Notes on Mike Gundy’s Pre-Bedlam Press Conference

Mike Gundy spoke to the media on Monday in front of the big Bedlam game on Saturday. He talked about his defensive line, Mason Rudolph’s injury and the World Series. It was awesome.

• Defense was really good. Weren’t very good in special teams. Verified that watching the tape.

• Proud of what J.D. King brought to the table. Touched the ball 41 times in a conference game. “Was a big factor for us.”

• Playing the best team we’ve played up to this point.

• Said he’ll be at the Stillwater High School-Midwest City game this week for the district championship. Said the Stillwater coaches have done a good job. Said Midwest City has a history of great players. Great QB play. One of them is managing in the World Series, “but the best player there has long hair.”

• Was asked about Mason’s shoulder. “He’s fine. He’s been fine.”

• Said King is “very mature” physically and mentally. Big scene doesn’t affect him much. “He’s been that way from Day 1.” Not many who come in at any position who are mature.

• You see some of that maturity in August. “Have to see them extend themselves, get fatigued and take hits.” Sometimes you see it in August but never really know until they get out there and play. King wasn’t “big-eyed” early in the year.

• Said King carries himself different. Noted that when you “have children … kids” and they start hanging with other kids, you can figure out which ones are mature and immature really fast. “When they leave, we’re like, ‘We’re going to have to watch that one right there.'”

• A lot of guys don’t develop until second/third year. Said the ones who develop early are not BSers, they’re straight-shooters.

• King was only on campus for 8 hours on his visit. Walked in Gundy’s office and said “I’m coming to school at Oklahoma State.” His mom said “if he says he’s going to do it, he’s going to do it.” Gundy said he’s heard that a lot before. Stuck with King, though.

• Noted not having pro football as why Bedlam is so special. “It’s always entertaining when both teams are successful. It’s fun for everybody in the state.”

• “I thought about Bob last week.” Said they were having issues with some different things and his stomach was in a knot. And I thought, “I bet Bob is watching the World Series and drinking beer.” Said he thought about texting/calling him but will wait until later.

• Said he doesn’t look across the field much. “I know you guys don’t think so but I got a lot of things going on.” Joked that he wasn’t involved in special teams last week but he’s jumping back in this week.

• OU does all the same stuff schematically as they did under Bob.

• Not kicking the ball well on special teams. Noted kickoffs and field goals. Also said they’re below average in punting. “Those are mistakes that we should not be making.” Coaches and players are all responsible.

• “We can improve considerably” on special teams. The errors at West Virgina “shouldn’t have happened.”

• “Sinor will punt.”

• “I don’t know what I wanted at that time” when he took Sinor out and put Hockett in. Cited a manager taking out a pitcher who’s a good pitcher. “I don’t know why, I just felt like we needed a change at that particular time.”

• Corners have had two months to mature. “They’ve improved. This will be the greatest challenge for them with this guy throwing it.” They’ll make mistakes but says they’re definitely improved since September.

• Thrilled what OSU is getting with defensive line. “As a whole those guys have been fantastic.” Wanted that group to match Vincent Taylor’s dominance and Emmanuel Ogbah’s dominance. Said Joe Bob is doing a great job rotating players in. Said Taaj Bakari is really coming on. Has realized contact is OK.

• “If my hair was on fire, we’d be losing a lot of marketing money.”

• “I always coach myself first and think ‘OK, am I motivating these guys right? Am I stimulating them to get quality work to get prepared?’ Am I doing it too early in the week?’ I just do what comes natural to me, and it’s different each week.”

• McGruder came to him and said Gundy needed to be more fired up “ranting and raving” to get the guys fired up. “I said, ‘Why don’t you do it? You’re 21. I’m 50 years old.'”

• “This week’s game should take care of itself. When they hit that tunnel they should be ready to roll you would think.”

• Getting some guys back on OL. Concerned that they’ve been on such a limited practice plan. Getting more out of guys during the week instead of sitting them and then rolling them out there on Saturday. Not comfortable with guys not practicing because you’r just not as good. Only one guy could do that.

• Hart Lee Dykes. “He didn’t have to practice. Guy’s a freak.”

• Maybe Barry too, but he was a great practice player.

• Mason was tired, beat up and sore. Still playing good — just thought he needed a break. “He could have practiced last week.” Gundy said he was misquoted after the game but realized he actually wasn’t. Rudolph threw on Thursday before WVU, “but that’s not a real practice for us.” He needed a break. Took some hits vs. UT. Not getting down, trying to run through people.
“I’m not fired up about it.”

• On the defense: “They’ve done a really good job.” Compared the D to Mike Tyson early in his career. Street fighter. Later in his career the hunger wasn’t there. With these guys, they’ve been hungry. They’re practicing hard. They’ve helped Bundage develop into “a pretty good defensive player,” and he wasn’t six weeks ago.

• Have to create running lanes in a pass defense and protect in a run defense. “If Mason’s had adequate time, he’s been a good player.” Ability to protect him plays a huge role for Saturday.

• Walterscheid is a lot like J.D. in terms of maturity and experience. “He’s serious about what he wants to do. Loves OSU.” Said he’s a much different player than he was six weeks ago.

• Cited OU constantly being in the top 10 as why they’re difficult to beat. “If you’re playing a team that’s good, you’re going to be in for a dogfight.”

• “We’ve put ourselves in position, we just need to find a way to finish at the end more so than what we have.” Said OSU will have to match the key positions where talent is on talent. Has to be sound on special teams. Turnovers will be a huge factor.

• “Most fans don’t really talk to me.”

• Nobody could debate the run from the 70s to the mid-90s and affirmed that OU probably had a mental edge. “Since 2007 we’ve had some pretty good games.”

• “When we left the 2008 game, I thought, ‘we played pretty good.'”

• “I don’t want to take anything away from them.” Said OSU fizzled out in the second half last year. “Missed some tackles.”

• “I wish (Gilbert) would have caught the ball (in 2013). That year, we were as talented as them.”

• If somebody said OSU should have beat OU in 2008, Gundy wouldn’t agree. But in 2013, he would agree. After games Gundy tells himself either OSU didn’t play as well as they should have or they played great, they just played a better team.

• “The goal for everybody this year is to somehow get in the last game.” Looks at it from that standpoint. Not disregarding the importance of preparation for this game. Said if you don’t win the ones you’re supposed to, you don’t even get to talk about the OU game.

• “Bedlam’s a big game.”

• “They know us. We know them. They have our signals. We have their signals. They deny it. We deny it. It’s good stuff.”

• Said WVU had OSU’s signals by play eight. Said Leach, Lincoln, Briles and others all used it. Had to change things during the game.

• Gundy’s recommendation to fans who might have angst: “Show up on time (which they will) and pack this place and be as loud as you can be and scream like crazy.” Coaches and team will try to do their part. “It’s a collaboration of everyone doing their job.”

• Stresses importance to players to not put all your eggs in one basket. Always cautious to build something up too much (i.e. Bedlam). Only thing to hang their hat on is control what you can control, care about each other, play hard and have fun.

• His sister texts that she likes Mike more than Cale. So does his mom. “A lot of times I forget Cale is over there.” Said he sees Cale next to Mike Stoops in the press box. They should put a blood-pressure deal on him (and Brent Venables).

• Said Iowa State’s defense has been “fantastic.”

• Thinks CFP rankings will be similar to AP and Coaches Poll.

• “Most everything we do is built based off of a run-pass option.” Seen defensive play that’s been defending the pass so they hand it off.

• Compared 2014 OSU to Cody Bellinger. Couldn’t do anything right then couldn’t do anything wrong.

• Said he watches the 7th inning on of the World Series. He’s fascinated by Jose Altuve. “You have to love a guy that’s 5’6 that crow hops.”

• “When I get out of this business I got to get me a sports talk show.” Called those people “playground instigators.”

• Said his kids got mad at him for making them go to bed and missing the end of Game 5 of the World Series.