Notes and Thoughts on Mike Gundy’s Texas Press Conference

Mike Gundy was in rare form on Saturday evening after his biggest home win in three years at the Pokes took down the Longhorns, 38-35 in a thriller. I was there and took some notes on what he said. Hope you guys enjoy.

• Wanted to average 4 yards rushing but was a little under that.

• Thought the offensive line was excellent, called them “dominant” for where they’ve been on the year.

• Had concerns about their big WRs, but OSU’s corners and safeties “fought their butt off.”

• Said the last two weeks of practice have been awesome.

• Crowd, weather, Homecoming were all fantastic. Called it a “good time to play well and win on primetime.”

• Went onto the field at the end of the game because he was worried about the teams fighting.

• Said the fourth and 1s weren’t necessarily designed to go the way they did. They were three-pronged plays, and “Corn made the right read.”

• They worked on the fake punt formation thing “just this week.” I half expected him to note that he was in charge of special teams again.

• Said the officials told him Texas wasn’t in the end zone on the holding call that wasn’t a safety. ?

• Went on a social media rant after Mark Cooper asked about criticism of TC. Called it a “platform for people sitting at home drawing an unemployment check.” Could give a rat’s ass about Twitter. “Gives people a platform to bitch.” Amazing rant.

• Thought Tylan was “excellent.” Wished OSU would have kicked better field goals and probably got a little conservative in the second half. “When we needed to make a play those guys are able to make plays.”

• Said the journey to get to this point over the last two weeks was “really good.”

• Gundy was asked if lack of production in the second half concerns him. Then he asked the person who asked him if he’s on social media! “You’re one of the guys that’s on social media who sits at home and you’re a playground instigator.”

Will Texas be ranked in the top 10 today? pic.twitter.com/9Hhuo9g0Hl

— Pistols Firing (@pistolsguys) October 28, 2018

• Told Bill Haisten to ask Mike Yurcich what he said to him on the headphones about faking handoffs and letting Corn keep. Wanted to see if Yurcich would use profanity.

• Cornelius “made an unbelievable run” on 3rd and 11.

• Concern about TC getting hit, but 14 wants to run.

• Gundy doesn’t care about seven of nine against Texas. He just wants his team to practice hard and have fun moments.

• Said VY and those guys were tough to deal with in the early 2000s. No kidding.

• “We’ve been energetic. We just didn’t play very energetic.” Does anything sum up the season better than that quote? Says the chemistry of the team is really good. Hasn’t always been the case in his tenure there.

• Lost to two good teams at home although he “doesn’t know who’s a good team anymore.”

• Said Wallace has a chance to be in the class of Washington, Adarius, Dez etc. “Those guys were so special,” but thinks he can get in that category.

• Said he was the one that said go under center. “Did you guys like it?” Said he designed the pitch to 30, too.

• Energy came from the crowd. Said it was “different” than it’s been all year. “I think it made a big difference with the players.” More on that here.

• Explained why he went on the field and what went down with Herman. I wrote about that here.

• Defended well, was in proximity on coverages. Counted only 4-5 times where their running back was able to hit air. That was it. Thought they did a much better job of playing the QB on the QB run.

• “They cut me short” on the smoothie. “I’m sponsored by Ozark now” [holds up water bottle]. “And some social media company.”

• Thought the game was officiated well. “I would like them to call more penalties for us.” Referee promised him the holding call wasn’t in the end zone.

• Didn’t feel bad about how the game was trending, but was a little concerned about Texas’ strength and athleticism taking over. Was worried about 84 and 9 making a big play.