Oklahoma State University Athletics
Gundy, Cowboys Preview Kansas State Game
October 31, 2011 | Cowboy Football
Oct. 31, 2011
STILLWATER, Okla. - Oklahoma State football coach Mike Gundy and members of the Cowboy football team visited with the media on Monday at Boone Pickens Stadium to look ahead to this week's game against 17th-ranked Kansas State. The highlights:
Head Coach Mike Gundy
Opening statement:
"Our review of the game from Baylor was kind of what we thought. The defense was opportunistic and forced turnovers and ran to the ball really well and came up with some key stops. Offensively we played and were able to run the football; throw it when we needed to and convert third downs. Special teams and coverage units were good, so overall it was a good game for us. We've got another challenge this week. We're playing a very good football team that's sound in all three phases - very good on defense. They've slowed everybody down. They're very good in the kicking game. Offensively, they're going to run the football. They're going to run it every way possible and try to keep the other team's offense off the field. I don't think it's any secret now. We're far enough along in the season now where we kind of know where we're at. Our players just need to continue to practice well. I'm pleased with where we're at and, as long as our attitude and demeanor and things stay the way that they should and we practice well, then we'll look forward to the game on Saturday."
On facing a Kansas State team that huddles:
"We saw it at Texas. It's unusual. The game moves a little bit slower. It gave the defense more of an opportunity to make their calls. You deal with it - you play at day or you play at night; teams huddle, don't huddle. You just deal with whatever's presented to you and you get ready to go."
On OSU consistently winning the turnover battle:
"Our team has been opportunistic about takeaways and forcing turnovers and our offense has done a nice job of taking advantage of it. Winning the turnover margin in each game is obviously important. I think that's one area that's consistent across the country. Fortunately for us, we've been able to take advantage of that the last few games."
On if he counts on getting turnovers in each game:
"I don't know if you can ever count on it. I feel like we're going to get turnovers. Our guys have made a believer out of me, but we would never expect it based on our approach to the game. It wouldn't change in any way. I would guess that sometime that could run out. Maybe that won't happen, but if it does then the offense needs to be more efficient and take advantage of the opportunities they do have."
On fourth down plays:
"I mentioned in the post-game interviews, that there is a big swing in momentum, when you go for a fourth down and you do not get it. Us being able to score off of a play like that, much less 99 yards, really got the crowd excited about the game. Our crowd was a huge momentum factor after those plays. That is why you do not see many teams go for the fourth down. I would bet, against our defense and our team that the way people see us; we have went up against double the fourth downs, compared to other teams in this league. There have been a bunch of them."
On Kye Staley's touchdown vs. Baylor:
"What Kye does is a special reminder of what college football really is. Seeing young men overcome obstacles. Kye had a really difficult situation. He has worked his way back. I am sure that there are some people that feel he should not be on the field. He has made the decision to play and we support him 100 percent. He makes plays for us. Kye is a big part of our football team. When you have success as a team, you have to have chemistry. You have good players who make a lot of plays. You have tough guys who make plays. Then you have guys who are role players. Kye has accepted what his role is. It is part of being a good football team. We are excited that he decided to make the choice to come back. He is having success."
On Brodrick Brown:
"He is another example of the mixture of players you must have to be a good football team. Brodrick is the guy who showed up when Perish Cox missed curfew at the Cotton Bowl. No one really knew who he was. He had a broken arm for the entire season. He practiced five days and became a starter at the Cotton Bowl. He played better than anyone in our secondary that night. His leadership on and off the field have shown since that night. He is beat up a lot. He is a little guy, so sometimes he will miss Tuesday's practice. He comes back and plays hard. He is very opportunistic. He is in the right place at the right time. When balls get tipped they end up in his hands. He is in the right place when the ball is on the ground. He picks it up. He is very athletic and savvy. That is why he is able to touch the football so much as a defensive player."
On the OSU receivers:
"They played well. They were able to execute plays, which gave us the best chance to score. More importantly they played with a lot of effort. Michael Harrison plays hard. Josh Stewart always plays hard. He makes some mistakes, because he is a freshman. He plays hard without the football. Isaiah Anderson has continued to get better each year. Fortunately for us we have guys who can make plays when we do have a guy who cannot compete for us. We were pleased with their effort."
Offensive Coordinator Todd Monken
On Kansas State's defense:
"We've played a number of teams like this: four down linemen, gap-sound, play hard, have good players, good coaches. They're not a gimmick defense by any means - by coverage or by front - so you have to execute. I'm sure they pride themselves on not giving up a lot of big plays, so you have to find ways to drive it. They play off their defense like we do. They play off their defense in not playing a lot of snaps; we play off our defense with all the turnovers."
On home-field advantage:
"I just think it helps you through some of the tough times during the game; critical times during the game like third downs, and in the red zone. It can be disruptive to a team's communication. It's not as bad anymore because a lot of teams use silent cadence. Just the emotional rush your players get, and we practice here. I think there's a lot more comfort playing here because we're practicing in it; the background that you have throwing it and running it, the field and then playing to the crowd."
On guys filling in for Hubert Anyiam:
"I thought they played hard. Unfortunately, it didn't work itself out to where they got a lot of opportunities. I thought Isaiah Anderson played better than he did the week before, but it won't show up in the stats. Mike Harrison played fine. We just didn't get as many opportunities. We wanted to target Justin Blackmon a little more, and we had all those long runs and that took away from the drives. There's no way we go into the game thinking we're going to have those long runs. All of them came on draws, so you wouldn't anticipate you'd have 200-something yards rushing on draws. It's just the way it kind of turned out, so that takes away opportunities for those guys."
Defensive Coordinator Bill Young
On if Kansas State's methodical offense will allow the defense more time to sub and get plays in:
"I think it will. It gives you more time to get a call that's more tuned in to what they're doing. I think the biggest thing for us is getting our run fits right and getting a good pass rush whenever it is play action."
On KSU quarterback Collin Klein's running ability:
"What it does is it puts a tremendous amount of stress on you if you're a zone defense because all of a sudden they have an extra runner back there. All your run fits are predicated on the quarterback handing it off to someone else and he's out of the mix, but now he's the ball carrier, so you end up short handed at the point of attack."
On pressuring Robert Griffin:
"We banged him around a little bit. We had a couple or three penalties for hitting him. Sometimes it's a dumb penalty and sometimes it's a combat penalty and I think all three of them were combat penalties. We were going all-out and it's hard to pull off when you're that close to him, but at the same time we gave up 70 yards in penalties and we have to cut that down."
Quarterback Brandon Weeden
On rankings:
"We have to win first. If we don't win, we'll drop to whatever. We've got to take care of business; that's our first and foremost goal. We've got to keep winning and the rest will take care of itself."
On the OSU offense:
"When you've got Justin Blackmon, you can just throw it up to him and your chances are pretty good. We don't change what we do in the red zone. We continue to run our offense. We've just got good players. I don't know if there's a secret recipe or we do anything different. It's just a matter of our backs not losing yards and continuing to move forward and not take any negative plays and being able to finish drives."
On Joseph Randle:
"That dude's a stud. He's unbelievable. I lost track. I thought he had three touchdowns and he ended up having four. He's scoring at a crazy rate. He's hit his stride. He's really comfortable. What's crazy is we haven't used him in as many ways as we can. He hasn't really tapped his full potential yet. The guy is a really good player."
Center Grant Garner
On Kansas State's defense not disguising its looks:
"Honestly, I like all the confusion that defenses try to do because, hopefully, you can see what they're going to do before they do it and hopefully you can prevent a defensive guy from getting in his gaps and that's when you get those long runs. K-State, they keep it pretty basic, so we're just going to have to know what they're doing."
On getting big plays in the run game:
"We love it when we can run the ball. It helps our offensive passing game a lot. We take a lot of pride in running the ball."
On KSU's defense:
"They try to get a guy in a gap and just not beat themselves. They have good players and they're coached really well, so it will be a nice matchup on Saturday."
Running Back Joseph Randle
On scoring four touchdowns in back-to-back games:
"Our offensive line is working so hard, it's easy to stay focused. They're working hard and they're making the right assignments, and really my job is easy: pick up a few blitzes and run behind a great offensive line."
On if he's more excited for a run play or pass play called for him:
"I would've been a wide receiver if I liked catching that much. When they call a run play that I know can be successful, I'm definitely like a bull at that point and I just turn on a different mode. It's my turn and we're about to go do what we have to do, so I feel like we can make a big play at any time, anywhere on the field."
On Kansas State's defense:
"I really haven't watched much from them, but I know they have some athletes because I grew up with a few of them. I know they're good athletes that probably could have played anywhere in the country, so they do have talent on their team."
Defensive End Jamie Blatnick
On if he's surprised at how good the team is:
"I wouldn't say we're better than we expected. I would say when it comes to BCS rankings and things like that, that's probably the most surprising, but it wasn't a big surprise. We have a lot of confidence on our team and we practice to win and be successful, and if we weren't successful, that would be the surprise."
On Kansas State:
"I haven't watched them much. They seem like they're pretty sound, very methodical and they try to call the right play. They like to run the ball a lot: I'm sure we'll see lots of powers and lots of pulls and options and things like that. It's going to be one of those things where as a defense, we have to be sure that we play sound and take care of our job, get our gaps down and get off blocks."
On making a statement against Baylor:
"I think we did. At the same time, we did give up a lot of yards, but they didn't get any points in the first half. I think that's what really matters, if you keep them out of the end zone, it doesn't matter if they go up and down the field, but if you stop them - get a turnover, stop them on fourth down or stop them in the red zone - that's really what matters. We might we get a little more respect; maybe they won't say 'No D in Stillwater' anymore, but at the end of the day, we got the 'W' and we're playing for each other, and that's all that matters."
Linebacker Shaun Lewis
On shutting out Baylor in the first half:
"We buckled down when we needed to buckle down. We really did not want them to get that far into the red zone, but when it was time to shut them down, we did what we had to do."
On the physicality of the defense creating turnovers:
"It's very underrated and we don't listen to what everyone else says. We know the guys that line up next to us and what they can do. We exercise our right to fly around the field and hit people."
On your thoughts of the Kansas State offense:
"They do a good job of strategically running the ball. They pretty much try to outnumber you and they have a good coach over there."
Safety Daytawion Lowe
On creating turnovers:
"It's something we work on in practice every day. We keep at it and the coaches are always telling us to create turnovers."
On the lack of respect for the defense:
"It's just motivation for us to go out every week and play harder. People say it's a fluke and we can't continue to create turnovers, but it all just motivates us."
On stopping the Kansas State offense:
"We are going to continue to play our keys and hopefully we are in the right positions this week to make some plays and create turnovers."
Wide receiver Tracy Moore
On the season:
"It's definitely been a roller coaster season for me. Having over 100 yards after the first game and not having one since seems bad but I love my teammates. I love playing the game whether I am getting the ball or not. I am here to be a part of a winning team. Whether Joseph Randle or Jeremy Smith is running the ball I am trying to get that key block to help them succeed."
On whether this team can make it to the National Championship:
"Yes, it's definitely possible to make it all the way this year. Coach Monken always explains to us that we control our own destiny."
On hype around campus and the rest of the state:
"It's definitely different. Growing up, OSU was not talked about as much as it is now. Now I can't go anywhere without overhearing someone talk about OSU, especially around campus. It is a great feeling. Even outside of Stillwater, more people are wearing OSU, more than people were four or five years ago."
