Notes from Mike Gundy’s West Virginia Postgame Press Conference

Mike Gundy spoke to the media following Oklahoma State’s 50-39 win over West Virginia. He talked special teams and Mason and J.D. King. I jotted down some of the highlights. Let’s go.

• Said OSU is making “way, way, way too many mistakes” but he’s thrilled with how OSU responds to adversity so far. Was glad to just get out of there with a win.

• Said holding WVU to 2 yards per carry kept OSU in the game. Proud of ability to go up and intercept passes.

• Said 36 carries is a lot of carries for J.D. King but WVU played pass defense on nearly every snap.

• Too many turnovers and blunders on special teams for Oklahoma State. Poor protection on the punt and said Sinor held on to the ball too long.

• “A lot of room for improvement in a lot of areas.”

• Excited about the win but not fired up about not being disciplined as well as self-inflicted errors and mistakes.

• Sometimes you lose but play great and sometimes you win but play lousy. Put this game in the latter category. Doesn’t mean you feel great about yourself.

• “I’m not comfortable with our special teams right now.”

• “We have to take care of the football and we have to be sound in special teams in order to improve and give ourselves a chance to win. It’s fun to win, but we have a lot of work ahead.”

• “Punt was blocked because the punter held the ball too long.”

• Re: special teams, Gundy said, “I’ve got to do a better job of minimizing what we do to accomplish a little bit each week.”

• Reiterated that Grier was the best throwing QB OSU has played to this point. If not for the offensive mistakes, would be talking about how well the defense played. Backs against the wall with so many offensive turnovers.

• “For the most part our defense has had back to back weeks where they’ve been very successful.”

• Said J.D. is very mature. Mental approach and makeup is more like a junior than a freshman. “Some young men are that way, and some of them aren’t.” Said the stage doesn’t get too big for him.

• “(Justice) brings a different world to the table. His ability. The two of them work really well together. (King) had a lot of work. Good news is (Justice) cleared up, and he’s up and running and OK. That will help to get him back.”

• “Confident teams that buy into the system find ways to win. That’s what these guys are doing. It sure wasn’t pretty, but you’d feel a lot worse if we lost.”

• “I’m involved in special teams, and I’ve got to do a better job of helping us come up with a plan and make sure it’s repped enough that we can be sound in special teams.”

• “Eight went up and mistimed a jump, which wasn’t good.”

• Said corners have gotten better. Each week is a different challenge. Said next guy they play is “the best player.” No question the young corners have improved, though.

• “Oklahoma is a really good team. They have a fantastic quarterback.”

• “If you make mistakes and continue to shoot yourself in the foot, eventually it’s going to catch you.”

• Noted importance of young corners playing with confidence.

• Told Dana right after the game that he couldn’t count all the mistakes that the two teams combined had.

• “We have to minimize mistakes and not beat ourselves. That’ll give us the best chance.”

• On Mason: “I think he’s fine unless something happened that I didn’t know about. He didn’t practice at all. He needed rest. He just got dinged a little bit. He’s fine.”

• “I stopped trying to figure out these millennial kids anymore.”

• Whitener, Flowers, Daniels etc. have “instigated” the younger guys to have a little fire. “Can’t talk, have to do something about it.”

• OSU spends “probably” more time on special teams now than ever before. Cursed when he was asked about the special teams. “We work a lot on it. I know it looks like we don’t work on it …”

• WVU secondary played really far back. Weren’t going to let 28 behind them. “When we got inside the 20, they challenged us a little.”

• “If you try to challenge throwing the ball into a defense that’s set up for that, it’s going to be a long, long day.”

• The game becomes more an 80s and 70s style game.

• “We don’t really change the system, it just makes you run the ball a lot.”

• Mason texted him at 8:47 at night on a Thursday while watching Texas-USC, plan No. 47 and wanted to see if it was something OSU should think about doing. “He’s a good player, but his mental and unselfish contribution to this program has been through the roof. He deserves all the records and everything that he breaks. He deserves them all. He’s been a fantastic player. His leadership and mental approach has been unbelievable, and that’s why he’s been such a special player for us at Oklahoma State.”

• Lundblade didn’t practice all week, either.

• On Bedlam: “It’s always a fun game. We don’t have professional football in our state so everybody always wears orange or red to work during the week. Should be a good game. They’re having a great year, and I know everybody will be excited about the game.”