Tulsa 26, Army 25
Q. Cale, it's got to be incredibly disappointing. Phenomenal game, three touchdowns, 106 yards rushing. Can you tell us what happened on the interception, what you saw? There was double coverage, what you saw happen?
CALE HELLUMS: Yeah, just a bad play by me. I had bad eyes and made a misread. I'm just supposed to sneak a peek to that route and then work to the boundary side, high-low weak, and Noah Short came up late in the flat and I got off of it and forced a dumb decision.
Q. Andon, just a thought on the defense played well. What are your thoughts? Just disappointing for you after a strong effort.
ANDON THOMAS: Yeah, you know, it pains me to lose, obviously, always, but being Senior Night and mine and all the seniors' last game at Michie, it's really disappointing.
But glory to God, glory to Jesus Christ. I know this happened for a reason, and I always trust His plan for us, His plan for me, His plan for the season. There's always hope in that. I know He's good, at the end of the day, and obviously nobody likes to lose.
We've got two more guaranteed, hopefully three more, so we've got to get back to work.
Q. The team seemed to struggle the second half. You had 226 yards in the first half, I think about 80 or so in the second half. What do you think happened offensively, Cale?
CALE HELLUMS: Yeah, I think we did a really good job of running the ball and being efficient in the first half, and then in the second half they just got after us, and we didn't play well. That's the bottom line, right? They made plays on their defense and they held us to one to two yards rushing the ball, and that's not acceptable, and we've got to be better.
We hurt ourselves, and they had an answer coming into the second half and we didn't respond well. We moved the ball good that first drive and after that we got stagnant. We didn't really move the ball from there on out, and that's on us, that's on me; I've got to be better. We need to bounce back.
Q. Do you think the play calling was a little conservative for the last five, six minutes of the game?
CALE HELLUMS: You know, I don't know. At the end of the day, it's a players' game, right? The coaches made the calls and decisions, but the players go out and execute. It's our job to master our fundamentals and assignments, and whatever is called, we have to go out there and execute. I'm not sure. I think it was fine, and if we moved the ball like we had been and we get 1st downs, and -- I don't know, we've just got to be better.
Q. Can you talk about the emotions of this game during the fourth quarter? You guys were up by two scores, in good shape, and then it seemed like everything that could have gone wrong went wrong for you guys. What are the emotions for you?
ANDON THOMAS: Yeah, obviously we pride ourselves on winning the fourth quarter, and bottom line, we didn't do that. I think a couple things went wrongly, and I think honestly we got a little flat, if I'm being honest, and that's on me, honestly. I should have been rallying the guys, picking them up. We had some guys with their heads down, and that's on me to pick them up really, so I really take accountability for that.
But obviously, like I said earlier, last home game ever for me and for the seniors so there's a lot of emotion there, and there's really disappointing; last game ever is going to be a loss.
Q. The way the season has gone, there's been a lot of one-score games. Some of them you've won, some you haven't. Coach says a lot, We have to play almost a perfect game. Is that kind of how you -- is that the feeling? Do you just have to do your job?
CALE HELLUMS: Yeah, there have been a lot of close games. I think at the end of the day, I have to do my 1/11, the other guys have to do their 1/11 and I don't know if you necessarily have to play perfect. But to go out there and turn the ball over when you're up two possessions to give the ball right back to the other team, that's unacceptable. You can't make those dumb mistakes. It was costly. I put that on my shoulders.
But I don't know if you necessarily have to play perfect, but you can't go out there and do what we did in the second half and expect to win. We put the defense in a bad position.
Q. Cale, on that 4th and 3, you get the look you guys want, two blockers on two players. You just got tripped up just like in that Air Force game. What did you see on that play, and was there anything else you could have done to potentially pick up that 1st down?
CALE HELLUMS: Yeah, it was the look we wanted. We got the similar look in I think the first drive of that second half -- or no, the last drive going into halftime. We got like 20 yards on it or so. I thought it was the same exact look.
Yeah, got tripped up into my own guy or the defender. Coming off the field, Coach Monken said I could have dipped and slipped it, meaning act like I'm going in and skate out around. I thought the defender was kind of taking away the perimeter based on his defensive structure or whatever you want to call it. I thought our right tackle pulling his butt was to the inside, and the guy was outside of him.
I think in that instance you've got to make a play, and I didn't make a play, so it's just on me.
Q. Cale, was there any moment you felt the game had hit a turning point?
CALE HELLUMS: I think going into halftime we were in a great position, and even coming out of halftime, that first drive going up two possessions, I think we were in an even better position.
But as the game went on, they hit another notch and were stopping us and making us punt the ball, and we weren't able to really move the chains as well as the game progressed.
Then I think it might have hit a turning point, but then our defense goes out there, they make plays that caused two turnovers, and then I wasn't -- me and the offense weren't able to do anything with it, and that's on us. That's on the offensive side. We couldn't ask for the defense -- the defense held them to the very end until eight minutes left, and we just couldn't help them out or move the ball to let the clock die down.
Q. Andon, I know it's tough and it's not the first time Army has had to bounce back from a loss, but there's a lot at stake for next week. How do you bounce back? What did you learn from previous setbacks that helped you perform better next week?
ANDON THOMAS: Yeah, obviously the emotion is going to be there. Everybody is disappointed. But it just really comes down to fundamentals and trusting the game plan. I think Tulsa had better fundamentals than us. They got off blocks better. They blocked better. That's really the bottom line.
So just focusing on the fundamentals. The scheme is going to be there. We got the looks we wanted most of the time really, but it just came down to beating blocks, getting off blocks, so just emphasizing those really. But the emotion is going to be there. You can't let emotion get in the way of executing, and that's what Coach Monken preaches all the time.
FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports