Oklahoma State University Athletics
Mike Gundy and Players Talk About Texas
October 24, 2005 | Cowboy Football
Media Luncheon
Monday, October 24, 2005
Mike Gundy Quotes
On the Iowa State game
“We had a poorly played second quarter on special teams. Bad field position gave them the opportunity to be more aggressive on offense. It really hampered us on what our play calling could be offensively. Also, turnovers in the second half. It is probably one of the easiest games to describe what happened.”
On playing Texas
“Our players are looking forward to the challenge. It is an opportunity for our team to play on national television. They are the No. 1 team in the country in my mind. I have voted them No. 1 the last four weeks and they have continued to support my vote. They are one of the better teams I have seen in college football in a long time. You can talk a long time about what they have and what they can do. I think they are very well coached. Their quarterback is playing better now than he ever has. It will be a great challenge for us.”
On turnovers
“We have had so many turnovers in the last couple of weeks. We cannot affords to turn the ball over. We have to try to force them into turnovers. Vince (Young) has done a very good job of not turning the ball over. We need to force them into situations were they give the ball back. “
On Al Pena
“It was only his second game and he is going through some growing pains. Even though he is a little more mature player, it is still new to him. Prior to coming in against Missouri, he had not played when it mattered. He will have to play well and smart for us to be in a position to win the game.”
On Texas quarterback Vince Young
“He is throwing the ball very well. He throws for a high percentage. He has guys who are going out there and making good catches for him. He is playing very, very well.”
On the quarterback situation
“Al is our quarterback. Bobby is on a day-to-day basis depending on how much he can move around and how much pain he is in. Other than that, Al is our guy.
Greg Gold
On the Texas Game
“We're going to approach it like we would any other week. We're going to practice hard like we do every other week. I'd like to win out. That's my goal.”
On Vince Young and the running backs
“I don't have to deal with those guys. They're great football players and great athletes. Along with some of the other great players like Reggie Bush, yeah they're great, but any player can have a bad day.”
On the Texas
“Texas is always going to be good. They have great players and coaches. They're a great team and I would never take that from them, but they put on the uniforms just like we do, they practice each week, maybe not just like we do, but we practice just as hard as anybody.”
On what it will take to win
“We can't make them have a bad game. We have to play our game at our abilities. I think some of the problems the other teams have had is they go for the home run shot every time. We just need to play our game and not try too hard to make outstanding plays. That's when we turn it over.”
Jamie Thompson
On stopping Vince Young
“He's a great athlete. He's the guy on the No. 2 team in the nation. As a defense, all we can do is put some pressure on him because he can run and pass. They have a lot of athletes out there, but he's the main focus.”
On the Texas receivers
“They're athletic and they have good speed, but our main focus is stopping the run. That's what they do real well. We just have to go in and focus on our keys and contain the gaps.”
On what they can take from the first half of last season's game
“We have to start strong and finish strong. Once you get on top of somebody, you have to keep pounding them with what you've been doing. That's the problem with a lot of teams, they slack off and start going conservative.”
