Montgomery, Players Preview Navy

Philip Montgomery and select Tulsa players met with the media on Tuesday to discuss last week’s win over East Carolina and this week’s matchup against Navy.

Montgomery…

on win over East Carolina:

“Really proud of our football team. We’re getting better and better every week. Guys are really motivated to achieve the goals that we’ve set forth. They know they’ve got a lot in front of them, a lot to play for. But I thought last week, really stayed focused on the task at hand. Had a very good East Carolina team that was in there, well coached by Coach Montgomery. Had a lot of weapons, especially offensively. So, you know, as you’ve looked at their record, it said one thing, but then you start looking at who they played and their opponents, and it was saying something totally different. So, I thought our guys really stepped up and got after it early, kinda set the tone in the game early and kinda carried that all the way through. I thought our defense played tremendously well throughout the night. They’ve kind of set the tone for us all year long. We’ve gotta continue that trend, especially this week, you know, heading up to Navy.”

on facing Navy:

“Ken and his staff, they’ve been together a long time. They do an outstanding job. Very difficult to prepare for what they do offensively in a matter of, just really, a couple of days. You gotta play very discipline, gotta be technique sound and you gotta really tackle well ‘cause they put you in situations where you have to make one-on-one tackles if you’re gonna be able to stop them. On the other side of it, defensively, they’ve got 11 guys that do exactly what you tell ‘em to do. They don’t give up big plays. They tackle very well in space. You know, as you start looking at their game films, they just don’t miss tackles. But, they’re very, very sound across the board and it’s hard to find those little crevasses in there that you’re tryna steal and make yards. And so, they’re, like I said, a well-coached football team, they play well together as units on both sides of the football. I think [Navy quarterback Will] Worth is playing at a very high level right now. He’s operating that offense as well as it was operated last year. So, we got our hands full, but we’re excited about the opportunity to go up there and play. And again, playing games late in the season with a lot on the line, that’s really what you want. And so, our guys are excited about being in the situation that we’re in, but also understanding we’re focused week to week on what we’ve got to achieve and what we gotta get done.”

on being the favorite against Navy:

“I’m still not paying attention to any of those things. You know, we’re a team that’s still fighting for respect in this conference and across the nation. So, I think our team’s playing well right now. We’ve got another opportunity to go up and prove it at their place.”

Linebacker Matt Linscott…

on the success of the season:

“We play kinda game to game. It’s week by week. I don’t think, yea we know big picture, we’re contending for a conference championship and that’s the overall goal. But, that’s been the goal since the very beginning of the season. So, we play week by week. Every game, every victory is just as exciting as the next.”

Offensive tackle Willie Wright…

on the front line’s successful rushing attack this season:

“We put in a lot of work on the practice field, you know, every day just grinding and grinding. And Coach Bloesch, he talks about it all the time, you know, ‘You practice how you play.’ You know what I’m saying? So, for us to have one back that’s hit that 1,000-yard mark, you know, it feels amazing.”

Check out the full interviews at the top of the page.