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How Mike Gundy has Fared in Mid-Week Games

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Oklahoma State should try to schedule all of its games on weekdays.

The students would hate it. The players probably would, too, though they get out of another day of classes. There would be fewer eyes on the television screens and therefore worse ratings for the networks.

But you’ve gotta do whatever it takes, am I right? Yes.

Since Mike Gundy became coach before the 2005 season, he has accrued a .675 winning percentage. One of the best in the nation. What’s wild is that he and the Cowboys are even better — albeit with a small sample size — on weekdays.

Game Types Wins Losses Win %
All Games (+Bowls) 104 50 0.675
All Regular Season Games 97 46 0.678
All Regular Season (Saturdays) 90 44 0.672
All Regular Season (Weekdays) 7 2 0.777

In the nine games OSU has played during the week, seven have been slotted in the win column, with the good guys outscoring the bad guys 306-234.

There was the first Central Michigan game, the good one, when the Cowboys won by 11 despite a somewhat shaky night from Mason Rudolph. Before that 45-35 win over Texas Tech. And even before that was the masterclass to kick off the 2011 season, a 37-14 drubbing against Arizona.

So if this whole Thursday/Friday thing is working out, why not do it more often? Well, other than the obvious of losing revenue in Stillwater and the fact that Gundy recently said he wants every game to be at 2:30 p.m. on Saturdays, allow me to strike the mid-week fear back in you.

Circa 2011, OSU is the No. 2 team in the nation. Iowa State had never stolen a game against a team in the top five: 0-56-2 all-time. Not good. That game still replays through every one of y’all’s heads when OSU runs out in the orange/white/black combo.

Then in 2007 A.D., an upcoming OSU team led by a fiery third-year coach goes to an educational institution called Troy. It was a university so small that its players ran out of a smoke-filled helmet before the game started. Like high schoolers. A young Mike Gundy chose a young Zac Robinson, not Bobby Reid to throw the footballs, and the rest is “garbage.”

Those two were the exception, not the norm, though.

So now we have the 2017 season. The most hyped group formed in Stillwater, America since the All-American Rejects. To kick things off, we will get to watch these pawn-crushers face a small in-state school on a Thursday night. Then a week later, it’s a team most nobody has ever heard of on a Friday evening.

But don’t worry, statistically, it all checks out. Mostly.

All Regular Season Mid-Week Games Under Gundy
  • Thursday Sept. 8, 2005 @ Florida Atlantic 23-3 (W)
  • Friday Sept. 14, 2007 @ Troy 41-23 (L)
  • Thursday Nov. 19, 2009 vs. Colorado 31-28 (W)
  • Thursday Sept. 30, 2010 vs. Texas A&M 38-35 (W)
  • Friday Oct. 8, 2010 @ Louisiana-Lafayette 54-28 (W)
  • Thursday Sept. 8, 2011 vs. Arizona 37-14 (W)
  • Friday Nov. 18, 2011 @ Iowa State 37-31 (L)
  • Thursday Sept. 25, 2014 vs. Texas Tech 45-35 (W)
  • Thursday Sept. 3, 2015 @ Central Michigan 24-13 (W)

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