Oklahoma State University Athletics
Gundy Previews Regular Season Finale Against West Virginia
November 21, 2022 | Cowboy Football
STILLWATER – Oklahoma State head coach Mike Gundy met with members of the media during his weekly luncheon to preview the Cowboys' 2022 regular season finale against West Virginia. Here is some of what he had to say:
On the team's attitude behavior at practice on Sunday:
"We're on a pass-fail system each week. We got a fail for last week. Nobody likes that. The good thing about this generation – without getting into a long, drawn-out deal – they kind of roll through things pretty quick. They're pretty resilient. Just like the phones, they're onto the next video and they roll on. We had a couple guys do good with leadership last night. My job is to tell them the truth – or rather, give them my opinion, I can be wrong – but I give them my opinion on what transpired and what has to happen as we move forward. That's really what we do."
On individuals in particular who stepped as leaders at Sunday's practice:
"Brock Martin actually stepped up and said a few words. JT [Jason Taylor II] did a good job. Spencer [Sanders] always does a good job. Preston Wilson did good. They run. They run on Sunday nights. It's a difficult run. When you win, it's a fun run. When you lose, it's even more difficult. We had some guys step up and do a good job leading."
On the importance of leadership from within the team at this point in the season:
"They have to do it. It's their team. It's not me. All I do is tell them the truth and give them my opinion and they can do what they want with it. Then we try to guide them to the next game as coaches. They have to decide if they want to practice hard and if it's important to them. If they don't play, I don't play. I think they understand that. That's not a concern of mine. It's important because they have to decide they want to do it."
On the development of linebacker Mason Cobb:
"He's in his first year. He's just trying to find where's he's at on the field right now and trying to run around and make plays. He has to make 70 plus plays a game. There's a fatigue factor involved there. He's trying to learn different things going on. He's working hard on wrapping up. He strikes with force, but he's not conquered wrapping up and getting guys down. In Utah, in high school, he knocked those guys three yards back and they fell on the ground. That doesn't work that way at this level. He should be considerably different in October of next year. Things will move a little slower for him."
On the first quarter versus Oklahoma:
"They got us in a couple of man coverages, made good throws. [Drake] Stoops made good catches. Offensively, the early scores dialed up pretty much anything they wanted to do on defense because we were backed up and weren't moving the ball at all. It gave them a lot of freedom."
On the assessment of the offensive line's performance versus Oklahoma:
"Well, ironically, the guy that's graded the highest the last few weeks has been [Jason] Brooks. A couple of the guys that graded lower lately graded higher in this game. I don't have an answer for you if I'm being honest."
On Spencer Sanders:
"I think that the fans are going to remember him a long time as a tough guy. His competitive nature, he plays injured, he fights. He took more hits on Saturday. That's who he is. That's why we like him and that's why the team respects him. He didn't play as good as he would have wanted to, but we didn't rush the ball and we protected him very below-average. That's what you get. He forced a couple throws that he should have just said 'you know what? It's okay. We can kick a field goal or punt.' That's a difficult thing for a quarterback to understand. They always try to make a play. But his legacy will be his toughness and his long-term ability to play."
On Logan Ward:
"He's doing good. We were awful in the last couple of games protection wise, we didn't do a good job of that, but we altered some things with what fits his style of punting and we were better. He did a nice job."
On solving the offensive issues in the long run:
"I got a lot of notes in my office and there's maybe a couple of things that maybe we need to do differently than what we've done over the last 15 years schematically, but not a lot. Most offenses as we know are going to live and die with your quarterback. Secondly, they're going to live and die with a game-breaker at wideout and running back… If your lineman will cover guys up and they'll fight and be tough guys and you have a quarterback who can make a play and a skill guy out wide and a running back, you're going to have good offensive numbers. We've not had that luxury outside consistently all year and in the backfield, also. Schematically we could do a couple things differently, but we don't need to do a lot and we certainly don't want to panic. This is a couple years now where we haven't been able to put it all together at this point, then we go out to the Fiesta Bowl and run 600 yards of offense on Notre Dame. It's been inconsistent, but we have some answers."
On West Virginia:
Well, they've played well at times, they're like everyone else in this league. The only team that has really been able to avoid anything has been TCU. They've been able to convert at the last second. The other teams in this league have been vulnerable each week but shown signs of being pretty good. There's times when you watch them on tape and they play just as good as most teams in this league, and then there's times when I'm sure Neal (Brown) would wish they play better, like our team."
On Neal Brown:
He's a first-class guy. The conversations I've had with him at meetings and before games and wherever else the minimal times I've run into him, he understands family, culture, taking care of the right people in the right way. Obviously that's from a distance and just what I see from him. In our profession, it's difficult, there's a variety of things that can happen, but I have a lot of respect for him as a person. I hate that anybody has to go through what he could be going through."
On the team's attitude behavior at practice on Sunday:
"We're on a pass-fail system each week. We got a fail for last week. Nobody likes that. The good thing about this generation – without getting into a long, drawn-out deal – they kind of roll through things pretty quick. They're pretty resilient. Just like the phones, they're onto the next video and they roll on. We had a couple guys do good with leadership last night. My job is to tell them the truth – or rather, give them my opinion, I can be wrong – but I give them my opinion on what transpired and what has to happen as we move forward. That's really what we do."
On individuals in particular who stepped as leaders at Sunday's practice:
"Brock Martin actually stepped up and said a few words. JT [Jason Taylor II] did a good job. Spencer [Sanders] always does a good job. Preston Wilson did good. They run. They run on Sunday nights. It's a difficult run. When you win, it's a fun run. When you lose, it's even more difficult. We had some guys step up and do a good job leading."
On the importance of leadership from within the team at this point in the season:
"They have to do it. It's their team. It's not me. All I do is tell them the truth and give them my opinion and they can do what they want with it. Then we try to guide them to the next game as coaches. They have to decide if they want to practice hard and if it's important to them. If they don't play, I don't play. I think they understand that. That's not a concern of mine. It's important because they have to decide they want to do it."
On the development of linebacker Mason Cobb:
"He's in his first year. He's just trying to find where's he's at on the field right now and trying to run around and make plays. He has to make 70 plus plays a game. There's a fatigue factor involved there. He's trying to learn different things going on. He's working hard on wrapping up. He strikes with force, but he's not conquered wrapping up and getting guys down. In Utah, in high school, he knocked those guys three yards back and they fell on the ground. That doesn't work that way at this level. He should be considerably different in October of next year. Things will move a little slower for him."
On the first quarter versus Oklahoma:
"They got us in a couple of man coverages, made good throws. [Drake] Stoops made good catches. Offensively, the early scores dialed up pretty much anything they wanted to do on defense because we were backed up and weren't moving the ball at all. It gave them a lot of freedom."
On the assessment of the offensive line's performance versus Oklahoma:
"Well, ironically, the guy that's graded the highest the last few weeks has been [Jason] Brooks. A couple of the guys that graded lower lately graded higher in this game. I don't have an answer for you if I'm being honest."
On Spencer Sanders:
"I think that the fans are going to remember him a long time as a tough guy. His competitive nature, he plays injured, he fights. He took more hits on Saturday. That's who he is. That's why we like him and that's why the team respects him. He didn't play as good as he would have wanted to, but we didn't rush the ball and we protected him very below-average. That's what you get. He forced a couple throws that he should have just said 'you know what? It's okay. We can kick a field goal or punt.' That's a difficult thing for a quarterback to understand. They always try to make a play. But his legacy will be his toughness and his long-term ability to play."
On Logan Ward:
"He's doing good. We were awful in the last couple of games protection wise, we didn't do a good job of that, but we altered some things with what fits his style of punting and we were better. He did a nice job."
On solving the offensive issues in the long run:
"I got a lot of notes in my office and there's maybe a couple of things that maybe we need to do differently than what we've done over the last 15 years schematically, but not a lot. Most offenses as we know are going to live and die with your quarterback. Secondly, they're going to live and die with a game-breaker at wideout and running back… If your lineman will cover guys up and they'll fight and be tough guys and you have a quarterback who can make a play and a skill guy out wide and a running back, you're going to have good offensive numbers. We've not had that luxury outside consistently all year and in the backfield, also. Schematically we could do a couple things differently, but we don't need to do a lot and we certainly don't want to panic. This is a couple years now where we haven't been able to put it all together at this point, then we go out to the Fiesta Bowl and run 600 yards of offense on Notre Dame. It's been inconsistent, but we have some answers."
On West Virginia:
Well, they've played well at times, they're like everyone else in this league. The only team that has really been able to avoid anything has been TCU. They've been able to convert at the last second. The other teams in this league have been vulnerable each week but shown signs of being pretty good. There's times when you watch them on tape and they play just as good as most teams in this league, and then there's times when I'm sure Neal (Brown) would wish they play better, like our team."
On Neal Brown:
He's a first-class guy. The conversations I've had with him at meetings and before games and wherever else the minimal times I've run into him, he understands family, culture, taking care of the right people in the right way. Obviously that's from a distance and just what I see from him. In our profession, it's difficult, there's a variety of things that can happen, but I have a lot of respect for him as a person. I hate that anybody has to go through what he could be going through."
Players Mentioned
LB
/ Cowboy Football
DE
/ Cowboy Football
QB
/ Cowboy Football
S
/ Cowboy Football
K
/ Cowboy Football
OL
/ Cowboy FootballCowgirl Equestrian Big 12 Champs! - Inside OSU Athletics with Larry Sanchez
Friday, April 03
Title Talk | Landon Robideau Breaks Down His NCAA Championship vs. Defending Champ Antrell Taylor
Tuesday, March 31
Title Talk | Sergio Vega Breaks Down His NCAA Championship Win vs. 2x Champ Jesse Mendez (141 lbs)
Monday, March 30
Jax Forrest called it a tad early 🗣️🏆 #wrestling
Friday, March 27
