Oklahoma State University Athletics
Gundy Meets With Media During Bowl Practice
December 13, 2021 | Cowboy Football
Oklahoma State head coach Mike Gundy met with the media for the first time since OSU received its Fiesta Bowl bid. Gundy discussed the beginning of bowl practice and Notre Dame. Here is some of what he had to say:
On handling the defensive coordinator position for the Fiesta Bowl:
"When we got back, I got all the guys together and did a little investigative work and compared my notes to what I thought the process was that we used here with Jim [Knowles]. I'm not quite as up-to-par as I am offensively, obviously, but I was pretty close. I gathered everybody up, there was about 12 of them in there – with all the student and young people and such – and went over everything we needed to do to get to game day to get it to be the exact same, or really, even better, than it was when Jim [Knowles] was here. We laid all that out, made sure everybody knew their responsibility and made sure everybody understood what part of the game plan they're responsible for. I asked them things to get accomplished that I needed to know myself to get caught up since Jim [Knowles] is not here. I've been meeting with them every day, seeing it, seeing what's going on and how they're handling it, so on and so forth. Quite honestly, I don't expect to miss a beat."
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On who will make defensive calls for the Fiesta Bowl:
"I'll make that decision, probably, the day we get there. I'm watching everything, watching what takes place at practice, watching everybody do their job. I'm listening in meetings and gaining knowledge and information on guys in the room that can give me information on Notre Dame's offense. I'm just gathering that information and I'll make that decision when we get out there."
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On Notre Dame:
"I think they deserve to be ranked fifth in the country. I think they're extremely talented and have a lot of NFL guys on their roster. I don't know what their breakdown or gradeables are, but they're a good team. They have a quarterback that's been around for 100 years and played a lot of football games. Their tight end looks like the college version of Tom Brady's friend (Rob Gronkowski). The running back is really good, I don't think he's playing, but he's really good. No. 25 is the one who plays when he doesn't play and he's really good. Their receivers are fast. One of them got hurt, but the other, they use him and he's a good player. Defensively, they're what you would expect Notre Dame to be. Inside they're thick and very staunch and powerful. They have stand-up guys that are good at rushing the quarterback. They're only giving up 3.6 yards a rush. One safety is going to go to the NFL which cuts us a little slack, but the other two look like him. They may not be as fast, but they look like him out there. No. 27 is a really good linebacker. He's a Malcolm Rodriguez kind of guy, bigger, maybe not as fast, but a really good football player. They're what you think they would be."
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On Spencer Sanders rebounding from the Big 12 Championship:
"He's been good. You have to remember now we didn't protect him. I'm not saying that he played great, but if you go back and watch quarterbacks in high school, college and the NFL, if they're not protected well and you don't rush the ball, then they don't have very good quarterback ratings… We couldn't handle the (Siaki Ika) in the front and he lived on (Spencer Sanders) lap and we couldn't rush the ball. He made a couple of errant throws, but he also made a lot of plays that kept us in that game. I'm not trying to cover for him, but I'm saying he gets too much credit and doesn't get enough. He's fine. We did not surround him with a lot of success in that game."
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On Jaylen Warren's status and other injuries:
"He's doing good. Dominic Richardson is doing well and Josh Sills will be out there. Richardson didn't finish the game and Warren didn't finish the game. They're all doing pretty well. Godlevske will be close. He gets out of his boot on the 16th and starts moving side-to-side. Could he play? Yes. Probable? Eh, I don't know. He could be practicing at the bowl site, let's put it that way."
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On handling the defensive coordinator position for the Fiesta Bowl:
"When we got back, I got all the guys together and did a little investigative work and compared my notes to what I thought the process was that we used here with Jim [Knowles]. I'm not quite as up-to-par as I am offensively, obviously, but I was pretty close. I gathered everybody up, there was about 12 of them in there – with all the student and young people and such – and went over everything we needed to do to get to game day to get it to be the exact same, or really, even better, than it was when Jim [Knowles] was here. We laid all that out, made sure everybody knew their responsibility and made sure everybody understood what part of the game plan they're responsible for. I asked them things to get accomplished that I needed to know myself to get caught up since Jim [Knowles] is not here. I've been meeting with them every day, seeing it, seeing what's going on and how they're handling it, so on and so forth. Quite honestly, I don't expect to miss a beat."
Â
On who will make defensive calls for the Fiesta Bowl:
"I'll make that decision, probably, the day we get there. I'm watching everything, watching what takes place at practice, watching everybody do their job. I'm listening in meetings and gaining knowledge and information on guys in the room that can give me information on Notre Dame's offense. I'm just gathering that information and I'll make that decision when we get out there."
Â
On Notre Dame:
"I think they deserve to be ranked fifth in the country. I think they're extremely talented and have a lot of NFL guys on their roster. I don't know what their breakdown or gradeables are, but they're a good team. They have a quarterback that's been around for 100 years and played a lot of football games. Their tight end looks like the college version of Tom Brady's friend (Rob Gronkowski). The running back is really good, I don't think he's playing, but he's really good. No. 25 is the one who plays when he doesn't play and he's really good. Their receivers are fast. One of them got hurt, but the other, they use him and he's a good player. Defensively, they're what you would expect Notre Dame to be. Inside they're thick and very staunch and powerful. They have stand-up guys that are good at rushing the quarterback. They're only giving up 3.6 yards a rush. One safety is going to go to the NFL which cuts us a little slack, but the other two look like him. They may not be as fast, but they look like him out there. No. 27 is a really good linebacker. He's a Malcolm Rodriguez kind of guy, bigger, maybe not as fast, but a really good football player. They're what you think they would be."
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On Spencer Sanders rebounding from the Big 12 Championship:
"He's been good. You have to remember now we didn't protect him. I'm not saying that he played great, but if you go back and watch quarterbacks in high school, college and the NFL, if they're not protected well and you don't rush the ball, then they don't have very good quarterback ratings… We couldn't handle the (Siaki Ika) in the front and he lived on (Spencer Sanders) lap and we couldn't rush the ball. He made a couple of errant throws, but he also made a lot of plays that kept us in that game. I'm not trying to cover for him, but I'm saying he gets too much credit and doesn't get enough. He's fine. We did not surround him with a lot of success in that game."
Â
On Jaylen Warren's status and other injuries:
"He's doing good. Dominic Richardson is doing well and Josh Sills will be out there. Richardson didn't finish the game and Warren didn't finish the game. They're all doing pretty well. Godlevske will be close. He gets out of his boot on the 16th and starts moving side-to-side. Could he play? Yes. Probable? Eh, I don't know. He could be practicing at the bowl site, let's put it that way."
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Players Mentioned
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