High Praise Instead of Coach Speak, One of the Top Compliments I’ve Heard Coach-to-Coach

STILLWATER – There were struggles last week with the Oklahoma State offense. Throughout the game the Cowboys had difficulty running the football. Plenty of blame to go around. Running the ball is a group effort and fixing the run game with be a group effort. Second half the entire offense became lethargic. There is work to do, but confidence it will improve. The defense for Oklahoma State did pick up where it left off. Missouri State had just 336-yards of offense and they were 6-of-18 on third down conversions. Oklahoma State had five sacks and nine tackles-for-loss.

From Malcolm Rodriguez and Devin Harper racking up 24 tackles combine at linebacker to the aggressive blitzing with man coverage behind it that helped seal the game. The defense is stout.

Coaches when asked about opponents during the season will be complimentary to the extreme. No bad mouthing, maybe on a rare occasion with two coaches that have an axe to grind, but usually coach-speak. This week Tulsa head coach Philip Montgomery, who is his own offensive coordinator and calls the plays was asked about Cowboys defensive coordinator Jim Knowles. What came out was complimentary, but not the usual kind of material. Montgomery went into detail and used terms that were real football talk. You could just tell that Montgomery’s words had meaning.

University of Tulsa Athletics

Montgomery on the sidelines at Boone Pickens Stadium last season.

“I have a lot of respect for him. Every year that we’ve gone against him just how completely sound he is, and he does a really good job of being able to schematically get guys unlocked and off of blocks,” explained Montgomery of the run phase of Knowles’ defense. “Being able to, I’m not going to say hide a guy, but being able to put him in a situation where it is very difficult for us, from a run game standpoint, to get up (and block) on him.”

Knowles has done something special. When he arrived from Duke where he took smart kids, primarily in the secondary, and made them excellent defenders. Using a 4-2-5 system as his base, which was taught to him by current TCU head coach and a father of the 4-2-5 in Gary Patterson. Knowles has put his own spin to the defense. Most recently, he has added a three-man front and the “drop eight” concept on the back end.

Oklahoma State Athletics

Here he gets a pressure, but Rodriguez had a huge sack versus Tulsa in 2020.

He has had the advantage of players staying at Oklahoma State, players at all three levels like linebacker Malcolm Rodriguez and safeties Tre Sterling, Kolby Harvell-Peel, Tanner McCalister, and Jason Taylor II, and defensive linemen like Brendon Evers and Brock Martin. Those veteran players have soaked up the defense and all of its’ nuances to the point that they can teach it to the younger players.

It has all combined to allow the Oklahoma State defense to expand, add creative concepts, play fast and comfortable, and maximize performance such as leading the nation in third down defense.

Montgomery has been a first-hand eye witness. Check out the Tulsa offensive numbers in the last two games with Oklahoma State.

In both of the above games, Oklahoma State’s defense really controlled the game and the outcome. Montgomery is an Art Briles’ product and diciple and he recognizes a worthy match when he finds one. That is why the words ring true and feel unlike any coach-speak.

“He’s adapted his philosophy to what they are doing in the secondary now, which is very similar to what we run,” Montgomery continued. “They have a bunch of DBs back there and they can play a bunch of different coverage and do a really good job of disguising them. They don’t give you a lot of pre snap ideas of what they’re doing. Then who is going to be the box player they are always changing and mixing it up. He keeps you off balance when it comes to that.

Bruce Waterfield/OSU Athletics

Knowles is a creative defensive coordinator.

“Then probably better than anybody in the country, I’d venture to say at least short yardage, you get in those short yardage situations, in those goal line situations, they are extremely difficult,” concluded the Tulsa head coach. “I’ve watched every tape, every game that they’ve had and nobody has had success in those areas. You can go back to OU, as good as they were last year, they still struggled in those third down situations. Everybody else that they played, it didn’t matter if you were putting three tight ends on the field, an extra lineman, or you were trying to spread it out, they are very, very sound in those areas on third downs.”

No doubt, Montgomery worked very hard this week for another match-up with Knowles. I’m certain that Knowles has some wrinkles for Montgomery to deal with on what should be an interesting Saturday.