The Top 5 Quotes from Mike Gundy’s Post-Utah News Conference

STILLWATER — The Cowboys are unbeaten no more.

Oklahoma State lost to Utah 22-19 on Saturday in a game that didn’t feel nearly as close as the score indicated. It felt more like the 456-285 advantage Utah had in total offense. Mike Gundy met with reporters after the game to discuss what went wrong. Here are five quotes from his news conference. You can watch the full video of his news conference below.

1. ‘Offensively, We Were Awful’

It took the Cowboys three quarters before they were able to have much of any success moving the ball.

Through three quarters, OSU had just 156 yards of total offense, which was on-pace to be a historically bad day. The poor play also led the OSU momentarily benching quarterback Alan Bowman for redshirt sophomore Garret Rangel — only for Rangel to also struggle and Bowman get put in the game.

“Offensively, we were awful,” Gundy said. “We couldn’t get any quarterback play. …

“We don’t (pull a quarterback) a lot here, but sometimes you gotta get a guy out and calm him down a little bit. But I don’t have that answer. Things move so fast during the game that it’s hard to get that part of it. But I just felt like that we weren’t getting good play and we needed a relief pitcher, get somebody else in there. And Garret had a tough day, so we switched back. But as I said, we haven’t done that a lot here but sometimes you just gotta get a guy out and clear your mind a little bit.”

2. Cowboys Gave Utah the Game

Gundy was incredibly complementary of Utah coach Kyle Whittingham and his staff, but at the same time, he was far from thrilled with how his team played.

The Cowboys, particularly offensively, were discombobulated and couldn’t put together and sort of momentum. Gundy said as much as Utah came in and won this game, the Cowboys lost it.

“Early in the season in college football, in my opinion, about half the games are given away,” Gundy said. “Teams don’t win. The other team just gives it to them. I have a ton of respect for them – class organization, well coached, great guys after the game, very class, first class all the way and came and played physical and ran the ball – but I felt like, I told the team, ‘You guys gave them a game.’”

3. ‘They Just Play Better than What You Think They Should’

There are a ton of similarities between the football programs in Stillwater and Salt Lake City.

Gundy and Whittingham are both in year 20 at their current gig, and a coach doesn’t stay in one spot for 20 years without building the right way. Gundy said a lot of what people say about OSU’s program, they say about Utah’s program. There are differences — like how OSU is known more for its offense and Utah for its defense — but a lot of what goes into building a program remains the same.

“They just play better than what you think they should,” Gundy said. “You know what I’m saying? It’s like they have a good culture. They do a good job. Their coaches are good. Sometimes y’all have been to our games and we played teams that are really talented. Like, you’re watching, you’re like, ‘Wow, those guys are talented.’ 

“They the way they play. This is first time we played them. The way they play, they don’t take your breath away. They just play really good, and that’s what they did.”

4. Why OSU Didn’t Go for It on Fourth Down

Outside of the gaudy yardage differences, a lot of his game came down to what happened on fourth down.

Oklahoma State held Utah to just 5-for-18 on third down, but the Utes went for it on fourth five times and converted four of those attempts to extend drives.

There were two instances where OSU had the ball on the 50-yard line on fourth-and-short and elected to punt. In both of those cases, the numbers on the scoreboard were still close, which was Gundy’s reasoning for putting his defense back on the field.

“You know why we didn’t go for it?” Gundy said. “We hadn’t got a first down the whole game. What makes you think we can convert 4th-and-2 on the 50? It was still a one-score game. So I make those decisions, and I said, ‘Guys, we haven’t gotten anything, and it’s almost halftime or third quarter, whatever it was, let’s punt it since it’s only a one-score game.’”

5. Gundy Saw Leaders on Defense

For as woeful as OSU’s offense was for much of the day, the Cowboy defense actually played quite well.

OSU’s D gave up just two touchdowns despite being on the field for 42:26 of the 60-minute game. With all the OSU offense’s three-and-outs, OSU’s defense was constantly being pulled back on the field, but Gundy said that group kept answering the bell.

“I told them that I saw leaders today,” Gundy said. “I saw guys on defense that … I saw (Kendal Daniels), and I saw (Nick Martin), and I saw (Cam Smith), and I saw (Iman Oates), and (Obi Ezeigbo) and some guys trying to be leaders on defense because when you get off the field and then you say,  ‘You’re back up,’ you get back up, and you get off the field and they say, ‘You’re back up,’ it gets frustrating. Didn’t even faze them. So they just kept going. 

“And in that huddle, like I walked in there to be a cheerleader. I didn’t need to be a cheerleader. They were good. They said, ‘Coach, we’re good.’ I said, ‘Well, try to get another stop. I need one more stop.’ They were good.”