UNIVERSITY OF TULSA FOOTBALL MEDIA CONFERENCE

November 5, 2022

Philip Montgomery

Press Conference

Tulane 27, Tulsa 13

PHILIP MONTGOMERY: I thought our team played hard. I thought we came out of the gates a little bit better. This is a team that has been just completely lighting it up early in the game. I thought our guys did a better job coming out and controlling that part of it.

You know, the big play right before half with K-Ray's interception and then the big touchdown right after that, good momentum for us.

Consistency, again, we got to do some better things there. We had a couple drops we need to take -- got a couple sacks that we don't need to have. Got to run the football more consistently.

You know, defensively I thought we did some good things. They're a tough team to go against. Give them the credit for that side of it. They're very balanced in what they do. You know, they can eat the clock on you as they start getting a lead.

So tough loss for our guys. I thought Braylon really played well. Protected the football. The penalties that we had, we only had five penalties, but it seemed like every time those penalties were costly type penalties that kind of stalled out a drive or this, that, and the other.

You know, we just got to do better in these situations. We got three games left. We got a really, really short week. Can't feel sorry for ourselves. We got to understand this thing is fixing to turn around really quick playing on Thursday night.

Got another really good test in front of us, but feel as though we got to attack them one by one and try to go get them done.

Q. Playing the best defense in the league, not ideal for that to be Braylon's first start. What were you trying to get accomplished with him considering the challenge, and what did you think of the day, not just for him, but the offensive line, offense as a whole?

PHILIP MONTGOMERY: Again, I don't think we were consistent enough offensively. Obviously going against a good defense, but I thought in particular BB's play, or Braylon's play, I thought he played really well, going, you know, like you said, versus the top defense in our conference right now. He took care of the football. He made some really good throws at times.

There are some things obviously we'll still go clean up. I thought he moved the chains with his feet and had opportunities to do that. I thought for us, I wanted to take advantage of his ability and expanding a little bit. I thought we did some good things with that part of it.

Again, penalties hurt us in a couple areas, and we got to be a little bit more consistent as we continue to work our way through.

Q. Your defense against the run, obviously there were a couple of long ones given up. Your assessment?

PHILIP MONTGOMERY: Yeah, a couple of those, just got out-flanked on a couple of them. Some pin-pull type action. Couple little pitch plays trying to get outside leverage to us. We got to do a better job. There are several of those in my opinion.

Now, again, in the style of defense that we have to play at times, right, there is one guy that needs to make that play there. There are a few times where we had a few times to get him down earlier in that run. Did not get him down, and then an explosive run happens after it.

So a few of those things, give them credit. Good execution on their part. Couple of times in there I thought we had opportunities to really get him on the ground. Got to be sure tacklers in those instances.

Q. I would say also third downs, especially in that second half, seemed to hurt you. You could have got off the field and you didn't. They used that to run out the clock.

PHILIP MONTGOMERY: Again, they got two really talented running backs, and the quarterback does such a good job from a an RPO standpoint and using his legs, right?

So had some opportunities to get off the field and we didn't; let them extend drives. On the other side of it, we got to do better job staying on the field in those third down situations.

This is a full team thing, right? I thought our special teams really had some significant plays in there. Thought they really played well and I thought at times offensively and defensively we did as well.

Again, our level of play has to continue to keep rising. That's a dang good football team over there. They're very solid. On both sides of the football. It's things that we talked about all week long. They're not going to give you anything. That's kind of the way they're built right now. They're going to be very clock management side of it, and you have to take advantage of the opportunities when you get them.

They don't give up big plays. We got a few on them today; had chances for several others that we didn't cash in on, and we got to do those things.

Q. What's the thought process or the emotions like knowing that now you've got to win to make a bowl game?

PHILIP MONTGOMERY: Got to take it one week at time, understanding that. Got to start that way again on a short week, and we got to get back on the right track.

So our mindset has to be that way. Can't think about the total big picture. Everybody knows what the big picture is. It starts this week, and we got to go capture that on the road.

Q. Stopping the run game, 357 yards on the ground. What kind of looks were they giving you so they were able to get so many chunks of yards?

PHILIP MONTGOMERY: I have to go back and really look at the tape, but really using some opportunities in there where they're trying to pin us and get an extra hat on the outside of it. So some version of a pin-pull, some version of a dart, some was at a 12 personnel, some was at 11 personnel.

And most of that happened as they started spreading out, and then you start seeing a few inside interior type runs starting to hit because guys are playing a little bit too fast to try to overcompensate for it.

It's just locking back in, getting in our gaps, fitting things up correctly, and then making tackles.

Q. Obviously Davis didn't start and was helping out the other quarterbacks with headsets. When did you make the decision not to start him, and how much did that hurt not having him in the lineup?

PHILIP MONTGOMERY: Well, again, earlier in the week just watching his progress, didn't really feel like he was going to be healthy enough to play. Thought he did a nice job on the sideline trying to help Braylon, staying locked in.

From that standpoint, I thought Braylon played well, right? I mean, he made some big runs, made some really nice throws. He did what we needed him to do as he came in going against a tough defense.

We got to just continue to see what Davis' progress is, and we'll keep building from there.

Q. Why was the red zone so tough today? Zero chances to get something going in the red zone.

PHILIP MONTGOMERY: Most of the time as we got down there, that's what I was talking about earlier, out of five penalties we had today, the majority of those started to occur as we got close and fixing to get into that red zone.

We put ourselves behind the chains at that point, and you can't do those things when you get down there versus good football teams.

Q. You talked about trying to play a complete game, couple weeks now. I thought defensively you guys looked pretty good, especially there in the beginning minus some of the missed tackles. What do you build on going forward for the next three games defensively?

PHILIP MONTGOMERY: We just got to continue to eliminate the big play, right? That's the thing I think that has hurt us in those games so far, right? It's a big play here or there. It's getting off the field on third down, right?

We're getting them in third down situations, some long, some short, but we got to get off the field right there.

You know, again, I don't think we're playing up to the level that I know we can play. That being said, I don't think we're playing bad football either. We're right on that teeter side of it. We just need a play here or there. Need the ball to bounce our way. Need to create those opportunities and take advantage of them.

And when we do that, I think things are going to turn around.

Q. At what point did the clock become a concern knowing you were down by two scores?

PHILIP MONTGOMERY: Yeah, really kind of towards the end the third quarter, and as you start going throughout the fourth -- you know, any time you're sitting in that situation I got to start burning those -- you hate to call a timeout on third and inches, but if you don't, the clock is going to keep ticking on you.

You have to conserve it as much as you can, and then really hope that your defense is going to get a big stop there on the third down and put them in a fourth down situation where they got to punt or you got to hold them again.

Just trying to do everything you can to keep as much time on the clock as possible to give yourself an opportunity to go down and get more.