Reader Thoughts: Gundy Logic, Breaking Down (All of) the Problems

Another week, more ?emails. Let’s get right to work.

Seems like the comments are burning up with fire Gundy/Yurcich/Knowles messages. Man, the Gundy haters have come out in full force. I don’t think anyone needs fired. I think Yurcich is usually implementing a Gundy approved game plan. I don’t think people are giving the proper amount of credit for how hard it is to change the defense or how poor we are in the secondary or how thin we actually are on the OL.

I think Robert Allen was right about the sideline being dead against KSU. This team is flat. And I think people are correct when they point to Cornelius being somewhat responsible for that, but I will say I think Cornelius has no confidence in himself at this point. I mean people have been trying to get rid of him constantly since the first game. Every incomplete pass he’s looking over his shoulder.

I think Carson made a good point about what would be happening if this was the situation at OU. A  change would have been made. I see Gundy wanting to preserve the Sanders redshirt and protect him from our offensive line, but he’s basically punted the whole season hoping Cornelius can get the truck to our destination while we are towing the new corvette (Sanders) on the trailer.

I don’t think we see at QB change until Baylor. I feel bad for the kid, everybody has been waiting for him to fail the entire season. And there is a good argument his offense has been good enough to win (sans the KSU game). I don’t understand why the coaches are forcing him into the long throws when it would suit him better to throw slants. Why we didn’t adopt the Alan Bowman/Texas Tech game plan (quick slants until your arm falls off) at half ime of the TT game and use it from there on out is beyond me s.

All that being said I think Cornelius’ lack of confidence brings the energy of the team down because everyone knows at this point we aren’t playing for anything except to get to next year.

The offensive line is getting raked over the coals by everyone including the head coach (which was probably Gundy’s way of trying to protect the confidence of Cornelius), but I don’t think it was as bad as everyone was making it out to be until Hambright went out and they started shuffling positions. Not that Hambright is that good, but just when they might have been getting things together they switch positions and bring in a new guy.

I think Henson would have them playing better by know but for the Hambright injury. I’ve seen people say the OL was an issue/excuse in 2014 until Mason stated playing QB  but people forget that was also a game which saw Crabtree return to starting from injury. So maybe that helped a little too.

I think Gundy is right about the engine not being broken but it’s obviously tenuous. Any one area has caused us to lose games.

Defense has issues I don’t think can be fixed this season though. The injury to Daniels was very bad. The freshmen playing safety plus and injured Rodriguez. No one appears to be trying to create a turnover except Justin Phillips who is constantly ripping at the ball with no success. None of the DB’s act like they know what an interception is, they are constantly face-guarding.

Iowa State was funny, they didn’t even care if guys were covered they acted like the knew we weren’t going to make a play on the ball so they would throw it anyway. People harp on the safeties but the CB play has been just as bad. It wasn’t that great last year but it’s worse this year with the same guys. I can believe some of that is the new defense, but we just aren’t fast enough at corner. Seems like you regularly see them chasing receivers from behind. People whined about have corners that were too short for a long time and now we have tall corners and they are too slow. The Daniels injury, the underclassmen at safety, the slow corners and the first year of a new defense  are things that just can’t be fixed this year.

I know this is all over the place (but so is this team). I just thought I’d unload it here.

I can’t explain the penalties, but they have been killers.

I can’t explain why we don’t have a special teams coach either We don’t even try on special teams anymore. Fair catching kicks and punts every chance we get. Another area where Gundy has gotten too conservative. And take a shot at the end zone before halftime already.

Maybe Gundy knew it could be like this and was hoping Cornelius could beat expectations while they preserve and extra year of eligibility for Sanders, but what I don’t understand is why Sander’s mom would say what she said. If Gundy knew this was the plan wouldn’t he tell Sanders and/or his parents?

All that being said (maybe I’m being way too optimistic), I think there are things on the offense that can be fixed and we can still win a couple games. The remaining schedule doesn’t look as daunting as it did at the beginning of the season. TCU has problems, Texas could have lost to KSU. OU isn’t what we thought they were at one point, WV is apparently beatable and Baylor is still beatable. -Jack P.

What an email. I pubbed it all because it was so good and ackrut. My biggest thought is that I also feel bad for Corndog. I have all year. We talk so objectively about these guys, but you know they read, hear and see stuff. I hope that doesn’t sully his confidence in himself as a human being. I also think the offense is fixable and hasn’t been that bad other than KSU. Problem is that I also feel like it’s trending in the wrong direvtion.

Do you think the way the way the QBs are being handled is noticed by recruits? SS is one of the most accomplished high school QBs to ever come on campus and in Texas high school football no less. How do recruits look at that when he still hasn’t got a chance with an offense that clearly needs a pick me up. We don’t come across recruits like him that are highly touted and follow through with their commitment in Stillwater. Just seems like a bad message to send.

Then with Dru, he was more accomplished than TC and nobody knew the Hawaii 2-star QB was going to do what he has done so by all accounts Dru was probably going to start there but gave that up to come to Stillwater. So now you’re hurting both areas of how to bring in QBs as a high schooler or grad transfer. I feel like the more people call for a change the more Gundy digs his heels in whereas at other schools where a coach isn’t a complacent as Gundy has become they will do everything to give their teams a spark like TTU or ISU.  Your thoughts? -Derrick S.

I disagree that Gundy has become or is complacent. This is just who he is, and we interpret it differently when OSU is losing compared to when they’re winning. As for the recruits thing, I see where you’re coming from, but I just can’t bring myself to believe recruits care as deeply about the things we think they care about as we believe they should. Plus, the narrative can change quickly. If Spencer starts the last three, all of a sudden Gundy can tell HS QBs, “Our last two great QBs both played and won as freshmen.”

I almost wrote this comment a couple weeks ago but held off in hopes that Corndog would show marked improvement. Now that any chance of winning a Big 12 title is gone, things have changed. Gundy was saying again last night on his radio show that even for him it took him the better part of a season to really settle in as a college QB and know what was going on and for the game to slow down.

If that is the case, we should make the switch to Sanders starting next week. It does go against the philosophy of putting the best team on the field to give you a chance to win since Gundy thinks Corn gives them the best shot. However our goal as a program is to win championships. Since this year is toast, let these last four games be the beginning of the next chapter instead of the potential slow drudge to the end of a terrible season. Let’s get this learning curve started! -Wes S.

But according to Gundy, we’re about to find out what Corn can do, which should prep him and OSU nicely for 201 … wait … what?