Oklahoma State University Athletics
Highlights From Monday's Football Media Luncheon
September 17, 2007 | Cowboy Football
Head Coach Mike Gundy's opening statement:
“Obviously, it's good to get back to work and get out to practice today. We are ready to get the guys going and to get the game plan going for Tech. They are a very good offensive team. Obviously, Harrell is playing well. Crabtree is running up some big numbers. It seems like Amendola has been there for 10 years returning punts and he does a great job for them. They're playing very sound on defense. They are playing a base four-three and doing a little bit of blitzing out of it. They are playing sound in the secondary and not giving up big plays. They are very similar to what they've been in the last few years, so it will be a great challenge for us. Hopefully offensively our game plan will be in place and we can run the ball effectively, throw the ball and limit our turnovers. Defensively, try to get pressure on the passer and slow down the running game a little bit. As I said, we are excited to get back to work. We are just ready for the upcoming week.”
Gundy regarding Texas Tech quarterback Graham Harrell:
“Obviously if he has 51 points a game he looks pretty good. They do a nice job. I think that the system allows them to put guys in there and continue with what they've done every year. He's playing well. He is playing better than he was last year in my opinion. I don't evaluate him like they do and I don't try to. I just know he is playing well.”
Gundy regarding last week's loss to Troy:
“Nobody likes to lose any less than myself or our staff or our team. Nobody is more disappointed when we lose, but this is what we do. Part of what we do is train young men and teach them that things don't always happen the way they want them to in life. If they quit and listen to what people tell them they should or shouldn't do, then they will have issues for the rest of their life. It's no different than anything else that happens in life. We had a good week of practice last week. I thought we had good game plans and we performed well and we coached hard and the guys gave good effort. Then it didn't work out for us. We turned the ball over five times and we had issues with the inside run for a while. We couldn't get pressure on the passer.”
Gundy regarding OSU's offensive performance last week at Troy:
“When you turn the ball over five times you have issues. The run-block was pretty good. I have been wanting to improve in that area and we did a good job of that. We got into an all-pass mode from about six minutes into the third quarter on. We were in a situation where we were playing catch-up, so it makes it difficult. We are not good enough on offense to just go out and be one-dimensional for a half and move the ball. I have never called defensive plays, but if I know what you are doing every play then I can call defensive plays. We have to be in a situation where we can be run-pass.”
Gundy regarding freshman running back Kendall Hunter:
“Kendall played pretty good. He put the ball on the ground once but I was proud of the way he played as a true freshmen. He stepped in and he got a little tired at times, but for the most part he did a nice job.”
Gundy regarding the OSU offense:
“I have issues with running backs that put the ball on the ground when there is not a lot of contact. The question that was asked about Kendall Hunter earlier, he had a good point. He took a big hit. That is going to happen in a game. Coach Luper and I in our meetings, we tell a running back that I don't care of Jack Tatum blows you up. You don't fumble the ball. The point being, he took a big hit. Keith Toston put the ball on the ground twice to start the game. He fed whatever you feed a hornets nest to start the game is what he did and he has been told that. Now am I down on Keith? I am down on him for fumbling but I'm not down on him and we put him back on the game. I am going to put him in this week because we need him. He is a young player. He is still young and he needs to learn to correct that mistake, but if that happens a whole lot more in not a contact situation then we will be forced to not play him until he proves to us in a spring football setting where there is a lot of collisions that it won't happen again.”
Gundy regarding penalties:
“We have had some numbers of penalties that have gone up and you go back and look at them. Russell Okung had two dumb penalties. We had some holding calls. We had a coach get ran into on the sidelines and that was fifteen yards. He did get cussed. Other than that we have to be smarter. We did not have a lot of just dumb procedure penalties, so it needs to be corrected. That's why we're struggling on third downs, because we are in third-and-longs, not third-and-mediums or third-and-shorts. All that stuff kind of comes together and those are the things that have to be corrected. That frustrates me a whole lot more than anything else, because I know what's going on internally in our program. I know where we are at as a team. I know what the attitude is. I know what's going on with each position and I know what's going on with the things that we have to weed through, so I don't get frustrated with all the outside stuff, because that's just what we do.”
Gundy regarding injured players:
“Anyone that thinks we are not affected by Savage not being in the game probably hasn't seen a lot of football. It's just a fact, but I'm not ever going to come up to a mic for the last three weeks and say guys we're not as good on offense because Artrell Woods is not here and Savage is not here and Paschal Smith has been hurt and Julius Crosslin has not practiced in a month and we lost David Washington, so we stink. I'm not going to do that. That's not what I do. I am going to come in a tell the team Keith Toston needs to quit fumbling the ball, 24 needs to keep playing good. Zac Robinson needs to continue to develop in his career. Somebody is going to have to step in and play center and make calls in this game because Texas Tech is going to come in here and play the game. They don't care what is going on with us just like we don't have issues with what is going on with them. In a situation like that, that is what you do unless somebody else has a plan like in the NFL where you can trade for people. I don't have any other answers. I have guys that are important in this program and if one guy goes down or gets hurt another guy steps in and we practice and we get them ready to play the game.”
Gundy regarding this week's Big 12 opener:
“The goal is to win the South to get in a one-game playoff, because anything can happen in a championship game to move on for the rest of the year. It's a very important game for us, but just like I said last week. They are all important. That's what we do. We get prepared each week to play a game. Every one of them is important.”
Senior linebacker Jeremy Nethon
Regarding last week's game at Troy:
“Every loss is a low point for me. It's not easy to handle a loss, but in the same aspect you've got to take it in stride. It was a good quality team. Troy had athletes, they had good coaching and they went out there and they played well and I give it to them. They were a good team and we didn't go out there and perform.”
Regarding what the team could have done better at Troy:
“It's (losing) never effort with us. There are little things that we could correct like ball security and tackling, just the same things. The thing that kills us is fundamental things. We're just ready to get out there against Texas Tech, which is another good opponent and go out there and handle our business.”
Regarding how the team will rebound from its loss at Troy:
“Just not to let it happen again. When you prepare well for a team and then you go out there and not perform at times is frustrating, not only for me but for the rest of the team. So we're just looking forward to getting out there and correcting the things that we did wrong.”
Regarding offensive similarities between Troy and Texas Tech:
“They're definitely similar. They're a fast-paced offense. It helps you prepare for a game like that. There are things that Texas Tech does differently, but in their own ways they both do it well.”
Sophomore Tackle Russell Okung
Regarding the impact of losing center David Washington for the season to injury:
“It's a big loss. David's been like a point of direct for me and taught me a lot. When I was a freshman and came out there I was a little bit lost at times. Having that point last year where he taught me all that gave me the knowledge I needed. Losing Dave is big, but we've got to move on from it and that's what were going to do.”
Regarding what happens next at the center position with Washington out:
“I believe coach Wickline is going to put the right people there. He always talks about putting the best five there, so we're going to put the best five out there and do what we know how to do best, play football.”
Regarding how the offensive line can improve:
“You can always get better. The effort is there and we're being physical enough. It's the little things, it's always the little things in football. It's the beginning of the season. We're going to learn how to keep our heads up and our bases under us. We're going to get better every game. We're going to improve.”
Regarding the team's attitude:
“We're fighters, that's why we're here. Lifting all those weights, running all those sprints, we're not made to quit. We're made to go out there, play football and keep pushing. So the attitude is going to pick up, it already picked up yesterday.”
Senior Defensive End Marque Fountain
Regarding the attitude of the team:
“We know we have to come out there and work and get better and get ready for the next team we play.”
Regarding what he tells the younger players on the team:
“The only thing as far as being a leader that I try to tell our players is the best of the teams lose. What we have to do is put that in the past and look into the future and get ready for the games that we have coming up. Those are the most important games, the ones that we have left.”
Regarding how difficult it is to pressure the passer against a spread offense:
“It's just something that you have to deal with because you're going to have to face different offenses all year. It's just something that me and the rest of our defensive ends have to get used to.”
