Oklahoma State University Athletics
Oklahoma State Football Postgame Quotes vs. Texas
October 31, 2020 | Cowboy Football
Oklahoma State Football Head Coach Mike Gundy
Thoughts on the game
"We lost the turnover battle four to zero, and we got a kick returned on us for a touchdown. You have to give Texas credit. They made the plays in the end to win the game, but we didn't give ourselves a chance. As I've said many times before, disciplined football, special teams and turnovers is what determines the outcome of games 'til the latter part of the season; we failed in those areas today and this is the result you'll get."
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On Spencer Sanders' turnovers
"Today was a little different than what it has been in the past for him. The fumbled handoff, he's been doing that for three years so that shouldn't happen. A couple times it looked like he was holding onto the ball too long and getting stripped from behind. Either way, when you lose the turnover battle like that, you probably aren't going to win the game."
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On the play of the defense
"I would say they played pretty well. We put them in terrible positions time after time, and they rallied a few times and held them to field goals. I'm going to say they played well, we just can't put them in that position that many times, particularly against a quarterback like Sam Ehlinger."
Texas Football Head Coach Tom Herman
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Opening Statement
"What a ball game. Hats off to Coach Gundy and his team; he's got a heck of a team. Nine out of the 11 starters on defense were juniors and seniors and another being a redshirt-sophomore. So you've got a bunch of third-, fourth- and fifth-year guys that really understand their defense and play it really well. I was really impressed with the way they played defense, and they threw the ball well. I thought we did a good job of stopping the run for the most part. We've got to shore up the pass defense for sure. With that being said, hats off to them. That was a great atmosphere considering everything that's going on in COVID-19 and 2020. I do want to thank our fans – we felt them, they were there. As few of them as were allowed in the stadium, I was just really proud to walk off the field and have them cheer us. We're a work in progress. We're going to continue to get better, and we're going to learn. This one was not pretty, but when you take the ball away four times and don't give the ball up, you give yourself a chance to win; that's what we did there at the end. We've got a short turnaround. The next 72 hours are going to be very unique with Tuesday being a day off. We think we've got a good plan in place for a West Virginia team coming off a big win of their own."
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On the play of Texas' defense in overtime
"It's funny. On that third-down call, Chris said, 'Herm, I'm going to zero-blitz them. You good with that?' I think I said, 'Well, at least we got the lead, and it's not third-and-17.' It was a hell of a call by him and well executed by our guys. We brought more than they had to block, which flushed Spencer Sanders out of the pocket.
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On Joseph Ossai's standout performance
"What can you say about the kid. I think I saw three sacks and seven tackles-for-loss, something like that. That's with his arm in a sling. He's the undisputed leader on that side of the football. If you're a young kid out there that wants to know why Joseph Ossai plays the way that he plays, come watch practice. This is a dude that literally has two speeds: off and full. That's it. The guy just goes and goes and goes. He's fun to watch, and he will have a special place in my heart and hopefully in all of Longhorns fan's hearts for a long time."
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On players stepping up and making plays:
"We'd certainly love to have more stars. We're developing more as we speak. We've got some young guys who can be great. We saw Josh Moore come up big. Sam Ehlinger, I'm sure he'd tell you that's not even close to the level of play that he wanted to play. We were struggling getting off of man-coverage, and he was struggling putting the ball where we could at least fight for it; it was frustrating. Most guys would have checked out, for lack of a better phrase. Sam didn't, and he never will. I thought that fourth-and-seven to Jake Smith, I thought that was the best play of his career. I've known him for four-and-a-half years, feels like 40-and-a-half. It was cover zero, we didn't have time on the clock to get into any of our cover zero checks, he was running for his life back there and found a way to find Jake Smith in the end zone. He came to the sideline, and I told him, 'That was the best play of your career.' Unfortunately, we thought that was the last time he'd take the field, but we had to jog him back out in overtime and he delivered in overtime as well."
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Thoughts on the game
"We lost the turnover battle four to zero, and we got a kick returned on us for a touchdown. You have to give Texas credit. They made the plays in the end to win the game, but we didn't give ourselves a chance. As I've said many times before, disciplined football, special teams and turnovers is what determines the outcome of games 'til the latter part of the season; we failed in those areas today and this is the result you'll get."
Â
On Spencer Sanders' turnovers
"Today was a little different than what it has been in the past for him. The fumbled handoff, he's been doing that for three years so that shouldn't happen. A couple times it looked like he was holding onto the ball too long and getting stripped from behind. Either way, when you lose the turnover battle like that, you probably aren't going to win the game."
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On the play of the defense
"I would say they played pretty well. We put them in terrible positions time after time, and they rallied a few times and held them to field goals. I'm going to say they played well, we just can't put them in that position that many times, particularly against a quarterback like Sam Ehlinger."
Texas Football Head Coach Tom Herman
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Opening Statement
"What a ball game. Hats off to Coach Gundy and his team; he's got a heck of a team. Nine out of the 11 starters on defense were juniors and seniors and another being a redshirt-sophomore. So you've got a bunch of third-, fourth- and fifth-year guys that really understand their defense and play it really well. I was really impressed with the way they played defense, and they threw the ball well. I thought we did a good job of stopping the run for the most part. We've got to shore up the pass defense for sure. With that being said, hats off to them. That was a great atmosphere considering everything that's going on in COVID-19 and 2020. I do want to thank our fans – we felt them, they were there. As few of them as were allowed in the stadium, I was just really proud to walk off the field and have them cheer us. We're a work in progress. We're going to continue to get better, and we're going to learn. This one was not pretty, but when you take the ball away four times and don't give the ball up, you give yourself a chance to win; that's what we did there at the end. We've got a short turnaround. The next 72 hours are going to be very unique with Tuesday being a day off. We think we've got a good plan in place for a West Virginia team coming off a big win of their own."
Â
On the play of Texas' defense in overtime
"It's funny. On that third-down call, Chris said, 'Herm, I'm going to zero-blitz them. You good with that?' I think I said, 'Well, at least we got the lead, and it's not third-and-17.' It was a hell of a call by him and well executed by our guys. We brought more than they had to block, which flushed Spencer Sanders out of the pocket.
Â
On Joseph Ossai's standout performance
"What can you say about the kid. I think I saw three sacks and seven tackles-for-loss, something like that. That's with his arm in a sling. He's the undisputed leader on that side of the football. If you're a young kid out there that wants to know why Joseph Ossai plays the way that he plays, come watch practice. This is a dude that literally has two speeds: off and full. That's it. The guy just goes and goes and goes. He's fun to watch, and he will have a special place in my heart and hopefully in all of Longhorns fan's hearts for a long time."
Â
On players stepping up and making plays:
"We'd certainly love to have more stars. We're developing more as we speak. We've got some young guys who can be great. We saw Josh Moore come up big. Sam Ehlinger, I'm sure he'd tell you that's not even close to the level of play that he wanted to play. We were struggling getting off of man-coverage, and he was struggling putting the ball where we could at least fight for it; it was frustrating. Most guys would have checked out, for lack of a better phrase. Sam didn't, and he never will. I thought that fourth-and-seven to Jake Smith, I thought that was the best play of his career. I've known him for four-and-a-half years, feels like 40-and-a-half. It was cover zero, we didn't have time on the clock to get into any of our cover zero checks, he was running for his life back there and found a way to find Jake Smith in the end zone. He came to the sideline, and I told him, 'That was the best play of your career.' Unfortunately, we thought that was the last time he'd take the field, but we had to jog him back out in overtime and he delivered in overtime as well."
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