Oklahoma State University Athletics
Photo by: Greg Bullard
Gundy Talks Bye Week, Depth on Weekly Coach’s Show
October 19, 2016 | Cowboy Football
STILLWATER – Oklahoma State head football coach Mike Gundy sat down with Cowboy radio voice Dave Hunziker Tuesday night at Chick-Fil-A for his weekly coach's show. Gundy and Hunziker discussed the bye week and how the team's depth has contributed to its success this season. Listen to the full audio below.
On if the team accomplished what he wanted it to during the bye week:
"Well, we'll find out Saturday. I think the players' frame of mind is really good. I could tell when they came back Sunday evening, they were refreshed and rehabilitated. We had a good practice today. The more you look at it, teams are moving in the direction of not practicing very heavily in open weeks. It's very different than what it used to be even just three years ago. I think it worked out fairly well. The good news is that we have a healthy football team."
On what he encourages the players to do during the bye week:
"I encourage them to watch every game they can, just like I do with my own kids at home. Yesterday in our press conference that got brought up. It's interesting that over the last couple of years when I've talked to coaches, and other coaches at this level like baseball coaches, basketball coaches, they have the same thoughts that I do in football. The young men that are coming to play at this level, and maybe even females for that matter, are less prepared from a savvy standpoint because they don't watch as much sports or watch as many games as we did. When we were little, you did not miss Monday Night Football. Saturday, you had Keith Jackson on ABC Sports, and whatever game that was, you watched it. Then they started Thursday Night Football on ESPN and everybody was fired up because you had another game to watch.
"My point is that we watched every game. If the World Series was on, if the playoffs were on (we watched). Then you had TBS and WGN with the Braves and Cubs, everybody was watching them every day and that was unbelievable. Because of cell phones nowadays, people don't watch games anymore. Even my boys who are into sports and are both athletic, they're watching their phone while they're watching the games. I'll ask them a question about what coverage that last play was or something like that, and he isn't even watching the game. They don't take as much in as we used to, and for that reason they aren't as savvy as we used to get. They don't play in the front yard like we used to. There was pickup basketball, there was pickup football. We learned how to play the game in the front yard. I was Roger Staubach in the front yard forever. We played in the snow. My point is in other sports, they're getting guys in baseball that don't understand hit and run, they don't understand bunt and run, they don't understand double cutoffs on a ball hitting the gap because they don't play in the front yard and they don't watch games like we used to.
"I encourage them to watch games because that's how you learn. We steal plays from people. My boys at the house give me a hard time because I keep a notebook next to where I sit, and if there's a good play I'll run it back three or four times. They want to watch the game, but I tell them I want that play and they can go watch the game somewhere else. You watch and you learn, and that's what a lot of young people now are missing."
On how much the team's depth contributed to the win over Iowa State as compared to in-game adjustments:
"Two games in a row, we've started the game where Iowa State has gone up and down the field on us, defensively. We made adjustments in both games in the second half that helped us, but the other area that really helped us was that from the start we play two defensive lines. In the latter part of the third or fourth quarter in most of our games this year, you'll see that teams weren't as effective at running some of the plays that they were effective with early in the game. I think that a big reason for that is the depth in the defensive line. We did make adjustments, but the depth played a huge role. Offensively, we lost Larry Williams, so we were able to put Mike Wilson in. Mike hadn't practiced at guard enough to talk about, but he is an experienced guy that had 21 starts prior to that, so we were able to put him in at guard. A few years ago, we had a situation like that and we had to put a guy in that hadn't played. Our poor quarterback would get sacked four to six times a game because you have a guy in there with no experience at all. If you have quality depth, you're a much different team than when you put players in that haven't played at this level."
On if the team accomplished what he wanted it to during the bye week:
"Well, we'll find out Saturday. I think the players' frame of mind is really good. I could tell when they came back Sunday evening, they were refreshed and rehabilitated. We had a good practice today. The more you look at it, teams are moving in the direction of not practicing very heavily in open weeks. It's very different than what it used to be even just three years ago. I think it worked out fairly well. The good news is that we have a healthy football team."
On what he encourages the players to do during the bye week:
"I encourage them to watch every game they can, just like I do with my own kids at home. Yesterday in our press conference that got brought up. It's interesting that over the last couple of years when I've talked to coaches, and other coaches at this level like baseball coaches, basketball coaches, they have the same thoughts that I do in football. The young men that are coming to play at this level, and maybe even females for that matter, are less prepared from a savvy standpoint because they don't watch as much sports or watch as many games as we did. When we were little, you did not miss Monday Night Football. Saturday, you had Keith Jackson on ABC Sports, and whatever game that was, you watched it. Then they started Thursday Night Football on ESPN and everybody was fired up because you had another game to watch.
"My point is that we watched every game. If the World Series was on, if the playoffs were on (we watched). Then you had TBS and WGN with the Braves and Cubs, everybody was watching them every day and that was unbelievable. Because of cell phones nowadays, people don't watch games anymore. Even my boys who are into sports and are both athletic, they're watching their phone while they're watching the games. I'll ask them a question about what coverage that last play was or something like that, and he isn't even watching the game. They don't take as much in as we used to, and for that reason they aren't as savvy as we used to get. They don't play in the front yard like we used to. There was pickup basketball, there was pickup football. We learned how to play the game in the front yard. I was Roger Staubach in the front yard forever. We played in the snow. My point is in other sports, they're getting guys in baseball that don't understand hit and run, they don't understand bunt and run, they don't understand double cutoffs on a ball hitting the gap because they don't play in the front yard and they don't watch games like we used to.
"I encourage them to watch games because that's how you learn. We steal plays from people. My boys at the house give me a hard time because I keep a notebook next to where I sit, and if there's a good play I'll run it back three or four times. They want to watch the game, but I tell them I want that play and they can go watch the game somewhere else. You watch and you learn, and that's what a lot of young people now are missing."
On how much the team's depth contributed to the win over Iowa State as compared to in-game adjustments:
"Two games in a row, we've started the game where Iowa State has gone up and down the field on us, defensively. We made adjustments in both games in the second half that helped us, but the other area that really helped us was that from the start we play two defensive lines. In the latter part of the third or fourth quarter in most of our games this year, you'll see that teams weren't as effective at running some of the plays that they were effective with early in the game. I think that a big reason for that is the depth in the defensive line. We did make adjustments, but the depth played a huge role. Offensively, we lost Larry Williams, so we were able to put Mike Wilson in. Mike hadn't practiced at guard enough to talk about, but he is an experienced guy that had 21 starts prior to that, so we were able to put him in at guard. A few years ago, we had a situation like that and we had to put a guy in that hadn't played. Our poor quarterback would get sacked four to six times a game because you have a guy in there with no experience at all. If you have quality depth, you're a much different team than when you put players in that haven't played at this level."
Players Mentioned
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