UNIVERSITY OF TULSA FOOTBALL MEDIA CONFERENCE

November 18, 2023

Kirk Francis

Ben Kopenski

Press Conference

North Texas Mean Green 35, Tulsa Golden Hurricane 28

Q. Ben, can you speak to the bittersweet nature of having the kind of game you were able to have but also having it come on a Senior Day loss?

BEN KOPENSKI: Yeah, despite the plays that I made, it's the win that means the most, especially for my teammates and being with my teammates and this being my last game here. To me, the stats don't matter as much as what the win means.

Q. For the defense, final drive, how crucial was that, they go 90 yards in 36 seconds, and it goes from a seven-point game to an even game pretty much going into the half.

BEN KOPENSKI: Yeah, that was tough. We have to make tackles and stop them in the end. I think out of 41 plays, five were explosive. We were doing a good job of stopping them on defense in the first half, but there were five plays they gave up and they scored 21 plays on those five plays.

So just got to keep working. They are a great team and have had a great run of opponents. They are a great team, explosive offense.

Q. Kirk, how did it feel getting your first start?

KIRK FRANCIS: It's definitely awesome to be out here in front of this community and in front of these fans, on Senior Night means a lot because these guys have been working so hard and they have bee doing this so long.

You really play for these guys at the end at the end of the day, especially on a night like Senor Night, you want to pull out that win. So it's definitely disappointing that we can't but you know, our team showed a lot of fight tonight. I'm really proud.

Q. Did you feel like they made adjustments that made it more difficult for you in the second half?

KIRK FRANCIS: Definitely, on our first drive probably couldn't have gone any more perfect with the touchdown to Nick there.

And then, you know, I didn't do a great job managing, and then we had a couple offsides penalties and then I forced a couple throws to make us punt. We had a couple straight three-and-outs, and ultimately that really hurt us and then it didn't give us great field position for the defense, put them in bad positions.

And then -- they are a great team like Ben said. They made a lot of adjustments defensively, and they played well and they play as a unit together.

Q. How much easier does it make your job to have receivers like Kamdyn Benjamin and Carl Chester?

KIRK FRANCIS: Oh, those dudes have been great. Staying after practice to work on routes, throw more. They come off on the sideline, they are telling me what they are seeing and they are talking a lot to me. They have been really great. You know, those older guys with a ton of experience and knowledge of the game, they helped me with what I want to look for. They just make a lot of big plays. The catch that Carl had, he boggled; it's kind of just give him a chance, and he's made a couple of those catches all year. We had -- I think that he made Charlotte. He's really stepped up this year, and Cam has obviously been electric and he had the nice great catch in the end zone on the last one.

Q. Overall, what was the emotions in the locker room?

BEN KOPENSKI: Definitely disappointed but we've got to keep moving forward. Got one more game, finish strong.

Q. So it's all about how you finish. You have a road game next. Overall, you're probably going to come in tomorrow and guys look at film, like what Coach always says. How do you keep that set positive?

BEN KOPENSKI: There's always something it work for, plays to be made and fun to have. I love coming here and practicing with these guys. One more week, one opportunity, and finish hard for the guys that don't have too much left.

Q. What did you think you did best and what needed the most improvement?

KIRK FRANCIS: There were definitely a couple throws that I forced and a couple areas I could have stepped up in and found a better throw. The interception obviously really hurt us because we had just gotten the fumble, and that was an area that we really needed to capitalize on that turnover. Looking at my completion percentage, that's not what you look for after a game.

A lot of times, I need to feel the rush better, step up, make a throw, better accuracy, feeling the pressure.

BEN KOPENSKI: He's been doing a great job. He's been doing a really good job. I remember when he was on our scout team three weeks ago and he was throwing great balls. We're coming right at him. I'm trying to hit him and whatnot and he's completing all these passes. He's been doing an incredible job. So there's nothing, ever -- he's stepped up and played amazing. I wanted to throw this in there because he was saying bad things, but he's been playing great.

Q. If you combine classmates, family, friends, how many people did you have here today?

KIRK FRANCIS: Metro is a great community. There were definitely a lot of people there, some of my old high school teammates, some kids from Metro and just being from the town. You make a lot of connections, and a lot of people texted me before the game saying they were going to dominant, which was going to be really awesome.

Playing in your city and in front of so many people you know, I think it an awesome part about being here. I'm thankful for that.

Q. The response coming out of the Tulane game, was your phone packed with messages, you know what I mean? Were you overwhelmed for 24 hours?

KIRK FRANCIS: A little bit for sure but you can't really buy into that. I felt bad not responding to some people but I got to everyone. You know, you can't really buy into that hype that everyone is texting you and saying good things because you've still got to work.

Ultimately we didn't win that game even though we played really well as an offense. Just like this week, there are areas to improve and we need to get a lot better.

Q. Isn't it funny, because you work your whole life to get that hype and then you have to ignore it.

KIRK FRANCIS: Yes, it is, for sure.

Q. Coach Wilson said you made Tuesdays and Wednesdays kind of like your Super Bowl when you were playing scout team. What was this last week like? I know you were expecting to play a lot leading up to Tulane but I assume you came into this feeling like you were just about going to be the starter. Was this week different in preparation?

KIRK FRANCIS: Definitely. Coming over from the scout team it's a little bit of a jump, hang out with Coach Wilson every day versus the defensive coaches. It's a lot different preparation. Even on scout team, I would try and prepare like I was going to play, prepare like I was a starter, watching that amount of film.

And this week it was just a lot more attention to detail and being present, and then getting those reps in scout team and against our ones defense, as the one and two was really crucial and really critical and I really feel like helped improve me a lot.