UNIVERSITY OF TULSA FOOTBALL MEDIA CONFERENCE

August 31, 2023

Cardell Williams

Owen Osteroski

Press Conference

Tulsa-42, Arkansas-7

THE MODERATOR: Questions for Owen and Cardell?

Q. Cardell, just to start, how did it feel being out there?

CARDELL WILLIAMS: It felt good. I was happy to work with my teammates. Glory to God for the opportunity.

Q. Once you got acclimated to the flow of the game, what was working for you guys offensively?

CARDELL WILLIAMS: Well, run game was working real good, and then a couple of passes popped open after that focus on the run.

Q. What did you think of your performance?

CARDELL WILLIAMS: I think I did pretty well. I just have to keep working. Got to work harder and play better for next week, and it starts with the O-line protecting me every play. That's who I really give thanks to.

Q. You and Ben had combined 16 total tackles, four sacks. You guys started playing that good, how difficult is it to defend your front seven?

OWEN OSTROSKI: I mean, you know, having to do like Ben come in, he is an experienced guy, played in a defense real similar to what we're doing when he was over at Oklahoma State. So having a leader like him come in, and he just gets after it.

He's obviously in his first career start tonight, had ten tackles or something like that and multiple sacks. Ben causes a lot of trouble for the up front.

When you have multiple guys on the front just getting after it and working and trying to make plays, it helps everybody else out because if one person misses on that -- on my sack, Ben kind of caused the pressure, missed the tackle, and then I was able to come in and clean it up. Having a group of guys like that all working together and getting after it makes it real easy to play.

Q. Coach Wilson just gave the defense credit for kind of steadying the ship after the crazy start. What do you think you guys were able to do in that moment? I mean, that's tricky. First time you were out there gave up the touchdown, but then you guys were able to settle in.

OWEN OSTROSKI: You just have to stay calm. It's a long game. It's 60 minutes, four quarters. You know, you can't panic right off the bat because if you are panicking, you're going to be making mistakes and not doing what you have supposed to do.

And also the preparation. We've been put in plenty of tricky situations throughout all of camp and everything, and so situations like that, you know, you just have to overcome adversity, which is what we've been working on with the coaches that have been making us do.

After a tricky start like that, you just have to go out and play your best, do what you're supposed to do, calm down, take a breath and just execute. That's what we were able to do.

Q. On your sack there in the first quarter as you came to the sideline, it looked like you pointed up in the stands somewhere.

OWEN OSTROSKI: Yeah, I threw the "I love you" in sign is language up to the suite where my family was.

Q. Cardell, so Coach Wilson was talking about how you were going to get to play anyway. Maybe get a couple of drives in there regardless of what happened, but obviously coming in with Braylon going down, did that change at all your mindset or make it a little more not real because you're going in regardless, but you're going in and you're going to be the guy for the rest of the game. Did that mindset shift at all for you?

CARDELL WILLIAMS: No, like Coach Wilson said, we already knew I was going in to get a couple of drives regardless, so I was prepared and ready to go in whenever my name got called.

Q. So when you actually did go in, I mean, even though you knew you were going to go in, were there some butterflies there? What were you feeling?

CARDELL WILLIAMS: I mean, a little bit. Everybody gets a little butterflies the first game. Every game sometimes you get a little butterflies, but that's about it.

After the first snap, the first time I got tackled, I was ready to go, comfortable.

Q. For both of you guys, in those first six minutes or so when it seemed like everything was going wrong, what was the mood on the sideline? What was being said on the sideline amongst the team and amongst the coaches to kind of keep the ship steady and try to find a way out of it?

OWEN OSTROSKI: You know, we came in the game with a lot of confidence. Starting off with a shaky start like that, that's not going to change how you're viewing the game and everything.

Like I was saying earlier, it's a long game. In 60 minutes a lot can happen. You just have to keep going out there and executing and doing what you are supposed to do.

Along the sideline everybody kind of had that same mentality. Pretty calm. Nobody was panicking. Obviously after that start, we settled things down and just started rolling. Yeah, that's how you have to go about it.

Q. Cardell, first half you and Braylon were on the bench there kind of having a discussion. What were those like? What were you guys discussing?

CARDELL WILLIAMS: He was just telling me stay calm and poised and read everything out. Don't try to force anything. He was giving me great tips before I went in the game. That's all.

He gave me a little confidence, a little encouragement, a little pat on the back like, let's go, and I just was taking the information and went out there and played.

Q. Cardell, you had some great moments. The first touchdown you were able to run in. The play right before that, the throw down to the 1 and then an 80-yard touchdown and then scrambled and hit Malachai and then just a perfect toss on that fourth touchdown. Out of everything that happened, did you have a favorite play tonight?

CARDELL WILLIAMS: No (laughing). No, I didn't have a favorite play tonight. I can't think of one. If I had to pick one, it would be the touchdown to Marquis Shoulders, the last touchdown in the end zone, like he caught it at the back of the end zone. That was probably my favorite one if I had to pick one.

Q. Is the accuracy you showed tonight pretty typical? Have you played about like that in camp?

CARDELL WILLIAMS: Yes, sir.

Q. Cardell, in that stretch 13 in a row completions, was there ever a moment where you realized, like, I'm slinging it pretty good right now, or was it just kind of one play at a time?

CARDELL WILLIAMS: Actually, it was one play at a time because I didn't know that I was 100% completion. That's when my teammates started coming up to me and telling me on the sidelines, like, You're 12-0. You know you're 12 straight, 12-12; right? I was, like, oh, don't tell me that, don't tell me that.

Q. Owen, you've seen it in camp obviously from Cardell, so just no surprise to you guys that he performed the way he did?

OWEN OSTROSKI: No, not at all. We have a very talented quarterback group with Braylon and Cardell. Throughout all of camp both of them were making plays and everything, so we were going in the game obviously expecting to see both.

When Cardell took over and was making plays and didn't skip a beat, that wasn't unexpected at all.