Notebook: Gundy Talks Powerful Leadership from Players, Says OU’s Defense Looks ‘Simpler’

STILLWATER — Mike Gundy had a bit of an edge to his voice at his weekly media luncheon Monday.

Gundy broke out nearly every parental analogy imaginable, one he particularly got fired up about was his children not taking the trash out.

Here are a few of the talking points Gundy hit on during his 30-minute presser.

Policing Penalties

Gundy said he’s preached the importance of playing disciplined football “literally over 100 times” in the past three months.

One of Gundy’s many parental analogies from Monday included taking a kids phone or car away. He compared it with pulling players out of the game if the undisciplined play continues.

“It’s real simple, right? You take them out of the game, and don’t put ’em back in,” Gundy said. “There’s give and take, right? … At some point you gotta say, ‘Hey listen, if you’re gonna be selfish because you’re taking away from the other 10 guys, then you’re gonna have to come over here and stand by us.’

“Then we have to put a guy in that may be less experienced or maybe not as athletic, so you really hurt the whole team. But I don’t know what other options we’re faced with at this particular time because what I’ve been doing is not working.”

Gundy said he understands the occasional unlucky facemask or a defender trying so hard to get to the quarterback that he falls at the quarterback’s feet and draws a penalty, but it’s calls an illegal hands to the face penalty that he can’t live with.

“There’s a point where coaches coach, and there’s accountability, and players have to play, and there’s accountability,” Gundy said. “And then I’m in charge of all of it.

“If I lose a game, and I get beat, I’m good. That’s part of life. But, if I give a game away, in my opinion, when I don’t play the way I should or don’t play smart football, I got a problem with that.”

Players Policing Players

Despite being out for the season because of injury, Darrion Daniels was one of the 70 players OSU was allowed to take to Baylor.

The reasoning is Daniels’ leadership, a subject that, vocally anyway, Gundy said the Cowboys lack in this season.

“The thing I worry about, as a head coach, and I don’t worry about a lot, but one thing is that I talk too much to them,” Gundy said. “Because at some point, if you’re always on somebody, like raising kids, at some point they just quit listening to ya. Or if you don’t approach it the right way, if you don’t teach and coach and parent and you’re yelling all the time, they give up. Kids nowadays aren’t tough like we were when we were growing up. They’re different.”

Gundy said Brandon Pettigrew was his “absolute best” leader. He said that Pettigrew started this program and that Gundy didn’t have to worry about anything of that nature because Pettigrew was an enforcer.

“The overall number of guys like that on this team has been down,” Gundy said. “I’ve said that from day one. You lose a lot of guys and some guys are trying to find themselves. You don’t just step up and lead, you have to have some things that go into that.”

In the past few years, Gundy said Tre Flowers, Chad Whitener and Mason Rudolph were the teams leaders. He said a team doesn’t need many.

OSU’s most recognizable players on this years team are probably Justice Hill and Taylor Cornelius, both of whom are quiet in nature.

“(Cornelius is) not gonna talk,” Gundy said. “He’s been leading by toughness and example and playing better, yes, but you can’t make somebody different. … He’s what he is, but he has been leading by toughness and example in his play, yes.

“He’s not going to go in there and hit guys’ heads and bang his head on a chalkboard and bloody his forehead. He’s not gonna do that.”

Gundy said he think Tylan Wallace will become a leader, but his youth makes it somewhat difficult right now. Other leaders on the team he mentioned were Tyron Johnson and Johnny Wilson.

“Emmanuel Ogbah, he made sure (undisciplined play) didn’t happen again,” Gundy said. “It didn’t have to be me. The peers are way more powerful than the coaches.”

Gundy on OU

Oh yeah, and Gundy talked a little Bedlam heading into the state’s biggest sporting event this year.

Without mispronunciation, Gundy spoke on how good Kyler Murray is. Gundy said even leaving a spy to help corral Murray can be difficult with how fast he is. Murray 3,263 total yards and 38 total touchdowns this season.

Here’s what he said when asked about OSU’s struggles against Oklahoma:

“I think they’re good,” Gundy said. “Have you watched them play? Everybody has struggled against them. They’re a good team. I think that’s the bigger factor.”

Gundy said the Sooners’ defensive schemes seemed to have been simplified since Ruffin McNeill took over as OU’s defensive coordinator. The Sooners have given up 29 points per game since McNeill took over. That’s compared to the 51 points per game OU has scored during that time.

“(OU’s defense) looks to be simpler from the outside looking in for me,” Gundy said. “Looks to me like there are fewer schemes, more base alignment.

“Looks like, to a certain extent, ‘Stay back, keep everybody in front of us and catch us if you can on offense.'”