OSU-SDSU Postgame Quotes

Postgame Quote Sheet
Oklahoma State 44, South Dakota State 20
Aug. 31, 2024 | Stillwater, Okla. | Boone Pickens Stadium

Mike Gundy, Oklahoma State Head Coach on…

… Opening statement:
"I told the team, that was a really good first game of the season, which we all know is always a little scary, not quite as much for us this year with all the returning starters. But as I have said for months, this team (SDSU) doesn't make a lot of mistakes, they're very well-coached; they're tough. We had to take the game from them, like I thought we'd have to. They weren't going to give us the game. They had opportunities, at times -- a couple times -- where we dropped coverage and they had a chance to hit it and make a play, but they didn't. Sometimes that works for you, sometimes it doesn't. Those are areas we need to be better in. Overall, I was pleased with the performance from a discipline standpoint, we only had one penalty, which is really good, and I thought we were good in special teams. Not excellent, because we gave up a couple returns, too many yards, missed tackles, but overall in special teams, our ability to punt, flip the field, and down the ball inside the five-yard-line and perform in the PAT field goals, was really good. So, we were good in special teams, good in penalties and good in hidden yards. We rushed the ball for 127 yards on 38 carries, so we're a little bit under where we should be. We should be about almost a yard more per carry there. Overall, it was good for us. We have a lot of work to do. I shared with those guys that, in all three phases, there's going to be some really good video, based on what I was told on the headphones from the tablets, because now we're able to watch the video during the games. So, we know a lot more during the game than we used to. There will be some really good teaching moving forward. This gives them a chance to relax a little bit tonight and then get back to work. Each week, the challenge gets greater."

… Setting the tone early with two defensive stands:
"Defensively, we played good and then gave up big plays. I almost did the math in my head, there were about four plays that, if we could have taken that away, it would've been almost 35-50% of their production. Again, that's just me doing it in my head, but those are important -- early in the game -- to get those stops and get rolling. One time we were up three to four touchdowns, we could have stopped them and scored again, which maybe would've extended the game to where we could have played a lot of other guys, but we didn't. We gave them a cheap one, dropped coverage in my opinion. Then, offensively, in the fourth quarter, we just sputtered around. We tried to run the ball to use the clock, but we weren't very good. If I had to do it all over again, I'd just go play fast because I didn't like that side of it. We were trying to nonchalantly use the clock and move the ball."

… Alan Bowman's performance:
"Alan was good from a mental standpoint, based on what I heard from the headphones. He made decisions in what we asked him to do, and his grade in that area, I think, will be really high. That's where he can help himself and help our team, if he'll get the ball distributed to the people that we have, because most of what we do is run-pass options."

… Ollie Gordon's physicality:
"He was physical last year and he looks to be very physical now. I thought he ran the ball really well today, made guys miss and bounce off of him. He made big runs at key times today. He looks better physically, running-wise, than he did last year, in my opinion. Now, as we get through the next month, we start to play teams that are bigger and more athletic. Not to take anything away from them (South Dakota State), but we're going to play teams that will be in a better physical presence. But today, I thought he was good from a physical standpoint."

… De'Zhaun Stribling's return from injury:
"He's been really, really good. It's extremely difficult for guys to get injured early in the season. They put so much time and effort into everything they do, and his composure and the way he handled himself was awesome. He had one of those injuries where he could've played, but we chose not to play him based on a small percentage (chance) that he could have really injured himself more. We could've casted it up and let him go, and I think there was a time where he wanted to do that. But, we felt like we knew better for his long-term, and he's really worked hard and hasd a good August. There was one ball today that he could've caught that he didn't catch. Normally, he'll catch that. If he makes that catch in the endzone, then he's would've ended up with 125 yards. He had a good day, but that would've been a great day."

Jimmy Rodgers, SDSU Head Coach on…

… Preparing to stop Gordon and OSU's wide receivers:
"We initially said we were going to make them drive the field on us. You line up the box in some formation, and it's really easy -- especially now with the headset -- to kill a play, and then you've got a one-on-one on the perimeter. It's a constant pick-your-poison-type situation. But the reality is they're going fast, and we need to get lined up to be able to stop Gordon. That's the hard part of all this: the tempo, the communication piece and then the athletes that they have. They will beat a lot of people in one-on-ones. They made a lot of contested catches today. That's a really good team with probably three NFL receivers."

… Impressions of Oklahoma State:
"I think this team is really good. I think they're going to have a ton of success. We have played against Missouri, TCU and Iowa, and this was one of the more well-rounded teams that I've competed against from start to finish. The amount of depth they had, who was rotating in, and the fact that they didn't need to win or beat us with any real form of gadget play is a real credit to them. They are good."

… Rolling the dice on fourth downs:
"That's a tough loss, and we need to rebound from that. I don't care if I lose by 50, the whole point was to come down here and win. So some of these (fourth down) decisions are trying to stay in the game and not just saving face. I'm not into saving face. We're into winning games."

Ollie Gordon II, OSU Junior Running Back on…

… Performing when other teams are focused on stopping him:
"Play for my teammates. Like we say in the running back room, the first four, first five yards are for the line, the rest you can put your sauce to the end of it. So, I do it for my teammates and you know I've got to come through for them."

… Quarterback Alan Bowman's performance:
"He's a great quarterback. He knows how to manage the game. He's the leader of the team. This is his team. We're playing for him. So for him to be able to get out of the pocket and throw the ball and just have a bunch of things to his game, I feel like it's going to be hard for teams to plan against us."

… Getting involved in the passing game:
"Yeah, I like expanding my game like that. I feel like it helps the team, altogether. Teams can't load the box [because] we'll throw it. If they drop into zone, we'll run it, so I feel like it opens up a lot of things for us."

Trey Rucker, OSU Redshirt Senior Safety on…

…His career-high 15 tackles:
"I still left a couple out there on the field, but I just feel like I was in the right position to make the plays, and I executed. I thank that to God and my [defensive coordinator], Coach Nardo, and the rest of the guys on the field. They all had to play their part for me to get the 15 tackles."

… Young players in the secondary:
"They developed a lot. You can tell by their game. They're not out there being timid, playing all tight and stuff like that. There's just a couple things we could work on here and there, but other than that, I think they're ready to go."

… How the defense performed:
"I like how we were flying to the ball. We were harping on that pretty much all camp. Our coaches were making us run to the ball, so we did a great job doing that. As long as we're doing that, those big plays get limited and that was good executing it."

Korie Black, OSU Senior Cornerback on…

… The season opener:
"It was good. It was good to be back playing against somebody else, so that was fun. We had some mistakes, little mistakes, that we'll work on this week that we'll get fixed. It felt good overall though."

… His interception:
"Really nothing. It was more so just a reaction thing, so really nothing was going through my mind. But, before the play, I was like, 'I'm hoping he does what I want him to do,' and he did. So, I was hoping he did what he did and he did it, so that was fun."

… How the defense can improve:
"Just the little areas, the communication and stuff like that. I think that's really the biggest thing. If we get those little mistakes fixed, then we'll be pretty good."

Collin Oliver, OSU Senior Linebacker on…

… Changes to defense strategy:
"Very comfortable with it. As a defense, I think we're really good at adjusting and we're really good at understanding that whatever coach tells us to do is probably what's best for us and our team. So, as a defense, we understand that concept. We're going to be comfortable in whatever situation we're put in."

… Starting with a win over a quality opponent:
"It's huge. Very big confidence boost for us. We want to build off of this, especially next week when we have a real good opponent in Arkansas. So, getting a win like this in the first week in the fashion that we won, it's going to be a really cool confidence boost for us."

De'Zhaun Stribling, OSU Redshirt Junior Wide Receiver on…

… Getting back on the field after last year' season-ending injury:
"I wanted to keep rolling and help the boys win, especially when we got later in the season. But it's not about me. It's about Oklahoma State and our football team and what we do here. So just putting that to the side and just being there for the boys and trying to get everything rolling."

… The offense's performance:
"We were clicking very well. There's definitely some stuff that we need to clean up and we can do better. There was a lot of money still left out there today, but for the most part it was a good start. We're rolling pretty good."

… Keeping the momentum into next week:
"It's important [to keep rolling] because we want to make sure that we know what we can do and how we can do it. The o-line was playing great today. Ollie was running really hard, spitting the ball on the outside. So it was great."

… Brennan Presley's day:
"He's a very good athlete when he has the ball in space. So, giving him those little spits and all those little passes on the outside, just letting him work with the ball in his hands, always a very good thing. You make one guy miss, and he's off for 70 yards. So, it's a good thing out there."

… His toe drag catch:
"It's something that comes to me at this point as like second nature. I've been doing it and drilling it since my freshman year in college, and just emphasizing it all the time. So, it was more of a reflex to me. No doubt in my brain that I was in just one of those things. So, proves that all the drill work and stuff, it does translate."

Alan Bowman, OSU Redshirt Senior Quarterback on…

… His comfort level today compared to this time last year:
"Absolutely. The confidence in the offense, and the confidence we had in the game plan coming in, I feel like the coaches have prepared us all throughout camp for this particular game. We needed to start out 1-0, so we put some time and effort into these guys and I felt really comfortable with what they were going to do as a defense, so that let me play freer."

… His touchdown pass to Rashod Owens:
"We had a couple ones, I know Rashod was upset that he dropped the one earlier in the game, so that was an option route. If they're off he does one thing, if they press, he does another. He was pressed and there was no safety help, so bombs away."

… Playing with De'Zhaun Stribling again:
"You saw him out there, it was a good time. He made a great play on the flea flicker, but just knowing how savvy he is as a receiver, and how great his hands are, it's a lot of fun to throw to him."

… His own performance today:
"It was good. I think the one rollout that we had where the defender tipped it, that was stupid, and I should've just thrown it away. I think we stalled out a little bit in the third quarter. We really could've put our foot to the pedal and run away with it, but we didn't. So, don't get lazy, don't get satisfied, keep it rolling. Overall, I thought it was a really clean game."

Mark Gronowski, SDSU Senior Quarterback on…

… Overall takeaways:
"I think there are a lot of things to learn from. We played well offensively, but we were hurting ourselves. There are a lot of things we can clean up. It's the first game -- a lot of new faces, a new offensive coordinator -- so we just have to continue to get better every single week. We've got to learn from those mistakes that happened today and focus on the next week."

… Finishing plays and getting better:
"I think the little things that we're missing are going to continue to get better throughout this year. And just like Adam said, there's going to be a lot of things on film that we see that we're going to end up seeing, knowing we could have made that play. We're a couple inches away here or there, and knowing that, while continuing to get better. I think we played a fine game today, but we just got to get better in the little things."

… SDSU's young talent:
"I think our guys really played really well today for having little experience. I don't want to make that an excuse or anything like that. We're going to continue to get better this year, and [OSU] is just a great football team... We were making plays, but we had to continue to make those plays and not hurt ourselves when we got into the red zone, a miss snap and a penalty that knocked us back. If we clean those up, those could have been two more touchdowns, and it could have been a different game."

Adam Bock, SDSU Senior Linebacker on…

… OSU's offensive plan and slowing Ollie Gordon:
"They spread us out. We stopped Ollie Gordon, but other people made plays. They have other playmakers, too, and they found them. They're a good team... Awesome playmakers. Everything rolled their way, and they had a good day."

Players Mentioned

Korie Black

Alan Bowman

Ollie Gordon II

Collin Oliver

Rashod Owens

Brennan Presley

Trey Rucker

De’Zhaun Stribling

Oklahoma State University Athletics