Gundy: ‘There’s Nobody in This Stadium That’s More Competitive Than Me’

Mike Gundy’s real problem is not OU, it’s that his rival happens to be one of the four best teams in the country since Oklahoma State became a great program in 2010.

If Gundy was at South Carolina, he’d have a Clemson problem. If he was at Michigan, he’d have an Ohio State problem. If he was at Auburn, he’d have an Alabama problem.

Since 2010

• Oklahoma State vs. Oklahoma: 2-6
• South Carolina vs. Clemson: 3-4
• Michigan vs. Ohio State: 1-6
• Auburn vs Alabama: 2-5

And all those schools will likely tack another L on at the end of this year.

Trust me, I understand the frustration. I do think Gundy has had some questionable moments against Oklahoma, but Saturday’s 62-52 roller coaster ride was not one of them.

In a lot of ways, Gundy is Andy Roddick. Great competitor, had his moments, done some great things many thought impossible for the group he’s representing. But when you’re born just before Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal, what are you going to do?

Gundy, for all the things that have broke his way in the last decade and a half, is trying to navigate one of the best eras in OU football history, which is not short on great eras.

If you can go hire Roger Federer, by all means do it. But good luck identifying that person and convincing him to come, all while mitigating your risk in the process.

The point here is that even when a situation begs for answers, there are often none that you can control. We have many questions, don’t we?

Sometimes the answer is just: “OU is better than almost every program in the country.” If it was Texas, it wouldn’t feel like this, would it? If Texas was 6-2 since 2010 against OSU, we would just say, “Well, that’s Texas. They’re supposed to be great.” But because this is a rivalry, we feel as if it should be different. Maybe it should be.

Oklahoma State is incrementally building a better program. Month by month, year by year, they have gotten better and better and better. Problem is, so has OU. There aren’t many programs nationally that can say that. Problem is, your rival is one of the few, and even worse, it’s one of the even fewer than can inherently attract better talent.

Gundy told his team, “As much as losses like this hurt, they hurt because you put yourself in a position to where games matter, they’re important.”

“(The losses) hurt more from a coach (than as a player) because I’ve got 130 guys in there. I like the guys to do what they’re supposed to do and get to enjoy the fruits of their labor. You have to give credit to Lincoln and those guys. I have no problem giving them credit. They finished at the end.”

But he didn’t stop there. Gundy knows you don’t think he’s got what it takes. He sees your tweets about his manhood (or he can at least imagine that they exist) and understands where you’re coming from.

“There’s nobody in this stadium that’s more competitive than me,” said Gundy. “You want to go outside and wrestle. You want to play jacks. You want to shoot hoops. You want to play ping pong. I’m going to play until it’s over and somebody pulls me out of there. Do the losses hurt? Sure they do. Personally for me, I’m good. Here’s what’s important to us as a staff — we get young men doing what they’re supposed to do. And they did. If they wouldn’t, I’d tell you.”

And there is the rub. Gundy said on Saturday that he has been getting every ounce from his players. In practice, at games. They’ve been competitive, and they’ve been functioning at a level I would imagine Gundy couldn’t imagine when he took over in 2005. And still, it’s not enough. And still, Lincoln Riley is a dude. And still, Marquise Brown has the game of his life. And still, it didn’t fall your way.

And still … Baker Mayfield.

“From a coaching standpoint, I couldn’t be any more proud of what these guys have given to us,” Gundy said. “Did we come up a little bit short today? Sure, we did. Do the losses sting? Sure they do.

“People look at me and say ‘you don’t act like it bothers you very much’ and I told the team that I’ve been doing this 30 years as a player and coach. One thing that I’ve learned is that everybody in that room wanted to win. The competitive nature of this sport, it’s difficult when you have games like that. There are a lot of emotions involved.

“There’s nobody in this stadium that wants to compete and win more than me, but I’ve been in this long enough to know that when we get what we’re asking for out of our players, we as a staff have to have respect for the, We just came up a little bit short.”

I was talking to Bill Haisten of the Tulsa World on Saturday night in an empty Boone Pickens Stadium, and he said something to the effect of, You get 450 from Rudolph and 230 from Justice, you score 52 points … and Baker is on the other side of the field. What are you going to do?

Baker breaks a lot of heart, and maybe none more so than those coated in orange. This win moved him to 13-0 in true road games. He now has more Bedlam wins than Gundy does.

So I don’t know where OSU goes from here when it comes to Bedlam. You gave yourself a chance at the end in 2010, 2012, 2013 and 2017, and you’re 0-4 in those games. If OSU completes the final pass in 2006 and Blake Bell gets tackled in 2012 and Gilbert gets the pick in 2013 and Rudolph hits Tyron in 2017, Gundy is 6-7. Four plays. Little moments change perceptions so much. Maybe that’s an OU problem, maybe it’s just how football goes. I don’t know. What I do know is I woke up thinking one thing on Sunday after Gundy fell to 2-11 all-time against the Sooners:

Will the Bedlam misery ever end?