Three Things Mike Gundy Said on His Weekly Radio Show Ahead of South Dakota State

Mike Gundy’s weekly radio show is back on the air, which means football can’t be too far behind.

Gundy joined Dave Hunziker on Monday night to talk Oklahoma State’s game against South Dakota State, which kicks at 1 p.m. Saturday in Boone Pickens Stadium, and the pair previewed the upcoming season as a whole. Here are three things that stood out.

1. Better at the Basics

With a team as veteran as OSU this season, it could be easy to do too much, but it sounds like Gundy and his staff are focusing on the fundamentals heading into what looks to be a promising season.

All offseason Gundy has talked about the importance of being a sound tackling team. He credited some of his defense’s early season struggles last season to not tackling as much in camp. To remedy that, he said this camp has been much more physical.

As basic as tackling sounds for a defense, Gundy said the offense — supplied with myriad experienced linemen — has worked the most on the simple (sounding) act of blocking.

“There’s been so many changes with the technical side of football that a lot of times coaches are coaching too much instead of just getting good at a few things like blocking and tackling, which is what the game originated with,” Gundy said. “And I feel like that we’re better in those two areas because we’ve really talked about it, coached it. Most of the time the things that you talked about and coached are what you’re actually gonna improve on. Everything we do in life is that way — even football. We’ve improved in those two areas.”

2. Can Ollie Do It Again?

Ollie Gordon made a name for himself nationally last season, but in 2024, the reigning Doak Walker winner won’t take anyone by surprise.

Gordon is tasked with following up his NCAA-leading 1,732-yard season with a season that will see every opponent pin Gordon atop its scouting report.

It’s been a while since OSU has had a tailback have to follow up such a headline-grabbing season from a national standpoint. You could argue the last was Chuba Hubbard going into the 2020 season, but Hubbard didn’t win the Doak Walker in 2019 (though, he probably should have), so you could argue that he wasn’t as much a household name as Gordon is now. It didn’t help Hubbard that the 2020 season happened in the midst of a pandemic and Hubbard was hobbled for much of the year.

Hunziker asked Gundy about Gordon being a “marked man,” and OSU’s coach name dropped some rather important tailbacks to OSU over the years.

“We’ve had a lot of running backs at Oklahoma State that have played well and had good years,” Gundy said. “The guys that have been able to put that to the side, Thurman Thomas was one of them because people knew about Thurman. He was an All-American, and then he came back. Thurman was a great practice player. He practiced as hard if not harder than anybody every day. That’s what happens to him — that’s why he played 12 years in the pros because he was a great practice player.

“Barry, obviously, Barry Sanders had unbelievable work habits, but nobody knew who he was because he was playing behind Thurman, and then he had the one year and then he came out early and went to the NFL.

“Some of the other backs we’ve had other the years haven’t had to follow up a season like what Ollie is getting into. Joe Randle, Dantrell Savage, Kendall Hunter — those guys haven’t had to follow up on national notoriety like what Ollie is going through right now.”

3. South Dakota State Similar to Kansas State

South Dakota State coach Jimmy Rogers is a Jackrabbit through and through.

He played linebacker at the university from 2005 to 2009 before starting his coaching career with the Jackrabbits as a graduate assistant in 2010. He had a quick two-year stint as a GA at Florida Atlantic before taking over as South Dakota State’s linebacker coach in 2013. He was promoted to co-defensive coordinator in 2019. He dropped the “co” in 2022 before taking over the reigns as the Jackrabbits’ headman in 2023 (where he’d lead them to an undefeated season and a second straight FCS title).

When asked whether this Jackrabbit team will look like any other teams the Cowboys have seen as of late, Gundy pointed to another coach with Dakota ties — Chris Klieman. Klieman started as North Dakota State’s defensive backs coach in 2011 before taking over as DC in 2012 and 2013 before spending five years as the Bisons’ head coach (a stretch where NDSU won four FCS titles). Klieman has been Kansas State’s coach since 2019.

“(The Jackrabbits) like to play physical — very similar to the way Kansas State plays on both sides of the ball, their blocking schemes, their concepts,” Gundy said. “Their quarterback (Mark Gronowski) was the Heisman Trophy winner for their level. He’s a good player. He’s rated very high in the NFL Draft, and he should be. He’s a playmaker. They’ve had more people drafted than just about everybody who’s played in this league.”