIL MONTGOMERY: I don't know that it's them being down on themselves as much as just us as a team. This is a team game and it's not about the defense, not about the offense, not about special teams, it's about us. And our guys understand that, know that. We have got to do it together. It's about us. For me, and for our men down in that locker room, doesn't matter who we're playing, in my opinion, it's always going to be about us. We control us, we control the factors and we're the ones that got to make it happen.

Q. Through three quarters you controlled the game. Deeper than that even. But like she said, you controlled the game most of the night. For it to end the way it did, is it just sickening a loss as you can ever remember?
PHIL MONTGOMERY: Well I mean our guys are just working so hard. I just want it for them. They played their tail off for sixty minutes tonight. They deserve it. That's the part that is frustrating. Our guys are -- they're locked in and they're focused, we're getting better every week, we're growing every week. We just got to kick over the bucket and take that one more step because I don't care what everybody else says, our record does -- it's not an indication of what I think our football team is. I think we're a pretty dang good team, now we just got to take -- we're one step away from making this thing the next deal. And, yeah, we got a lot of young guys playing. That's no excuse, they're in there playing, they're playing their tails off and playing it well. When you look at Boom tonight, obviously his stats aren't going to show, I mean Boom missed some throws, but he also made some plays with his feet, kept some drives alive, made a couple big throws in there. We just got to continue to keep grinding. Not having Corey and him and Sham both together, that's a different factor, but Javon came in and I thought he ran the ball well tonight. So you're having guys step in and play and we got to continue to keep stressing that.

Q. Were you torn on the third and 11 between leaving Boomer on the field, who, he hadn't thrown the ball with a high percentage tonight, but I guess it's an opportunity to grow, throw him out there on third and 11 and ask him to throw the ball down the field or to go with that package you had out there with Chad President? Were you torn or was that kind of a no-brainer for you?
PHIL MONTGOMERY: For me I wanted the clock to keep running. And I wasn't going to put our red shirt freshman quarterback backed up in a third and 11 situation and ask him to do something that would have been very, very difficult on him. And for him, I thought it was more important for the clock to run than to put him in that situation and make sure that he's taking care of the football, you know what I'm saying? Right there, you turn it over, short field, all of those things, then you're basically giving them the game, you know what I'm saying? So that's why we did what we did.

Q. Three years ago I don't think there would have been a flag on that play. I mean, I saw multiple replays of it. In regard to the roughing, there was no roughing, he just put his hands on him, but the ball was long gone.
PHIL MONTGOMERY: I haven't seen the play. And I got to be real careful what I say because I've been down this road with them before. I just don't know, at that stage of the game and where it was at -- I haven't seen the play so I don't know -- because, honestly, I saw the ball going down the field, never looked back to see because I thought everything was clean back there. So it would be -- I couldn't say what happened because I didn't see it. All I do know is that is a tough call right there in that situation at that time of the game. If it wasn't just really, really obvious and it wasn't, if it wasn't a true hard roughing, then I don't think you make that call right there. I think that's about as safely, Doctor Greg, is that right, that I can say that?

Q. It was about that much.
PHIL MONTGOMERY: Yeah, I mean.

Q. I mean it was --
PHIL MONTGOMERY: You're going to get me in trouble.

Q. Three years ago I don't think that ever would have been even looked at unless it was blatant.
PHIL MONTGOMERY: And it probably shouldn't have been done tonight, but we'll see.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

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