TU Football: Golden Hurricane Shifts Focus To Navy

After Tulsa’s loss to Cincinnati, the team looks to bounce back against Navy. A win this Saturday will give the Golden Hurricane bowl eligibility, but a loss will slim their chances, giving them one last opportunity against Tulane. Here's what head coach Philip Montgomery and players had to say at their weekly press conference.

Montgomery

Opening Statement:

“[I’m] proud of our football team. I mean, playing an experienced team like Cincinnati on the road at their place, I thought we at times, played extremely well. You know as you go back and look at the tape, there [are] opportunities in there that we really had to have a chance to take control of the football game, especially early in the contest and then as we took the lead in the third quarter. [We] had opportunities right there to really try to establish a little bit more momentum. [We] had an opportunity after the turnover again but, you know, we’ve got to continue to keep growing and fighting and figuring out ways to win those close ball games against those type of quality opponents and that’s kind of where we’re at. And our guys are diligently working towards that. You know, obviously our goal is still in front of us. We’ve got two games here to get one at least. Our plan is to go get both. We’ve got an outstanding team in Navy coming in, ranked top 25 team, 8-1, extremely well coached, obviously very disciplined in what they do, very difficult to prepare for in a matter of three days with that type of offense. We’ve got a lot of work in front of us. I know our guys are eager for that.”

On Navy’s offense:

“The pace of what they play with is always a factor as well, and they’ve been doing it for a long time. They’ve got a lot of senior guys doing it, and obviously you know Reynolds, the trigger guy; he’s exceptional at what they do. I mean, he just [hit an] NCAA career touchdown mark, so they’re playing with a lot of confidence. They’ve played some really good quality opponents. You know, I like our chances, but again it’s a difficult offense to prepare for.”

On getting that 6th win:

“It’s been our challenge all year long. I think our guys are feeding off of that right now… We still have those opportunities in front of us and we have to games. We want six, we’ll take seven as well.”

Michael Mudoh

On facing Navy’s offense:

"You know what they're going to do, that’s a given. They're going to run the ball. They do it so well and [have] so many gadgets and so many ways to do it.  They could probably run 200 plays in one formation."

Connor Floyd

On the game being Senior Night:

"With our class and what we went through with all the different coaches, all the different kind of seasons we went through, it's just going to be big time."