One of the first things Coach Montgomery was asked to discuss was the atmosphere in Norman. Obviously it's a place that he's no stranger to and also a place that he looks forward to the challenge of.
It's a great place to play a college football game. You know, when you talk about going to different venues, this is one you like to go to because it is going to be exciting and it'll be loud and it'll be a great opportunity for our guys to go and have an opportunity to prove themselves. - Philip Montgomery on playing in Norman
The Sooners will have the home crowd, a national ranking, and a hot start to the season working in their favor. That's not causing a distraction for Montgomery and his Tulsa program though. They're looking at the game as a great opportunity.
It's going to be a great opportunity and a great test for us. But you don't approach any game with the thoughts of, you know, hey, they're a lot better than us or they're this, they're that. We still gotta line up between the lines. We're going to play the football game and when that clock expires, we'll figure out what happened. And so we're in there breaking it down trying to give our guys the best opportunity to make plays on both sides of the football and in special teams. I'm sure they're doing the same thing. Saturday we'll line up and go to work. - Philip Montgomery on Oklahoma's national ranking and team advantages
The Golden Hurricane are off to a hot start as well and have had a track record of offensive success against the Sooners. Does that mean things will click for them on Saturday though?
I think each year and each team is a little different, whether there or here. So you've gotta play your strengths. You've gotta figure out how you can help guys get open, find soft areas to sit in, continue to keep working, and again, still having a one-two punch of what you're trying to do. And so you know, their team is different defensively as well. I mean they've got some new faces out there, some guys that have played extremely well obviously last week. So it'll be a chess match there for a while trying to figure out where we want to set guys and put guys. But that's the fun part of it for us. - Philip Montgomery on Tulsa's offensive success against Oklahoma in year's past
Coach Montgomery has faced the Sooners as the offensive coordinator for Baylor and co-defensive coordinator Bill Young has experience against OU from his days at Oklahoma State. What does that mean for the Tulsa coaching staff heading into Saturday?
I just don't think you're going to be surprised by things. The atmosphere, you've played in it. You've been to Norman and you know what you're going to get out of that part of it. Coach Stoops and his whole staff he's got a bunch of new faces on it this year but some of those same ones are still there that probably have still the majority of control of what's going on as far as the calls and working against him. And so, you know, it is -- I don't know if comforting is the right word. We do have experience going against each other. I think that same thing holds true for them. They've seen Bill, they've seen me. They've seen Brian. So I don't think there's going to be any shocking moments as you walk into the football field on either side. - Philip Montgomery on having experience against OU
Coming from a smaller school, and playing against the marquee program in the state, it's natural to have a bit of a chip on your shoulder. However, Montgomery says they're more so playing for respect than anything else.
You know, again, they're our next opponent. They're a great opponent, but they're our next one on the schedule and our guys are going to be excited to play each and every week. They're going to prepare that way each and every week. You know, we're fighting for respect in a lot of different areas. We're fighting for respect across the country. We're fighting for respect within our own conference and we're fighting for respect in our own state. So anytime we got a chance to go out and try to prove ourselves we're going to take that opportunity and get after it. - Philip Montgomery on if his team will have a chip on their shoulder when playing against OU
The last time we say Philip Montgomery against Mike Stoops his Baylor offense was moving the ball at will against Oklahoma's defense. How does he feel about the younger brother of Oklahoma's head coach?
Yeah, I mean just pull up his bio and he'll -- I mean bowl games. He's been a head coach. He's a defensive coordinator. He's got a national championship. He's got all those things, you know. And their whole staff is a mixture of guys that are very talented. And you know, the fun part of it is is we're both going to develop a plan and we're going to set that in motion and then throughout the game things are going to change and you've gotta be able to adjust and continue to keep looking for opportunities to get your guys success, and so as coaches, that's what we do. That's the fun part of it. Y'all get to talk about it and scrutinize it and say how dumb we are and do all of those things. But that's the point that makes it fun for us. And then when you see your guys go out and perform well, there's no better feeling than to see happy faces in the locker room and see them have success on the field. - Philip Montgomery on Oklahoma defensive coordinator Mike Stoops
You can read the entire transcript of Coach Montgomery's press conference here.