What was Mike Gundy Doing Saturday In The Final Minutes?

Mike Gundy has taken some heat throughout various points of his career for his questionable end-game clock management, which has been under the microscope especially this season after a failed attempt to run out the clock against Central Michigan in week 2 ended in an untimed down awarded to the Chips (which should never have happened), resulting in a hail-mary TD that downed the Pokes.

Oklahoma State lost the game against Central Michigan, and had OSU simply trotted a receiver down the field, or even taken the ball and played keep away for a few seconds, it would have likely resulted in a different outcome.

A similar end-game management problem situation reared its head once again this weekend in Stillwater against the Iowa State Cyclones. With the Cowboys surging the last 20 minutes of the game and scoring 24 unanswered to take a 38-31 lead, Oklahoma State gained possession with the lead and 1:48 remaining on the clock.

On first and ten in field goal territory, Cowboy quarterback Mason Rudolph proceeded to take the snap then bowed to take a knee. The crowd rumbled, myself included. Even with Iowa State holding just one timeout, Oklahoma State still wouldn’t be able to drain the clock to zero.

After taking three consecutive knees, Oklahoma State punter Zach Sinor booted it away to the ten yard line, allowing the Cyclones to take over with just 14 seconds remaining.

So why risk the game and put your team in a potential hail Mary situation again? The conservative play call for Gundy would have been to hand the ball off three times, take your Ben Grogan field goal, and put the game out of reach. Heck, run the ball three times and try to get a first down to put it away.

But Gundy wasn’t just conservative. He was petrified. Rather than playing to put a dagger in it, he elected to play not to lose. The difference, perhaps, could have been OSU taking a 10-point cushion with a minute to play rather than OSU fans standing with their butts puckered feeling a déjà vu moment come upon them once again.

“That discussion could go on forever,” Gundy told The Oklahoman about the late game management. “There’s been times when we’ve dropped handoffs. When you can run it down to under 15 seconds, basically, and one-step punt — and we have a great punter — the worst-case scenario is he punts it out through the end zone and they get it on the 20 and they get two plays.”

Unfortunately, the worst case scenario was the exact scenario that played out. The Cyclones did get the ball at their 20 with time on the clock, putting OSU in a precarious situation it had no business being in.

Props to Mike Gundy for having faith in his defense to hold the Cyclones with 14 seconds left. But with the situation they were handed with possession and 1:48 remaining on the clock, even a first down could have put the game away. Why not tell your offensive line to give you three solid pushes to help put the game away?

Gundy put his team in a position to potentially give up another big play in a scenario that probably shouldn’t have even been given a chance to play out. That’s the difference between coaching scared and coaching with confidence in your team to finish the game strong, rather than limping to the finish line.

The game ended (after a review took place following the official announcement it already ended) and OSU escaped with a win, which makes all of this a semi-moot point for now. But if you’re an OSU fan, it was a frustrating way to end the game by hiding in a shell rather than going out to win the thing.

It played out fine Saturday (minus my blood pressure maxing out), but based on Gundy’s defense of his strategy after the game, it sounds like it’s something OSU fans will need to get accustomed to if they find themselves in a similar situation moving forward.