The Top 5 Quotes from Mike Gundy’s Pre-Baylor News Conference

STILLWATER — Mike Gundy’s Cowboys will enter Big 12 play at 1-2 after a disappointing home loss to Tulsa.

That loss brought myriad questions about Gundy’s future on the OSU sideline. Gundy got into that at his Monday news conference ahead of Oklahoma State’s conference opener against Baylor this Saturday.

We’ve already written on Gundy discussing his job status, as well as some quotes he gave on quarterback Zane Flores.

Here are five other things Gundy touched on Monday. You can watch his full news conference below.

1. ‘Glaring,’ but ‘Fixable’ Mistakes

In the fallout of OSU’s loss to Tulsa, Gundy mentioned that a handful of plays were the difference in the game.

When Gundy took the podium Monday, he called those mistakes “fixable.”

“When you talk about our game, the last game I was very accurate after the game saying that things that would happen is we would make five or six glaring mistakes on both sides of the ball,” Gundy said. “Right now we don’t do a good job of recovering from those mistakes. We addressed those issues. Like anything else you would do in life, if you want something to change, what happened, why did it happen, what’s the solution and how do we put a plan in place to fix it and make it better. It’s really that simple. …

“They’re fixable. That’s the good news that they’re things we can fix. What I meant by glaring mistakes that put us in bad situations, OK, like 2nd-and-17 instead of 1st-and-10 or 2nd-and-25. Or we have them in a first or second and 20, and we let the back in out of a wheel. Things like that can be corrected. Obviously, we addressed them, and we also share it. It’s not all the players. Coaches have to do a better job. Now that we’ve played a few games, we know these guys a little bit better, so what’s the best situation that we can put for the players who are going to be on the field? I think it’s a two way street.

2. Missed Tackles and Dropped Passes

Coinciding with that, the Cowboys missed 16 tackles and dropped three passes against the Golden Hurricane, according to PFF.

For reference, the Cowboys were averaging 7.5 missed tackles and two dropped passes a game through their opening two contests.

There were 10 different Cowboy defenders who missed at least one tackle against Tulsa. Linebacker Bryan McCoy Jr. didn’t have a miss in the first two games of the year and whiffed on four takedowns this past weekend.

“Those are two things we need to correct,” Gundy said. “… We got our head down on four of the six missed tackles, our head was down. We’ve got to keep our head up. We don’t teach that. We just need to be under control. Obviously we need to rep it during the week. Then with some of the dropped passes, we have to have vision, see the ball in and get it tucked.”

3. On Baylor

In the midst of all the talk about Gundy’s future and OSU’s issues, there was some Baylor previewing going on.

Baylor will come to Stillwater at 2-2 on the season, but the Bears have played a tough schedule, having lost to Auburn and Arizona State with a win against SMU. Baylor quarterback Sawyer Robertson enters the week as the nation’s leading passer.

“They’re athletic, very similar to what they have been,” Gundy said. “They have long, tall receivers that can make plays. Backs can run. Quarterback is a good player, throws it around pretty good, you know, he’s nifty. I thought they protected really well up front.

“Defensively, it’s what coach has done. I don’t know, he’s been in this system for the last three or four yearsish, and they’re doing the same thing. They don’t change what they do. It’s what he believes in. They’re good at it. … Baylor is always, I shouldn’t say always, but they’ve generally had fast guys on the perimeter, and guys could run and make plays and and that’s what they’ve got this year.”

4. On Adding a Quarterback Midyear

After losing starter Hauss Hejny in the first game, the Cowboys added some depth to their quarterback room midyear when former North Alabama passer Noah Walters joined the squad.

In two seasons at North Alabama, Walters threw for more than 4,000 yards and accounted for 42 touchdowns. He then spent last year at UCF as a student before reemerging on the football field in Stillwater.

“He’s got experience,” Gundy said. “He’s mature. He’s 21 or 22ish, whatever, and he has played a considerable number of snaps beyond the high school level. …

“I know it came out of scouting department, and we said we needed a guy. You would have to ask them. I didn’t ask how they found him. Compliance does background checks on whatever, and I don’t know what they do on that, either. I just told them, ‘Let me know if he gets cleared.’”

5. Cale Gundy Not Interested in a Return to Coaching

Since Cale Gundy’s tenure on OU’s staff came to an end in 2022, there have been wonderings if he would join his brother’s staff in Stillwater.

Apparently Cale, who coached in Norman from 1999 to 2022, didn’t have an interest.

“I’ve tried to get him on staff here multiple times,” Mike Gundy said. “He really doesn’t have any interest in coaching. You need to ask him that. I don’t want to speak for him, but I’m giving you an honest answer. I’ve had discussions with that, but it’s not something he’s been interested in. You guys are all together in the media. I call him a media boy too now, so y’all can ask him. He’ll give you an answer.”