Oklahoma State University Athletics
Oklahoma State Media Luncheon Quotes
October 03, 2011 | Cowboy Football
Oct. 3, 2011
STILLWATER, Okla. - Oklahoma State coach Mike Gundy and selected members of the team visited with the media on Monday at Boone Pickens Stadium to preview this week's game against Kansas. The highlights:
Head Coach Mike Gundy
Opening statement:
"We are back at it. The team was off on Friday and Saturday. Sunday night we held practice. We are off today and will be back at it Tuesday and Wednesday. We will have a normal week's practice in preparation for Kansas. The team has had a chance to look at Kansas and we see a much-improved offense. Kansas' offense is earning 150 to 160 more yards per game. The Jayhawks are rushing for about 230 yards per game and 219 yards passing. They have really improved in that area. We will have to have a good plan going in to this week's game. Kansas could have won last week; I thought that they had every chance to win. Last week when they faced Texas Tech they realized how difficult it is to shut down the triple option. If you remove the Texas Tech game, Kansas has played very well this year. They are an improved team. Our preparation will be very important this week. We need to stay focused on the task at hand. We need to avoid distractions. By doing these things, we will give ourselves a chance to play well on Saturday."
On accomplishments during bye week:
"We had good practices. The team's enthusiasm was excellent. Hopefully, our players were able to rest and recuperate over the weekend. We had a good practice last night. Getting all of the players back in town means getting them on to the field is usually a slow start. The weather and the setting were good last night, so it helped us accomplish a lot."
On a bye week after offense found momentum in College Station:
"This can go both ways. Sometimes momentum is a factor and other times guys need a break. I do not know that anyone has the answer to that question. Hopefully, we can start this week fast, where we left off."
On his experience at ESPN's campus:
"It was a great experience. The campus has changed considerably, even from just a few years ago. I learned that Rece Davis, Jesse Palmer and John Anderson are the captains of the ship. They throw things out to Mark May and Coach Lou Holtz all the time. They are really good at what they do. It is a very structured and organized setting that has a lot of chaos. It was a great experience to have the opportunity to sit with those guys and watch football for seven hours. It was amazing to be on the set, on the air and off. They give them a lot of information through paper. There were times that they would not receive the information and would continue on without it. I am impressed by their knowledge and their ability to handle the producers saying, `you're on in 15 seconds'. They impressed me with how they handled pressure situations."
On a post-coaching career with ESPN Game Day:
"I do not think I am smart enough. It is all I can do to concentrate on one game. Those guys are looking at 12 games and gathering information. They are very good at what they do. They do it every day. After my experience, I have a different outlook for their ability to handle those types of matters. The experience was fun. I enjoyed Coach Holtz and Mark; obviously I knew Rece, Jesse and John Anderson. I truly enjoyed spending time with those guys."
Defensive Coordinator Bill Young
On his time at Kansas:
"It was a great time. Lawrence is a beautiful town, great place to live, great community and the university is a heck of an academic area. We got better and better in the time I was there, and ended up 12-1 in my last year, so it couldn't have gotten a whole lot better."
On the OSU secondary:
"Brodrick Brown and Justin Gilbert are playing outstanding. Jason Jones does a great job with those guys. Devin Hedgepeth is loss; losing him is a big one. Justin, you can just see him getting better each day. He has all the physical attributes to be a great player, and now you see him getting that temperament and ability to go challenge receivers, which is really impressive."
On Kansas' offense:
"They have the ability to score and they have some athletes. They're a big physical offensive line, big tight end and they have a whole stable of running backs. They're a Big 12 team, so we better have ourselves ready to play."
Offensive Coordinator Todd Monken
On maintaining offensive balance despite Kansas' struggles in run defense:
"I guess if you knew you could win throwing it 52 times or running it 52, you would do it to just win the game. But, there's a lot to be said for keeping balance. There's a lot to be said for spreading the ball around and making guys feel like they're a part of the offense."
On practice during the bye week:
"I thought our guys' attitudes were pretty good. We got them out there for three days and worked them pretty hard. That's not easy, telling the guys, "Hey, it's your bye week. Guess what? We're going to practice three days.' I think that the guys bought in for the most part, but like anything, we've been going at it pretty good now for four weeks of camp and four weeks of the season, so I think their minds were on the weekend. I'm sure for a month they had planned what they were going to do for the bye week - a number of them, I'm sure not everybody - but like a lot of people do: 'Hey, what are we going to do during the bye week? Do I get a chance to go home? Do I get a chance to relax?' That's always on their minds, but I think they were fairly focused."
On if the bye week came at a good time after the Texas A&M victory:
"I think it came at a good time win or lose. We've been at it eight weeks and we still have eight weeks left, so it's right smack in the middle of when we started. Win or lose, it was nice to get a break, especially if we would have lost, it would have been a nice time to say, 'OK, take a break, get away from it, come on back and let's restart.' So, we'll find out whether it was good or not, but I think the timing of how long we'd been going was probably good."
Running Back Joseph Randle
On practice during the bye week:
"The basics, we just got back to the basics during the bye week. Kansas hadn't played anybody that ran the offense we do until Texas Tech last weekend, so we really wanted to use this week to focus on our next opponent, so now we have more to work with."
On what the offense will expect from the Kansas defense:
"We're expecting a great game. We want to go out there and give it our best shot."
On how the offense will attack Kansas:
"We hear about it and we look at the stats and things like that. We watched a little bit of film yesterday, so we'll know more as the week goes on about what kinds of stuff we're going to do."
Quarterback Brandon Weeden
On running the ball more this week against Kansas:
"Yes, we absolutely want to run the ball more this week. Joseph and Jeremy didn't get many carries at the A&M game because they were out to stop the run, but you have to pick your poison and I believe coach Monken does a good job of taking what the defense gives us."
On how beneficial the bye week was to him:
"For me personally, it's different because I'm not as beat up as some of those other guys as far as physically. Mentally more than anything, it was nice to just get away for a couple days and watch other games and spend time with my wife and family. That was the big thing because I do not get to do much of that during the season. Everyone will be fresh this week, I can guarantee."
On the way the offense plans on attacking the Kansas defense this week:
"It's hard to say because we have not seen much on tape yet. We have watched a little of the Tech game, but it really depends on the game plan and the coaches are not done with that."
Safety Markelle Martin
On the preparations the team has taken for the Kansas offense:
"The biggest thing is playing our assignments, understanding the schemes and playing hard. I think those guys run the ball very well, so we're going to have to stop the run, but overall, it amounts to what we are capable of."
On how much the bye week helped the team after the win at Texas A&M:
"I think it helped us a lot. I think the main thing is that it made us forget about the game because that game was last week and we have a different opponent now this week that we need to prepare for. "
On coach Gundy's postgame dance against Texas A&M:
"I still think it's pretty bad, but we have fun with it. To see coach breaking out of his shell and just have fun with us is nice. He enjoys the team and the team chemistry that we have together."
Cornerback Justin Gilbert
On what he got to do during the bye week:
"Go home and visit my family. I was excited to see everyone. I got to go to my high school game and everyone was coming up to me asking for autographs, so it was nice to get out of it for a while."
On Kansas' offense:
"The Wildcat is going to be the biggest concern of what we have to stop. The Wildcat and the running game, basically."
Linebacker Joe Mitchell
On the expectations for this week's game:
"Just to get a win. We just want to win."
On what the team did during the bye week:
"We practiced like normal during the bye week. It really was a chance for us to get our legs back underneath us and just get our minds off everything. Also, we had a chance to just mellow out and come back mentally focused this week."
On what you have seen so far of the Kansas offense:
"We have watched film and they can be a high-powered offense like we have seen. We will just have to come out and play fast against them."
Offensive lineman Lane Taylor
On playing at home this week after not playing at home for a month:
"It's always nice to come home and play. I love to play for our fans here in Stillwater."
On the preparations for the Kansas defense:
"We are just trying to be fundamentally sound and that is really our goal every week. We just want to be sound at what we do, no mistakes, and we just want to be flawless."
On the development of the offensive line after Jonathan Rush's season ending injury:
"I feel like it's going real well right now. Parker Graham has really been stepping up and he is doing a great job in there. That is what we need and that is what normally happens around here: if one man goes down, there is someone to step up and take his position."
Defensive lineman Cooper Bassett
On if the bye week came at a good time:
"It did. The A&M game was one of those physical games where you gave everything you had. It was nice to have a week to just settle down and relax. The biggest challenge for us now is to not have that hangover in our preparations for Kansas."
On not looking past Kansas this week:
"Last year they got up on us and the game was a dog fight. This past week, they also got up on Tech pretty quick. Unfortunately, they had too many turnovers and they lost the game in the end. We know that we have to be focused on them and I believe that we will be focused just like we were for our previous games."
On coach Gundy on ESPN this past weekend:
"I think he did pretty well at dodging questions about future games. He did a good job of letting them know how this team feels about not looking ahead and just focusing on each week's game."
