Tulsa Preps For Tulane, Last Shot At Bowl Eligibility

After falling to Navy this past Saturday, Tulsa shifts its focus to Tulane. In Philip Montgomery’s weekly presser, he talks about this week’s game plan and his team’s last chance at becoming bowl eligible.

Opening Statement:

“You know, we got a short week, and we’ve got a good team right here in front of us. Touching up on last week, you know again, I thought our kids played extremely hard. I though defensively they gave us a chance there early. Offensively, you know, we didn’t take advantage of some of the opportunities we got. You know honestly, had some mistakes there early. So, when you’re playing a team like that I think is, is number one they’re very well coached, they’re very talented about, especially what they do and they’ve got a lot of senior leadership about them and they’re playing with a ton of confidence about them right now. So, my hats off to them; they played a great game. For us, we’re already moving on.”

On Tulane:

“You know Coach Johnson does a great job. They’ve got some defensive guys that have been around a long time. They’re extremely talented on the defensive line. They’ve got some big guys that can really move. Marley, you know number 20, seems like he’s been there forever. Monroe kind of the same deal, the safety, he’s been there forever. And those guys are kind of the leaders of them on defense. Offensively, you know, they’ve got talented skill guys, guys that’ll run around you [and] get the ball in their hands. They can make things happen so we’ve got to do a good job of getting them down at distances that are a little bit more predictable. [We’ve got to be] good on first down, still creating turnovers and our defense has done a good job of that the last several weeks and so we’ve got to be able to capitalize on those when we get them.”

On getting a sixth win and teams getting to a bowl with 5-7 records:

“This is kind of a unique year, and I think it kind of talks to the parody in college football. You know, it’s hard to get six wins. That’s a major accomplishment and so for teams that have the chance at getting in at 5-7, you know if their resume and everything shows it, I think it’s a great opportunity for guys, especially seniors to get a chance to be in that situation. And, I think it’s good for young programs like ourselves that [has] a chance to keep building and growing and especially your young guys, getting them those extra days. And, so [there are] a lot of great advantages of being in that situation. So if you got that opportunity, shoot I’m all for it.”

On importance of this week’s game:

“We’ve had a successful season. I think not at the standards probably that we set at the first of the year because we’re going to set our goals extremely high. We’re going to hold ourselves accountable to that. But [I’m proud] of the way these guys have worked and battled and persevered through a lot of tough games. And we’ve had a tough schedule; you [have to] think about the ranked teams that we’ve played. I thought our guys have done a tremendous job, and they’ve laid a foundation that we can build on here. You know, whatever happens in this game is not going to be the end-all."

Click the video to watch the full presser.