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UNIVERSITY OF TULSA FOOTBALL MEDIA CONFERENCE

October 26, 2019

Phil Montgomery

Tulsa, Oklahoma

Memphis - 42, Tulsa - 41

PHIL MONTGOMERY: I thought a very physical game. Got behind a little bit there in the first half and just continued to keep grinding, guys making plays, defense making stops, put ourselves in a position to win and just didn't come our way. So can't tell you how proud I am of them. That's a really good football team over there in Memphis, Coach Norvell and his staff do an outstanding job, they got a lot of talent. A lot of explosive players over there on the offensive side especially. I thought that we did a good job of continuing to just keep grinding, getting stops where we can get stops, making plays, moving the chains. Haven't really got a chance to look at this sheet yet, but I think that we were pretty good on third downs, ran the ball better tonight. Thought we were pretty balanced in what we did, I thought our tempo was good. I thought our offensive line really did a nice job and backs ran extremely hard. I thought Shamari had a really good game, I thought Corey, I thought all those guys did. Receivers just kept stepping up and making plays.

Just can't say enough about our football team and the way they continue to stay resilient, stay strong, and continue to keep fighting right here. We have got a dang good football team. Dang good football team.

Q. When you have a 29-yarder it's unheard of to go for it on fourth down, but you know your kicking situation at the moment. Did you considerate at all --
PHIL MONTGOMERY: Right there at the end? No. I mean, just from a logical standpoint, I mean field goal wins it and you got to have faith in your guys, I got faith in Jacob. He's hit some good ones. At that point with the clock the way it is and all of those things, all the factors involved, going to play it by the book right there and let him go kick a winning field goal.

Q. What do you tell guys?
PHIL MONTGOMERY: I mean, there ain't anything you can tell them. They're hurting, they're hurting. I'm hurt, they're hurt, you pour your heart out on the field, you play with the passion that we play with, there's nothing I can say to them right now that's going to change it. So we got -- this is going to hurt for a little bit but we got to get over it because we got another dadgum good football team next week. So we don't have a chance to feel sorry for yourself, pick yourselves back up and continue to keep fighting.

Q. Talk about, you get down 14-0, I mean, pretty quick, and talk about how your team fought back and I mean really Memphis looked like everything was going their way and you guys hung in there --
PHIL MONTGOMERY: I think our team has really done this for most of the year. From the standpoint of adversity trying to hit us in the face and we're punching back. So we got down, obviously, got down 14 right there. Again, hat's off to Memphis. They got some explosive players over there, some guys that can really do some things. Our defense stayed strong. I thought obviously it helped, us going down and getting it 14-7. I think the momentum of that helped. It felt like we kind of got into a little bit of rhythm. I don't know, we ran 101 plays and they ran 59. Time of possession was 36 minutes to 23. So we were trying to do a good job of keeping their offense off the field, but extending drives the way we could. So we just stayed locked in. Guys stayed locked in. And adversity hits you got to continue to keep battling and I think our guys do an outstanding job of that.

Q. You had moments offensively this year but this would have to be by far the most consistent effort. Was there a breakthrough of any kind? You talked about the third down conversions and keeping it going. Do you feel like this was your offense finally coming together and this is --
PHIL MONTGOMERY: Yeah, it felt a lot like us tonight. Had good balance in it. We didn't, we had a few explosive pass plays, had a few explosive runs, but I thought we just kind of continued to stay balanced, continued to keep grinding in both ways, running and throwing it. Guys were making catches, big time plays. I think we spread the ball around pretty decently tonight to different people. So when we do that I think we're, we can be really effective. I thought our line did a better job of protecting Zach tonight, gave him opportunities to stand in there and make throws and guys found ways to get open.

Q. You had SMU on the ropes a couple weeks ago. Tonight was really close. Memphis could be ranked now, they are ranked in the coaches poll. SMU is still undefeated and ranked. As far as the overall strength of the American, what can you say to that?
PHIL MONTGOMERY: I think it's at an all-time high right now. I mean, I think we got, what, four teams ranked depending upon which poll you're looking at. I think there's a lot of talent in our league, a lot of great coaches in our league and every week is a battle. I think we're a good football team. Our record doesn't show it, but you mentioned two of those, I mentioned last week, too, versus Cincinnati. So and we got to, we got a really good football team next week that we're going to play. So top to bottom, especially on the west side of it, I think it's really, really tough.

Q. These games are tough to cover, mentally draining for us. What's it like for you?
PHIL MONTGOMERY: You think it's hard, you ought to be on my seat.

Q. How agonizing is it for these games that are barn burners like this?
PHIL MONTGOMERY: Well, for me, I mean, people can say what they want to about me, but those guys in that locker room, you know, I want it for them, they worked too dadgum hard and sacrificed a lot and they deserve it.

Q. What do you say to a kicker or any kid in that situation after a play like that at the end of the game?
PHIL MONTGOMERY: You don't really -- there's lots of different plays throughout this game, that's one of them, obviously, right? But there ain't a whole lot you can say to him right there. Stay confident in yourself, believe in yourself, and just hug his neck, tell him you love him and you're going to be there for him.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

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