UNIVERSITY OF TULSA FOOTBALL MEDIA CONFERENCE

October 26, 2024

Kamdyn Benjamin

Cooper Legas

Owen Ostroski

Press Conference

Tulsa 46, UTSA 45

Q. Just in general, what happened in the locker room after the game and what was the atmosphere like and did Coach Wilson dance?

KAMDYN BENJAMIN: No, he didn't dance this week, but it was just pure joy and excitement. Everyone just came together and just happy and enjoying the moment. It was obviously a big win for us, and hopefully we get this momentum going, but it was just a great moment, everybody together, just enjoying the next person.

Q. Seven yards the first two and a half quarters, then you had a big one. What happened on that play and then how did y'all connect after that for you to get going for three touchdowns after that?

KAMDYN BENJAMIN: I think it was just the belief that we can always do it. Our big thing this week was next play, play the next play, don't worry about what happened before, if it was good, bad, indifferent, play the next play, and that's what we were doing. Every play, just give it your all, see what happens, go out and make a play. That was our mindset, and that's what we did, and it paid off for us.

Q. Cooper, once you came in, what did you see and how did things change between the first half and the second half?

COOPER LEGAS: I mean, saw what we've seen on film all week, and so wasn't really much that surprised us, just we started executing more, and all it takes it one or two plays to flip the momentum, and Yay's big scoop and score really helped a lot with that. As soon as there's belief we can't be stopped. I think that's the biggest thing is as soon as we have the momentum make sure we keep it on our side.

Q. Two 4th down stops in the second half that kept things from getting way out of hand and then they had the touchdown right there in the third quarter. Did y'all feel -- could you feel anything change at that point or was it still more time down the road before you felt like the game had changed in your favor?

OWEN OSTROSKI: No, absolutely. With the big play that Von and Yay were able to make with the strip sack and the scoop-and-score, the sideline kind of erupted, and from there I felt like the momentum totally flipped in our favor. We started going out there and playing with more momentum, which helps both sides of the ball, go out there and make plays and everything. So the big defensive touchdown was a big one for us, and then obviously 4th down stops are huge in games, so getting two of those, we were able to just stack momentum on momentum, and then we were able to bring the game closer together, and then offense was able to go out there and put up a pretty crazy drive at the end to go score and win the game.

Yeah, momentum in the second half was huge for us.

Q. Will there be a gold star for recovering the fumble on the left drive?

COOPER LEGAS: I don't know if he's gotten one, but he deserves one.

Q. Kam, I think you had three touchdowns. Tell me about the last one. You got the flag. What were the coaches talking to you about on the sideline?

KAMDYN BENJAMIN: Actually I didn't get the flag, but we were pretty lucky on that fact. Wilson got me immediately. I can't do that. I'll be better next time. Obviously the emotion got a little to me and I played into it a little bit, but I'm glad we got the play, glad it worked out, glad we got the score and obviously the win.

Q. Obviously a lot of questions leading up to the season was about the rotation of quarterbacks and the way the flow of the game would go. It seems like you guys haven't had too much of an issue bringing in different ones, but what was the fire like bringing in Cooper and getting those receptions down pretty quickly?

KAMDYN BENJAMIN: Obviously I think we do our best to mimic it in practice where I get reps and everybody -- all receivers get reps with Coop, Cardy and Kirk, so we're prepared for whoever is out there and whatever is happening. But he came with a great spark, threw some great balls and gave everybody a chance to make a play. Luckily we were able to make those plays for him, and he put the ball where it needed to be, so he made our job easy, so we just made the plays and had a good day.

Q. How do you guys make this a building block and not just one great game in the season?

COOPER LEGAS: I mean, I think if you lose a game like this, then honestly, these last couple weeks just losing, it's hard to have motivation to come to practice every day, go to these long meetings, and it's like, when is the season going to be over, what are we doing this for. So if you lose this one, it's just that feeling sorry for yourself just builds and builds and builds, so if you keep losing, you're just like, man, this sucks. I think just having a big win like this really gives us energy, and will make practice, meetings, everything more enjoyable, and we'll be more focused and know, hey, we're actually doing this for a reason, and winning is fun, so let's try to win another.

KAMDYN BENJAMIN: On top of that, we haven't had a lot of momentum throughout the year just in general. Obviously we got momentum in the second half and played off of it and kept it rolling and were able to make some plays. We've just got to carry this into the next game and just keep it going. We can't let momentum get away from us, so we've got to carry it and keep it going.

OWEN OSTROSKI: Yeah, absolutely. Kind of building off what they said, it's been a while -- I don't know how long it's been, but it's been a good bit since we won a game, so if you go through a stretch where you're kind of consistently losing, it can get a little discouraging, but it's hard to find some motivation coming in here when you're coming off of losses and everything, so getting a big win like this tonight just kind of builds motivation, encouragement for coming into next week against UAB.

Q. You guys have all played football, I'm sure, most of your lives. Have you ever been a part of a 28-point comeback before? Is this the biggest comeback you think you've ever been a part of?

KAMDYN BENJAMIN: I'm not sure. I'd have to go back to the COVID year when we had all those comebacks. I don't know how big those were. But this is a large comeback. 35-7 at half is a big deal. Not too many people are able to dig themselves out of that hole, and I'm glad we were able to get that momentum and do that. So it was a great win, and it probably is the biggest comeback we've had.

OWEN OSTROSKI: It definitely is for me. I've never won a game coming back from 28 points like that.

KAMDYN BENJAMIN: So definitely probably the biggest comeback. You heard it here first.

Q. Cooper, correct me if I'm wrong, didn't you come off the bench a couple times last year to lead victories? Can you compare that to this?

COOPER LEGAS: Yeah, I've come off the bench a lot in my career, and there's the San Diego State game we were down, UConn game, my very first game playing the bowl game back in '21, also came in and we were behind.

I don't know, honestly whether we're up, behind, just go in, go play-by-play and take each play as it is and try to do my job as best I can. It's really cool when you get an opportunity like that to come back from such a big deficit and really rally and build on that, so it's awesome. It's a lot more exciting when that happens. But really my job is the same regardless of what the score is when I'm in there.

Q. I know you've been playing for the last couple weeks, but you haven't passed a lot this year. You came in and obviously didn't look like any rust. Talk a bit about staying prepared when you're not passing a lot.

COOPER LEGAS: Yeah, I still throw at practice a lot. Just with how good Kirk is at throwing the ball, they try to game plan with that and use that in the game, so I tend to be more of like the running guy. But I came here to play quarterback, and I'm ready to throw the ball and do whatever I need to do, whether it's running or passing.

Q. Owen, what was it like leading that defense on the last two stops to clinch this win for you?

OWEN OSTROSKI: Oh, it was awesome. Not often do you get the chance to be on the field to try to seal a win like that, so we go out there with like a minute left or whatever, knowing that we have to make stops and everything, and everybody was able to bow up and do their jobs and force incompletions and everything. It was very fun to be a part of for sure.