Tulsa Head Coach Philip Montgomery: "We Played an Exceptional, Tight Team That's Explosive on Both Sides of the Ball."

Tulsa Golden Hurricane head coach Philip Montgomery entered the postgame press conference disappointed with the 41-20 loss today versus Ohio State, but happy overall with the direction of his team after facing such a tough opponent.

"I thought all three phases contributed, gave ourselves an opportunity late," said Montgomery of his players' efforts. "We played an exceptional, tight team that's explosive on both sides of the ball."

Montgomery did lament that his roster was dealing with more injuries over the course of the game than what may have been apparent to those watching. "At one point in the second half, we basically had our second offensive line in. I was proud of the way our guys continued to respond."

Despite the setbacks, Montgomery still gave credit to Ohio State for implementing a game plan that differed from what Tulsa expected based on previous film. "They did some things differently today from what we saw on tape. I thought they were much more aggressive."

Indeed, the shuffling of Kerry Coombs into the box and Matt Barnes onto the sideline did seem to have an effect on the blitz rate of the Buckeye defense. Though the pass rush totaled only two sacks today, there was a much more consistent effort to send pressure in creative ways and disrupt the rhythm of Tulsa's offense.

Montgomery acknowledged this affected Tulsa's approach in the sense that the team is not used to attempting over 50 passes or playing more than 80 snaps on offense. "I thought we were pretty aggressive most of the day throughout the four quarters of the game."

But Montgomery's most interesting answers concerned the historically-bad attendance numbers at Ohio Stadium today for the Buckeyes' second home game of the season. Tulsa's head coach did not mince words when asked how he thought the environment in Columbus affected the ability of his players to execute.

"I never really thought the noise was an issue today," Montgomery said outright. "There were some times early in the game and late in the game where we took the crowd out of it."

The stadium was visibly just over 70% full on Saturday afternoon, with the north end zone stands in particular showing an alarming amount of vacancy. "You almost don't notice it until you look up on the sidelines at some point and just say, 'it's kind of quiet in here.'"

Montgomery praised his players for rising to the challenge in what can normally be one of the more intimidating atmospheres for visitors in college football. "I thought our guys handled that environment really well."

“"I NEVER REALLY THOUGHT THE NOISE WAS AN ISSUE TODAY.”– PHILIP MONTGOMERY

On a final note, Montgomery had a proud parent moment in this game when his son Cannon — a senior receiver at Tulsa — scored the team's first touchdown of the afternoon against Ohio State.

When asked what that meant to him as a father, Montgomery called it, "pretty special. Really was. He takes some abuse because he's my son, but he's been strong through all that and it's been good to see him have some success and see that happen."

After a loss last week, it is good to see the Buckeyes have some success too.