Coach Jon Sumrall unpacks Tulane's missed opportunity, late disappointment vs. No. 17 Kansas State

[Music] um obviously heartbreaking loss Phil for our players that's a lock roomm that's hurt um because they've invested a lot into preparing to have an opportunity to win a game like this um it's also a bunch that's not going to hang their heads though you know it it losing a football game stinks don't like it um it's not the standard never will be we're not okay with losing losing is not okay um but I also told them you know uh we're going to respond I have no doubt um you know if you got a pulse you got a chance and we got a pulse so we got a chance we're going to keep showing up I can promise you this team will not back down so uh thought our kids fought hard thought thought we didn't play some detailed things a certain way we needed to at certain times um and we got a coach better starts with me you want to blame somebody for the loss blame me don't blame me guys blame me so I can take it all right that open up to questions coach what was the explanation about the refs uh on that pass interference call at the end of the game I didn't give very many good explanations in the second half of they officiate it left a lot to be desired it's probably about all I can say on on that play Big 12 crew in case you're wondering on that play uh was there any consideration to run it on first down versus going for that pass play yeah was you know we had two timeouts in the pocket um they felt like we had some we considered all things I mean you're in a fast situation making a quick call with a little time left but felt like our best chance was try to get it into the end zone um did you know you never know how things are going to uh play out at the end probably could have run it we we thought about it talked about it over the headsets um but just decided let's let's take our shots towards the end zone coach just the two plays that really turned the game what do you think about M's ability to bounce back from his errors yeah you know uh the fumble there he he probably got a little careless with the football he you know he's got a really good Poise in the pocket that's part of what makes him special um he's just got to you know understand that you got to protect the ball and that was a critical play one at the end I don't even really put a whole lot of sock into that's you know that last pick you're trying to win the game and make a throw and you can't take a sack probably you could have taken one but then you're moving yourself back it wasn't a time thing at that point the two timeouts it was more of a we needed to try to stay in range of making a shot there and um you know I'm proud of the kid U he he's you know in that environment you know I thought he played really admirably um because he have to get some things better yeah we all do after the scooping score touchdown what was the message to him like kind of coming back to the sideline so we we have a deal on our program with good things happen we say good and bad things happen we say good so I just looked at I said good just means an opportunity to respond like you know I I I think U he's he's got some grit he's got some toughness and he he he was maybe a little fired up to ready to go try to respond and um man he's a courageous young man and uh think he's got a bright future and I think his response was was the right way he's he's wired the right way coach how much do you on the server lining of in reality it's more so you guys beat yourselves than it was uh getting dominated by the other opponent yeah I mean it's frustrating to be honest because you know we talked the message all we just do your job and the first half I thought we did a pretty good job of that for the most part there was a couple things on defense I didn't think we did very well um we got to get a lot better on defense that's on me and and we'll get a fixed but uh look we're a good football team we're going to keep going up you know in this game you get every seven days either get promoted or exposed we had some things exposed today we had an opportunity to get promoted We we played put ourselves in some situations that have some success uh but against a team like that you can't give them anything and they're a really good team they're a quality team and um they they they took advantage of some things we didn't do well what do you think changed after halftime because obviously you still easily could have won the game but it definitely changed after yeah there was some momentum things you know they uh they got the ball first we had kickoff right um they punted we went three and out we punted it it early in the uh second half third quarter it kind of felt like uh stale made a little bit um and then the the the they hit some plays you know the the one that really um I think probably more to me than the U the fumble but also the the fourth down down MH we just we we had a you know we had I thought a decent call on we just kind of busted something um not on the kids we just kind of we got to coach you better um really probably should have had a stop there if we get a stop there game feels a lot different because we're still up their quarterback didn't really hurt you with his legs down the field but you had a hard time bringing there were some key plays where it couldn't bring him down in the back field yeah he's a hard kid to get on the ground he's very elusive he's athletic I think I think it's been documented he's the fastest C their team he didn't kill with any like huge chunks that went for 40 or 50 but he he found a way to keep the chains moving or keep a Play Alive and he's a he's a hard guy to get down on the ground it's one of his strengths it's just his his Mobility for sure and good player hats off to him and um he made it hard on us today Mai finished the game with like 128 and a touchdown can you just speak to his performance and how especially when y'all had the momentum like he was kind of able to help control the clock and things of that nature yeah you know bet better people make better football players M great person uh really hardworking very tough very very dependable very consistent don't have to worry about him bringing effort and being ready to go thought we blocked some things up for him really good I thought he showed explosiveness thought he caught the B caught the ball to the Back Field well today that was probably the thing stood out to me but I thought he played um played like a big time football player because he is and you know it's amazing how guys that work really hard usually play really good and I'm proud of him and uh he he's hurt man he he he's the type of guy that feels like he could have always done more but I'm proud of proud of his effort and what he did today what can you say you learned about your team today uh we got fight you know adversity I told him going the day there's going to be adversity they're a good team we're playing there's going to be some things go sideways you know things in the third quarter things were going kind of sideways and you know we had some guys step in front of the train and said the ain't going to keep going down tracks this way we're going to try to slow that train down and so I thought the I thought the way they responded maybe after the third quarter was encouraging thought the way we started the game was was was encouraging to see um there's just a lot of little things that I'm probably stuck on right now that we got to do better but but I'm I'm encouraged with our group I've got a lot of Hope in who we can be and who we can become and and like I said I like our team I like our locker room uh I'm I'm grateful to be a part of this this team and I I love these kids I think they love each other I think um we're going to keep showing up and they'll fight to a better end to that point and you mentioned it a little bit in your opening statement um outside the locker room I saw you like kind of uh high five everyone just say head up how important was that for this team to know going into the Lo to like stay encouraged after a tough Los I love these guys whether we win or lose now don't get it twisted I won't win like I I don't like Los um but these are these are all fantastic young men and um and they're they're they're hurting everybody's hurting and I want them to know like hey we got your back keep your head up no P nobody's going to feel sorry for us and we're not going to mope around there's people in life they got real problems we lost football game today that sucks but we'll move on we'll get better from it we'll learn from it we'll bounce back you know what I mean and so I'm not okay with losing but not to diminish the loss but we lost a football game we're going to find out a lot about how we respond we'll find out more about how we respond about who we are about how we respond and losing a game today know there's half teams in America going to lose today I hate that we were one of them all good thank you thank you app [Music]