Everything From Virginia Tech Interim HC Philip Montgomery After Week 13 Loss to Miami

Virginia Tech football interim head coach Philip Montgomery spoke to the media following the Hokies' 34-17 loss to No. 14 Miami; here's the entirety of what Montgomery had to say:

Opening statement:

"Proud of our football team. It was a battle today. We played a good football team. That being said, don't think the score is really reflective of the game itself, the battle that was on the field. I was really proud of the way our guys went out. They played aggressively. They played with passion. They went on the attack. These seniors have done so much, being on Senior Day here. That's an emotional day for them, for their families, for me, for our coaching staff and for this football team. But I thought those guys did a tremendous job throughout the game. I thought those guys did a tremendous job throughout this year of of helping us stay connected, stay together. The leadership they provided has been monumental in what we've been able to do. The ebbs and flows of the game are what they are, but I'm proud of our guys and the way that they battle and how hard they play. We've got a big test for us coming up next week [against Virginia]. Got an opportunity to go down to their place. We got a week to get prepared. It's Thanksgiving week and all those other things that are going on. But I'm excited to get one more opportunity with these men and go down there and let's roll the ball out and get after it."

On Miami's No. 3 rushing defense in the country entering the contest, Tech going for double the average/game and how that happened:

"Well, I think we play physically. I think we play on edges. I think we create some problems for guys. I think we'd have put more on them if we hadn't gotten down as quickly as we did in certain times. If we'd been able to maintain a few other things in there, I think we've been able to to add a few more yards to that because I thought you saw the explosive runs that we had. We were doing a good job of staying ahead of the chains. Offensive line played really physical, backs ran physical. Trying to mix it up and do some different things. They're talented on defense, but I've got a lot of faith in our guys and what they do and how hard they play and I thought that was representative of tonight. You look at our team throughout this drive of games here. Florida State wasn't giving up many yards either and we put 200 and whatever on them. [Editor's note: It was 238 against the Seminoles.] We're going to put 100 and whatever we did tonight on these guys. [Editor's note: Tech accumulated 194 rushing yards against the Hurricanes.] We do a good job of that. And we take a lot of pride in that and that's the strength of our team."

On tallying five 30-plus plays and what allowed Tech to attack the edges:

"Just giving guys opportunities to go make plays. [Ayden Greene] made a couple of really nice catches in there. The backs ran extremely hard. Some of those situations where we've got to start pushing it and we've got to start being more aggressive on that part of it. I thought we had a little bit more balance in what we were doing today. That being said, when we find those explosive plays, we got to go capitalize on them. We've been pretty good down in the red zone. We got to do better down there. We had opportunities early in the game. We got to capitalize on those, especially when you're playing good people like that. So, again, proud of AG and Kyron [Drones] and everybody else that had those explosive plays. We got to keep putting those things together and keeping people off balance."

On Jeffrey Overton, who tallied 69 rushing yards, including a 38-yard touchdown:

"He really made a nice backdoor cut [on the touchdown play]. He saw they actually were bringing blitz right into the middle of it, right into the face of it. I thought our guys did a nice job getting bodies on bodies and then, he did a nice job of pressing it, then seeing the the linebacker run over the backside. He hit a backdoor lane and Jeff's got that that ultimate speed, that thing you can't coach and he did a really nice job with that run. You've seen it. He's been really close for the last couple of weeks of having an opportunity to have an explosive run like that. He's still, No. 1, young, No. 2, still coming off the injury. He hadn't played in a while, so he's still kind of knocking off rust and you can see it in practice. Just the vision, the feel, getting used to the speed of the game. All of those things are factors in it, but he is progressing well and doing some electric things for us.

On Miami's Malachi Toney (12 catches, 146 yards) and whether Miami was doing anything specific to scheme him open:

"Nah, he's a special player. He's kind of done that to everybody, right? You got to know where he is. They got so many weapons. It's not like you can just lock and say, 'Hey, I'm going to double him every play.' If you do that, then the guys on the outside are going to be able to take advantage of that andor, you know, running game is going to be the factor in it. And so, he's a special player. He's young, but the guy's made plays on everybody. And we did some good things against him. He made his plays, too. But that being said, our defense, I thought they played extremely physical, made some good stops and those guys are continuing to grow and learn."

On what moved Montgomery to put second-string QB William "Pop" Watson III into the game and Watson's performance:

"I thought Pop came in and did a nice job. Kyron took a couple of big shots in there. He's fine. Needed the opportunity to breathe for a second and I thought Pop came in and made a couple of good throws. Made a good run in there. Did some nice things. And so, Pop's been working all year. We all have faith in Pop and what he can bring to the table. But Kyron right there, he took a couple of big shots right there in a row and needed a second."

On giving up 335 yards, four touchdowns to Miami and what Miami did to give Virginia Tech difficulty through the air:

"They got a lot of talented guys over there. They got a quarterback that has played a lot of college football, been a starter, gone against a lot of good defenses. They got a lot of weapons. So, our guys, I thought, did a really nice job of continuing to try to get guys on the ground, try to limit some of the explosive plays. They've been explosive all year. I don't think that's any different."

Q: Last year against Virginia, Pop had more than 300 yards total offense and a couple of touchdowns. Package for him next week?

"We'll wait and see."

Q: There's that weird play with the inadvertent whistle. What was the official's explanation to you? What did they say to you in that moment?

"He screwed up."

On leaning on the seniors both professionally and personally:

"Yeah, those guys have been tremendous... these seniors and the leadership council and this group of young men, right? The transitions that they've gone through, what they've had to deal with, all the different variables of things. There is not any way we could have held this team together without those guys and them making the decision to say, 'We got a lot of games left. We got time. We are not going to throw in the towel. We are going to battle. We're going to fight.' And we couldn't have done any of that without them. And it's a decision of them. The way they locked arms and the way they've been, you know, resilient through all of it, no matter what people keep throwing at them, they've stayed resilient about it. And I couldn't be more proud of them."