The University of Tulsa football team breaks the practice huddle with two words: Conference champs.
While that phrase might have seemed too lofty of an attainable goal during fall camp, the pursuit has become increasingly possible with each passing week.
?Everybody on this team is really determined to win this conference,? defensive end Jesse Brubaker said. ?This whole team really believes that this year we can win the conference and that we have something special going on here.?
Heading into Saturday?s 11 a.m. meeting with Navy in Annapolis, Maryland, the Golden Hurricane is in a first-place tie with the Midshipmen atop the American Athletic Conference?s West Division. In the preseason, TU was projected fourth, where it finished in 2015 after being picked sixth.
?We didn't really get much respect last year either and we finished higher than they said we would last year,? Brubaker said. ?We took that as more fuel for our fire, honestly. We were really excited to get back to work and when we saw that, it just made everybody come to workouts every day with that much more determination to prove everybody wrong.?
That motivation has propelled TU to a 7-2 record and a 4-1 mark in the American, which determines the league champion with a matchup between the division winners. The Hurricane is a slight favorite Saturday and will likely be favored in its last two regular-season games against UCF and Cincinnati.
?Playing games late in the season with a lot on the line, that?s really what you want,? coach Philip Montgomery said. ?Our guys are excited about being in the situation we?re in but also understand we?re focused week to week on what we?ve got to achieve and what we?ve got to get done.?
Since Montgomery arrived, he has raised players? expectations for what they could attain. In his first year, TU reached six wins and become bowl-eligible for the first time since 2012. In his second year, he has continued to complete the turnaround of a program that won only two games in 2014.
Said offensive lineman Blake Belcher: ?When those expectations raise and when that bar raises, there?s a certain standard you have to apply to your team through work ethic and through execution and if you can continue to meet that standard, I think you?re setting yourself up for not just one or two great seasons in a row but to become a perennial power in your conference.?
Although TU is inching closer toward the goal of winning the league, its primary focus is on defeating a Navy team that has prevailed in 14 consecutive home games.
?Our philosophy cannot change,? Montgomery said. ?We?ve gotten to where we?ve been by playing each week the way we?ve played and preparing each week and working each week the way we?ve worked. The way we?ve laid things out, we can?t deviate from those things.?
While that phrase might have seemed too lofty of an attainable goal during fall camp, the pursuit has become increasingly possible with each passing week.
?Everybody on this team is really determined to win this conference,? defensive end Jesse Brubaker said. ?This whole team really believes that this year we can win the conference and that we have something special going on here.?
Heading into Saturday?s 11 a.m. meeting with Navy in Annapolis, Maryland, the Golden Hurricane is in a first-place tie with the Midshipmen atop the American Athletic Conference?s West Division. In the preseason, TU was projected fourth, where it finished in 2015 after being picked sixth.
?We didn't really get much respect last year either and we finished higher than they said we would last year,? Brubaker said. ?We took that as more fuel for our fire, honestly. We were really excited to get back to work and when we saw that, it just made everybody come to workouts every day with that much more determination to prove everybody wrong.?
That motivation has propelled TU to a 7-2 record and a 4-1 mark in the American, which determines the league champion with a matchup between the division winners. The Hurricane is a slight favorite Saturday and will likely be favored in its last two regular-season games against UCF and Cincinnati.
?Playing games late in the season with a lot on the line, that?s really what you want,? coach Philip Montgomery said. ?Our guys are excited about being in the situation we?re in but also understand we?re focused week to week on what we?ve got to achieve and what we?ve got to get done.?
Since Montgomery arrived, he has raised players? expectations for what they could attain. In his first year, TU reached six wins and become bowl-eligible for the first time since 2012. In his second year, he has continued to complete the turnaround of a program that won only two games in 2014.
Said offensive lineman Blake Belcher: ?When those expectations raise and when that bar raises, there?s a certain standard you have to apply to your team through work ethic and through execution and if you can continue to meet that standard, I think you?re setting yourself up for not just one or two great seasons in a row but to become a perennial power in your conference.?
Although TU is inching closer toward the goal of winning the league, its primary focus is on defeating a Navy team that has prevailed in 14 consecutive home games.
?Our philosophy cannot change,? Montgomery said. ?We?ve gotten to where we?ve been by playing each week the way we?ve played and preparing each week and working each week the way we?ve worked. The way we?ve laid things out, we can?t deviate from those things.?
