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UNIVERSITY OF TULSA FOOTBALL MEDIA CONFERENCE

November 24, 2018

Philip Montgomery

Tulsa, Oklahoma

SMU - 24, Tulsa - 27

PHILIP MONTGOMERY: Just really, really happy for our football team, and more importantly our seniors. We talked about it all week, you know, we're going to fill up the tank, then we're going to empty it today. I thought they really did that.

These guys have given so much to our program. Some of these guys, a few were here when I got here. Some of them were in that very first recruiting class. These guys are all very, very special to me.

Pretty emotional today as they walked out on the field for the last time. We got to present them with their plaques. Their families were all on the field. As we make the walk, you see those family members lined up. There's are some guys that really poured their heart and soul into it, have stayed resilient. We've had some really, really good times. We've had some difficult times.

I think what we're building is going to be strong. Really, really proud of the way those guys continue to stay together, hang tight, fight. We knew it was going to be a war tonight.

Any time you have a rivalry-type game, always you can throw the records out the window, it's going to be decided in that 60 minutes. That's what we took on our shoulders tonight.

I thought our defense did a really good job early in the game. Got a big stop. Were able to put some points on the board, gave us some short fields, put some other things together.

The second half, we just had to fight. I thought our guys did a great job of that, coming up with big plays in all three phases. A couple of those field goals were huge. McKinley's pick right there at the end. Knew dang good and well he wasn't going to take a knee. He was bringing it out, hopefully take it to the house.

Hobbs' catch right there, those are senior guys that stepped up tonight and made big, big plays. Just really, really happy for them and for our football team. Excited to finish it up the way we did.

THE MODERATOR: Questions for coach.

Q. You mentioned fighting. What was different about this fourth quarter, being able to close this one out?
PHILIP MONTGOMERY: I don't know if it was more of anything. I think it was just guys being relentless to the football. They got a good drive together, and we get a good stand going on down there.

But nobody got discouraged on anything. We just continued to line up, play the next play, play the next series, then we made plays at the end. That's what we haven't done in those situations. We had guys step up and make plays tonight.

Q. Obviously Boomer, I thought he had his best game. Talk about his overall game, his progression.
PHILIP MONTGOMERY: Yeah, Seth I think every week that he's started, he has improved in areas, continued to get better. I thought he made some really, really key throws tonight. He anticipated some things.

Obviously we're still making some mistakes, but the one interception deal, I think he just rushed it because he saw it. Some things were changing on him pretty quick. Besides that, I thought he was really locked in. Threw the ball well. Made throws down the field. Gave guys chances. Was sharp and accurate on some of those underneath things.

I thought he really led our offense tonight. I was pleased with what he's done. He's still got a ton of growth in front of him. But we've got some really positive things now that we can build on and carry into the off-season getting ready for next year.

Q. Boomer was 35% through his first three starts. In the games since, he's right at 60%. Don't you wish you had about six more games?
PHILIP MONTGOMERY: Really, I've taken more reins off of him every week. He just continues to keep getting better. He's a guy that is very competitive, very hungry. He's very smart. As he makes mistakes, I mean, I go back to the Memphis game: first drive, we take a shot play, a double-move shot play right after we pick up the first down. He takes what we call around here a mega sack. I think he end up second and 21. He doesn't make that same mistake again.

Even tonight there were some opportunities in there where could have been in that situation. He got rid of the football. You've got to be smart in some areas.

He just continues to keep learning and growing. As much as we would love for freshmen to step off the bus and be ready to play, most times they're not. It takes time. But he has progressed at a good rate. Obviously we all, me included, him included, would love to progress faster.

The thing I love about him is he's coachable. He continues to progress. He doesn't make the same mistake twice. When something happens, just like he threw the pick, he comes to the sideline, we talk about it, he's locked back into the next thing. He's not fazed. Those are always good things to see in a young quarterback.

Q. Did you sense you would have a good pressure game or was this an empty the tank on the final day of the season?
PHILIP MONTGOMERY: I think Coach Young and them saw some things on tape they could hopefully take advantage of. I think a lot of it was just guys continuing to be aggressive, continuing to be relentless. We knew they wanted to throw the football. I thought we did a pretty good job.

I haven't really looked, we did a good job versus the run. When you do that, you can get them in situations where you can pin your ears back, change some different looks on them. I thought those guys up front did a heck of a job.

Q. Is this the type of game and performance that you thought you could have all season?
PHILIP MONTGOMERY: Yeah, I thought we could be better than even we were tonight. To be real honest, going into the season I felt good about where we were. We needed to go out and win and do it consistently to build the confidence that you need as you start into an early season, get rid of some of those ghosts that you had.

But I thought our guys came into the season with really right thoughts about what this was going to be. A lot of those close games that we could have and should have won. You know, as you look back on it, it is what it is now, right? I was just happy for our guys tonight and the way we played and performed.

Q. To end the season with a W, how does that feel? Sigh of relief to end on a high note?
PHILIP MONTGOMERY: There's always a mixture of feelings when you finish up the season. Obviously it was a frustrating season overall. Tonight it was good to send those guys out with that type of win. Lots of things on the line. Those guys went out and, like I said, they drained the tank and got it done.

Really, really happy for our seniors to be able to go out that way. Very proud of our football team, especially those guys, what they've done for us, for our school, for our community.

Q. Keylon Stokes had a heck of a game. Talk about his progression.
PHILIP MONTGOMERY: I think Keylon, I never call him Keylon, so it's hard for me to say it that way. The last four or five weeks, I think that guy has continued every week to step up his game. I thought he had a huge game against Navy.

As you look back over the course of it, it's a guy that just every week tries to get the ball into his hands. He can be electric with it in his hands. I thought he made some huge plays tonight.

He's a guy that, as some of these older guys move on, like Hobbs and others, he's a guy that now -- you got to remember he's a true sophomore, and he's got two years now. He has experience under his belt. Now it's about growing up and being the player I know he can be for the next two years, being that guy that scares people, that you've got to pay attention to. He's a guy that can take over a game if you let him.

Q. How big of a moment in the game was Justin's catch? How cool was that?
PHILIP MONTGOMERY: You're going to try to hurt me, aren't you?

Really, really happy for Justin. Hadn't had the year he wanted to have, but wow, what a big catch. So proud of him.

Q. Now that you're at the finish line for the season, your defense, a game or two when it wasn't at its best level, but for the most part the big picture of the season, your defense probably deserves to go to a bowl.
PHILIP MONTGOMERY: Had a great year. I'm very proud of our defense. We had a lot of young guys step up. We had some really tough injuries early in fall camp as we're trying to put all this together. Even coming off the injuries we had last year. So a lot of those guys didn't go through spring ball as we're trying to install and figure out kind of our identity to this new defense.

Those guys throughout the summer, then fall camp, really did a great job of kind of honing in on what we wanted to do. You look at what Cooper was able to do this year, what Zaven was able to do this year.

I look at our defense. I remember last year how everybody was really down on our defense. What those guys have done, we stayed true to ourselves, continued to keep growing and learning.

I thought our defense played extremely well all year long. We're going to lose two people off of our defense next year. I think we're going to bring back nine obviously. I think those guys will just continue to get better as we get more reps at it.

Q. The kick blocked, the pick.
PHILIP MONTGOMERY: We had adversity in this game just as we have in every game.

Q. Never had a big lead, but your defense...
PHILIP MONTGOMERY: I thought we did a good job of playing off of each other. When you get the field goal blocked, that's a tough one to swallow. Plus they take it back. You go right back on the field and you got to regroup, get refocused, go make first downs, start moving the football, play that game.

I think our guys stayed locked into what we had to do, what we needed to do. I thought we played off of each other pretty well, trying to take advantage of momentum swings throughout the game.

I thought we were very, very physical tonight. I thought defensively and offensively, even on special teams, we were a very physical football team, which is what I want us to be.

We've had years we were more physical than others, but tonight that was a physical game. I thought our guys did a great job of setting the tone. Coming in, Ben was on fire. I thought our secondary did a nice job.

Q. You mentioned Whitfield's interception in the end zone. Elaborate on how impactful that was. Stopped an SMU drive.
PHILIP MONTGOMERY: It was a huge play for us right there. McKinley has made those plays throughout the years, but especially this year. I don't want to get myself in trouble, but he's had to miss a couple of games. He had to miss the first half tonight.

Loved that moment for him, to be able to come into the game, only getting to play half after game, to be able to impact a game like he did. We come in at halftime, that dude, he's rocking and ready to roll. It was great to see him be able to go out and really impact the game like he did with a play like that.

Thank you.

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