OSU vs. Oklahoma Postgame Quotes

Oklahoma State Head Coach Mike Gundy
Opening statement:
"That was a heck of a college football game. I wish we could have made a couple of plays at the end, but they ended up making a couple of plays at the end and we didn't. We had our shot in the last couple of minutes and we didn't. I told them that I'm proud of their effort, being resilient. I've been in a lot of weird games at Oklahoma State, but I don't remember being in one like that."

"We didn't play as well on defense as well as we would have liked to. That was pretty obvious. Going into the game we felt like we wanted to try to control (Baker Mayfield), and we did a little bit in the first of the third quarter, but he made some plays. He's a really good player. He makes plays and throws when he breaks contain that are pretty unusual. He's a good player."

"Offensively, we rolled pretty good. We obviously threw an interception in the end zone when we were getting ready to take a lead. That's one I wish we would have had back. Turnovers were even at two apiece. We threw an interception on the hail mary. It was an interesting game. We played pretty well when it came to penalties."

"Special teams-wise we played better. We punted better. Sinor had a low punt the first time, but then we had others and he punted better. Our coverage units were pretty good. We had one return where they had a penalty. We just came up a little short. I told the guys that no matter what happens in a game, college football is all about getting over what just happened and moving to the next one. As much as games like this hurt, they hurt because you put yourself into a position where games matter. I had suggested for them to get their food, be with their family, go back to wherever they live, then come back tomorrow ready to work. Win or lose, that's what we have to do and keep rolling."

"I told them afterwards how proud I was of them. You guys have asked me during the week how the week went, and I think it's important that everyone knows that these guys practice fantastic and do everything we ask them to do. From Sunday through Friday, we ask them to be focused all throughout practice and meetings. They watch individual tape and they do it every week. From a coaching standpoint, I couldn't be any more proud of what these guys have given to us. Did we come up a little bit short today? Sure, we did. Do the losses sting? Sure they do. People look at me and say 'you don't act like it bothers you very much" and I told the team that I've been doing this 30 years as a player and coach. One thing that I've learned is that everybody in that room wanted to win. The competitive nature of this sport, it's difficult when you have games like that. There are a lot of emotions involved. There's nobody in this stadium that wants to compete and win more than me, but I've been in this long enough to know that when we get what we're asking for out of our players, we as a staff have to have respect for the, We just came up a little bit short."

On what he was looking to get on that last fourth-down play
"That play. Go to something that they really hadn't seen. We hadn't gone to that out of that set yet. It worked. It was a good play, we just overthrew the ball."

On if he considered letting Ammendola kick the ball from 55 yards out
"Yes, I did, but that's a long ways. He's made a 54. I should know the percentage, but I'm just going to tell you it's really low. We felt like on fourth and eight that with who we are, with our wideouts, with our quarterback, that our percentages were better than a 55-yard field goal."

On if he felt that drive down three was going to be the one that won the game
"Sure, my confidence level was really high. I believe in these guys. I told them that. I'm not trying to get up here and tell you everything I said in the locker room but I believe in everything they do. There's never a time where I feel like we can't score or get a stop. What's important is that it isn't 100 percent. The ball doesn't bounce your way every time and today it didn't. We ran the ball a little bit, we got a break on the targeting. You would have liked to have capitalized with another first down and then it wouldn't have been a 55 yarder, but that's not the way that it came out. Sometimes life doesn't work out the way you want."

Quarterback Mason Rudolph
On the offense's rhythm
"I thought we ran the ball well on offense and executed a lot better and we were able to score some points out there. Tyron Johnson did a great job out there and was able to extend some plays for us. He was also able to give James (Washington) a bit of a breather."

On his health status
"Yeah, everything was fine. There were no issues there. I'm healthy and good to go."

On his role as a team leader heading into Iowa State
"Any time you lose a big game, it obviously hurts, but I can guarantee you that No. 2 will be out there tomorrow leading those guys like I always do."

Center Brad Lundblade
On the team's initial takeaways from Bedlam
"It was two good football teams going at it. I thought we played pretty well and, offensively, we were rolling pretty good. Like I said, it was two good football teams out there in a close game up to the end and, unfortunately, it didn't go our way."

On the offense's ability to run the ball against OU
"That was our big goal this week and we knew it was going to be a big challenge. When you have as much talent at wide receiver as we do, teams tend to challenge you to run the ball first. That was something we knew going into this week and it was a big goal for us. I felt like we were able to do that pretty effectively."

On the importance of leadership in moving forward to next week's matchup in Ames
"I think leadership is going to be huge this week. It takes more leadership after you lose than it does after you win, honestly. We have great leadership and all different types of leaders in all of the different positions groups, so I have no doubt that we'll be ready to go next week"

Linebacker Chad Whitener
On the takeaways from Bedlam
"I feel like we got exposed in some areas, but we just have to prepare better, keep practicing and working on our technique as we head into next week."

On his interception at the goal line in the fourth quarter
"All we were talking about was making a big play and putting our team in the best position we could to win the game. Fortunately, I took advantage of the opportunity I had, but we weren't able to get it done. We just need to be able to answer the call when needed and that's what we did at that point."

On moving forward to Iowa State
"This one obviously stings, but like Coach Gundy was telling us, we can't let it fester because it will affect us in getting ready for Iowa State. Ames isn't an easy place to play, so we just need to go out there tomorrow and be ready to learn from our mistakes. We have to really take advantage of the time that we have and the time that we have to prepare and get ready for another week."

Running Back Justice Hill
On his initial reaction to Bedlam
"Oklahoma is a good team, and they came out and were the ones who got the win."

On breaking Barry Sanders' Bedlam rushing record
"I mean, we lost the game, so I don't really think it's that big of a deal. The offensive line did a great job, and so did the wide receivers and Cowboy backs. They all did a great job of creating lanes and I just hit those."

On prepping for Iowa State
"We just have to go out and execute the gameplan. We don't need to change a whole lot up, but we need to make sure we go out, keep working hard and do what we need to do."

Defensive End Jordan Brailford
On his takeaways from Bedlam
"We practiced hard all week, we prepared well and I think we had a good gameplan. Everyone played hard and we just came up a little short, so now we have to get ready to bounce back next week."

On building towards Iowa State next week
"We just have to believe in the gameplan. We worked hard all week and that helped us go out and make some plays tonight, so we just have to continue to believe in the process and continue to believe in the gameplans that our coaches put in place going forward."

On the team's mindset heading into a new week
"The mindset doesn't change at all. We always come back ready to go. We always go out there, practice hard and focus on getting ready for the next opponent. We'll be back out tomorrow to start another week and to get ready for Iowa State next week."

OSU Offensive Coordinator Mike Yurcich
On Tyron Johnson
"Tyron has done a good job. He has moved from outside to inside back to outside. That young man is doing an incredible job of grasping the concepts and providing us a lot of versatility and depth."

On James Washington being out for the last few plays of the game
"He is such a special player. You are going to feel that impact. I think we did a great job. I think Tyron did a great job and the guys that came in and moved around. I wouldn't sit here and tell you that we didn't miss a beat. The impact of James is significant because of how dynamic of a player he is and what he can do."

OSU Defensive Coordinator Glenn Spencer
On Baker Mayfield
"I knew they were good, but I never would have expected that. I knew he was going to make some plays. We just gave him too many big plays."

On Calvin Bundage
"He plays very hard, and I hurt for him. I gave him a big hug in there, and I know it means a lot to him. It was hard, as a coach, to be upset with that. I know he had some mistakes in the game. I have to coach him better, so he can play a more perfect game."

On moving on past this loss
"I think they will be fine. It starts with me. You know, how am I going to be? It's very agonizing right now. I could feel sorry for myself, and they will see it tomorrow, but I can't. So, I'll go in that meeting room tomorrow and tell them that I let them down. I didn't have them play well enough. And we all take a collective responsibility, and we'll all get through it. We play a great team next week on the road."

Oklahoma Head Coach Lincoln Riley
Opening Statement
"Great football game. Two really, really good football teams went at it and two especially elite quarterbacks. The quality of play at the quarterback position in this game was, to me, rivaled the Texas Tech game that we had last year. I mean you're talking about two guys at the absolute top of their game. Those guys put on a show and it was just kind of a game of will. They had some momentum early, we were able to kind of hang in there a little bit defensively as we got going offensively. We had a chance a couple times in the second quarter to break it open and separate and we weren't able to get the stops we wanted. Didn't play very good defensively, certainly in that second quarter, but offense held in and kept scoring and then offense kind of stuttered out the gate third quarter and the defense answered. We kind of just took care of each other all night. We throw the pick down there at the end and defense has to answer, we have to pick the ball off three different times to win it, but we finally did. We got to get better at playing complementary football. We still got a lot of room to grow as a team, but like I told them in there if we are good at one thing right now it's winning and we came to find a way. We are going to keep battling, but it was a great, great atmosphere. A lot of great football players on that field. Unbelievable effort for both teams. It is one that I will remember for a long time."

On Baker Mayfield
"He was awesome. Played at an elite level and broke a school record for passing. What more could you say. The guy, he's awesome."

"He doesn't flinch. He's made for atmospheres like this. This is his favorite thing in the world is to play in deals like this and I think it shows."

On Marquise Brown
"He's just getting better. Baker was able to catch him in stride a few times. When he can keep his momentum up and his speed, he's pretty tough."

On OU being emotionally spent
"It was like a 15-rounder tonight. It was a heavyweight battle and both teams laid it all on the line."

Oklahoma Defensive Coordinator Mike Stoops
Initial thoughts on the game
"I'm really proud of our guys. We struggled all day to stop them and to be able to do it twice, we thought the game was over and then have what happened again, to do it again. We made the plays when we had to throughout the course of the game. It wasn't pretty by any stretch of imagination. Our coverage was porous most of the day. We were fortunate enough to make some stops in critical situations. Like the end of the game, that one in the red zone, that one, that's the difference in winning and losing a game against a team like Oklahoma State. They put you in such binds. Their ability to run the football, they ran it on third down just about every time. We had the wrong calls you know the third down calls every time we're in a pass call, they ran it and every time were in a run call they pass it. You're trying to help your corners consistently all day. It's hard to help both sides...their ability to run the football became problematic. So there's conflict all over the field when you play these guys. They have great receivers, Mason is a tremendous player, it's kind of like the first time we've seen him play to his capabilities and their receivers just made plays. Every time we had a chance to separate they made the plays to stay in it and put pressure back on us. But in the end you know, we probably played our best couple series when we knew they had to throw the ball. They're best when you don't know they have to throw it and that's what makes all quarterbacks great. When they have to throw it then, let's see what we got and that's where I think they kind of took advantage of us and I didn't do a very good job in those situations."

On the freshman on defense's performance
"These kids, it's a hard league to break in at such a young age...it's a great learning experience to play such quality people like these guys and a quarterback like this, in a system like this. You can only get better from it and gain confidence. We have to get our other guys back up and playing more confidently"

Quarterback Baker Mayfield
On the incredible offensive night
"I think not just for me, but a lot of guys played well. No, we didn't rush the ball for a lot but the pass protection is unbelievable. They had a couple sacks but those were on me. Guys played well. We did our job at a high level offensively, which we needed to. We do the little things right and the big plays will come which is what you see in the guys like Marquise Brown and CeeDee with big conversions and Mark and Mykel Jones and Trey Sermon. We just did our job tonight and that was the most important thing for us."

On the two interceptions he threw
"The most important thing is winning and we made plays when it counted on both sides of the ball. Yeah, obviously I'd like to have both of those back. The first one they did a good job of game planning, they knew there was kind of a third down thing for us and then the second one was just me. That was on me. I just have to be better. Especially down there in the red zone. Defense bailed us out both times. The crowd erupted after that first interception and then we held them to a field goal and were able to take the lead after that. That's huge being able to rely on each other when it really matters. It's important going forward, winning is all that matters. We'll make the plays when we need to."

Oklahoma State University Athletics

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