Gundy Previews No. 24 Kansas State

WATCH: Coach Gundy Meets with Media

STILLWATER – Oklahoma State head coach Mike Gundy met with members of the media Monday at Boone Pickens Stadium to preview the Cowboys' conference home opener against No. 24 Kansas State this Saturday. A look at some of his comments:

Opening Statement:
"The difference between the last few years and this year [against Texas] was that we kicked field goals instead of scoring touchdowns. I've discussed that with our guys. Obviously, we were trying to score touchdowns but we didn't get that accomplished. It would've been a much different game for us if we scored touchdowns instead of kick field goals, but we live and learn and we move on. We are playing a good football team this week. A very senior-dominated offense with an experienced quarterback. They know exactly what they are trying to accomplish and they are very good at it. Their defense is very good. We will have our work cut out for us but it's always a fun part. We are back at it this week and ready to roll."

On not converting touchdowns on short yardage situations:
"We've always been good at it. We had success in short yardage situations last year, we had success this year. Sometimes the opponent will win those one-on-one battles, sometimes we will. It's not necessary that we need to do something different, it just happened in that game that we were in position to score a couple times where traditionally, we would score touchdowns. That's the glaring side of what happened in that game. Defense gave up a big play where we got out of coverage near the sideline, other than that. We played pretty good against a pretty good team. Offensively, if we score those touchdowns and don't kick field goals, it'd be a different game. It's not necessary one thing or the other. Texas is going to make some plays also, they've got good guys and they are well-coached. They made some plays and they ended up winning the game based on those key plays. Over the last 10 years, we made the majority of those plays, this year we didn't."

On the team's offensive performance against Texas:
"I don't want people thinking that we didn't move the ball. I don't know how many yards we had, but I don't want to hit the panic button and say we didn't move the ball. We had two opportunities to score touchdowns and we kicked field goals. That is eight less points. Then we tried a fake field goal when we could have taken more. I think it was just more of us not executing at the goal line."

On Chuba Hubbard's 37 carries:
"That is five more than I thought was too many. It has been a conversation and we want to keep him healthy. We want him to be fresh but he is clearly the best runner. We do what we think we need to do to score us the most points."

On Spencer Sanders' composure:
"I thought he handled the last game pretty well for a young guy."

On Sanders' game-to-game improvement:
"Remember how I said he got frustrated in the Tulsa game? He didn't get frustrated at all on Saturday night. If Vegas would have given you 5-1 odds that he would get frustrated, then we all would have lost our money. He handled the situation very well. He had a clear mind, was responsive and understood what was going on."

On Sean Gleeson coaching through his first loss:
"I thought he was good. There's a difference between being emotional and being erratically emotional and out of control. He gets emotional during football games. It's like parenting. When you're raising your first kid, you get emotional when they do things wrong and you overreact. Then you come back later and you're like, 'That wasn't worth all that.' You're better off just chilling and then teaching them after a while. Coaching is the same thing. Sean gets excited but then he can get right back into it and focus; some coaches go and lose their marbles, but he doesn't."

On the interaction with Sean Gleeson through four weeks:
"It's really clear, you can ask any of our offensive coaches. When I go into that meeting room I tell them, 'Look I'm not the head coach, OK? I'm a position coach just like you and I'm just giving you information.' As Mike Yurcich's career progressed, he learned to throw more of it in the trash. Sean is a little more into what I have to say, to be honest with you."

On Charlie Dickey's experience with Kansas State offensive line:
"Charlie's got his hands full trying to get our guys lined up. We have so much video now and we have all of the games with them. I think you can get more out of that. I don't know how much that factors into the game."

On discipline and physicality of the team:
"I don't think there's any question we're a more disciplined team right now. Our first penalty against Texas wasn't until nine minutes to go in the third quarter. For the most part, we were a much more disciplined team. I think we're becoming a tougher team based on the development of our tight end play."

Oklahoma State University Athletics

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