Gundy, OSU Players Say Close Games Mentally Draining So Far

One sort of unintended benefit of the bye week (which I had not thought of) is that it gives a team that has been mentally taxed time to recharge their bodies but also their minds. Deion Imade brought this up in his excellent post on how players view bye weeks.

Another thing that you might not think about though is it’s also is time for you to recover and take a break mentally. Get away, see family and friends, maybe even go partake in some normal college student activities and have some fun outside of the football facilities.

Five of OSU’s six games thus far have been mentally draining for various reasons. CMU obviously. Pitt because of the play stoppage and close game. Baylor (same). Texas because it’s Texas. And Iowa State because you had to dig out of a big hole late in the game.

“There’s been 10 weeks – all of August, all of September and then half of October,” said Mike Gundy. “Then this season with the Central Michigan situation, playing well enough to win at Baylor outside of about five plays, obviously Pitt, then a big win against Texas because it’s big for them when they beat Texas because so many of them are from Texas. Then coming back from as far as we did last week. It’s just a lot of wear and tear mentally.”

Zach Crabtree compared this year to other seasons he has played.

“My redshirt freshman year was pretty draining when we played Florida State that year, and then we had our five-game slide and didn’t really get a win there, so that was rough,” said Zach Crabtree on Wednesday. “I don’t know which one was worse, but it’s definitely been mentally draining going week-to-week. We’ve been in some dog fights, and when you get into dog fights like that, you have to embrace it and have fun with it, but it can definitely wear on you a little bit.”

Jordan Sterns, who missed the ISU game with an injury and needs to recover physically and mentally, agreed.

“That’s a great point,” said Sterns. “I wouldn’t say it’s emotional, the up and down season we have had. Last year was emotional and draining as well. The 17-0 game against Iowa State and all those games we were losing and we had to come back from. We kind of get used to that. I think it just happens sometimes.

“You get in that physical grind and practice every day and such a grind on your body and your mind, it’s hard to stay focused that long. That’s why bye weeks are important and a critical part of the process and just using that time to get back to whether you want to get your body a little bit bigger and stronger. It is a big time to get your mind right.”

OSU needs to do that in a big way with a monstrous five-game stretch upcoming before another bye week and Bedlam.