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Gundy Says Dru Brown Has ‘Handled Himself Better Than What I Thought’

No. 6 faces a win-win spot on Saturday.

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Dru Brown did not look like an all-conference quarterback in his debut at West Virginia last week. He didn’t need to. OSU put the game (and has put its season) on Chuba Hubbard’s back and asked its defense to close. If Hubbard is the engine and their defense is the rudder, Brown is the one silently steering the ship.

That’s not a bad thing. He was good against WVU. Not breathtaking but solid and clutch and all the things you want your starter to be, much less your backup. He’s a great backup. An unbelievable luxury at a point in the season when it’s often needed (but more often overlooked).

And he gives OSU a puncher’s chance going into Bedlam. Not its best chance. But any chance. Something they wouldn’t have at all if six hadn’t transferred from Hawaii to Stillwater, USA.

“He’s played a lot of games, right?” said Mike Gundy in his Monday press conference. “Twenty-three, 24 games in his career. He has a good demeanor. He’s been around a lot, has practiced a lot. He handled himself better than what I thought, but I don’t know what I thought.”

The best.

“I don’t know what I had to base that on. … He played really well in my opinion for the circumstances. He’s been voted a captain and not even stepped on the field for the most part. That’s not easy to do.”

I talked to somebody close to the program last week who said Brown’s teammates “absolutely love him” and that his work ethic and general interactions with them have engendered an uncommon respect.

It’s clear that Brown is a good leader and the exact kind of person Gundy wants in the program. Somebody who does everything right, loves football and, you know, never says a word (except when it’s needed). All the BINGO spots on your Gundy presser card.

Whether he becomes a two-win legend in the eyes of OSU fans remains to be seen. But he gets on Saturday what everybody in college football wants: A win-win situation in the biggest game of the year. None of the expectations, all of the opportunity. Now the only box left for Dru Brown to tick in his two-year stint in Stillwater is the one that has traditionally plagued OSU the most: Beat OU when they have something real at stake.

If he does that, he’ll have handled himself better than any of us thought.

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