Oklahoma State University Athletics
Gundy Meets With Media
September 01, 2008 | Cowboy Football
Oklahoma State football coach Mike Gundy met with members of the media Monday at Boone Pickens Stadium to review last week's win over Washington State and to preview this week's game against Houston. Here are some of the highlights of what the coach had to say:
Opening Statement
"It was a good win for us in Seattle. Not really anything different than what we talked about in the post-game conference. Special teams were really big for us. Guys made some nice returns and there were some other players - Taylor Sokolosky really played well on special teams. Lucien Antoine really played well on special teams-inside and blocking, where you really don't see much, to key those returns. Defensively, our guys tackled better. We were in proximity in coverage. We rallied to the ball. We were able to get some guys off their feet a little bit. For example, Jeray Chatham played 32 plays. Last year, in the first game, he played 65 or 68 so our plan there worked out well for us. We played 25 defensive players throughout the game so we were pleased with that. Offensively, we did not play very well down inside the red zone. As the game went on, we started to play better. We got on the right guys; blocked well. Kendall Hunter made some players miss. Obviously, Dez Bryant makes plays in the throwing game. This is a good team we're playing this week. Houston is very athletic, very fast. They move the ball on offense and they run and tackle well on defense. We'll have to prepare well, have a good week and be prepared to play well on Saturday."
On special teams play
"I think Perrish Cox has had some success. Dez is new to special teams and, obviously, he's got some ability to make some plays. We have guys on the interior part, in both the coverage unit and the return game, where blocking is very essential, and they did a nice job. They should take pride in it. Special teams is one of those areas where everybody talks about how important it is. Your team chemistry and the approach to it and how important it is for you to work hard and spend the extra time in practice and really get good at it is important to it. Those guys did a nice job and they worked hard so they were on their blocks. Then it's the returner's job to make players miss. "
On the junior college players' first game
"There is a learning curve for any new entry player, whether he's a high school player or a junior college player. There's always a misconception that a junior college player is going to come in and just make the difference right from the start but our opinion with our coaching staff is that we hope we can get 16 or 18 games out of them in a two-year career. We want to get them 10 or 12 plays early in the season and get them acclimated to the speed and what it takes to play at this level, but they do give you added depth and maturity just from being 20 years old."
On Houston
"Houston has good team speed and they rally to the ball. Offensively, they throw the ball around very well. Their quarterback does a nice job. They've got skill guys that can run. They'll play two tight ends at times and they'll split them out some, and tighten them down some. So they use multiple formations with the same personnel, which is an advantage for the offense. Defensively, they'll run well and they tackle."
On Houston's playing style compared to the last time OSU played them
"There's not any comparison. It's a different coaching staff. Briles did some different things compared to what they're doing now. I think you're going to see more of Texas Tech's passing game and a little bit different blocking scheme. It's hard for me to say what they're trying to do, I'm just going on what I see."
On Dez Bryant's jump ball plays
"Really, to simplify it, it's kind of backyard football. Back when Les Miles and I were here, we were effective running the ball so everybody jumped in the box on us and left Rashaun Woods out there by himself. After we were here for three or four games we decided that we had to take advantage of that because we had a really good player out there and in most cases he was probably better at what he did than the corner. Now we feel like Dez is pretty good at going up and taking the ball out of the air. Dez is actually more physical than Rashaun was, in my opinion. He's better at bodying up. If they overload the run, we just try to take advantage of it (with that play)."
On the clock rule changes
"Well the game's going to happen fast, we played 2 hours, 50 minutes. That's a pretty fast game for teams that attempted over 50 passes. I don't think there's any question that the games are going to go faster."
"I like the clock rules because I think it creates more consistency and stability in the way the different officiating crews start the clock when the ball's set. Generally, there's been a discrepancy between 12 and 16 seconds from when the play stopped to when they'd set and think everything's okay then start the 25-second clock. Four seconds is a lot when you run a no-huddle offense. Now, they just pick it up and put it down so there is no discrepancy. It's the same for everybody."
On the number of offensive plays against Washington State
"(We had 69) We would like to have 75 plays, but we didn't get to have very many plays because of special teams. We only had the ball seven plays in the third quarter because we ran a kickoff back and we had a good return and the other team had a nice quarter on offense."
On the play calling with co-offensive coordinators Taylor and Brewer
"Well, the communication was good. We didn't have any issues with play calling communication and getting the play out there. We had to call a timeout one time because we couldn't hear. We had some noise problems, but as far as communication with the coaches and getting everything in, we were standing there waiting a lot and we had a lot of time so we felt pretty good about that."
