Notes on Mike Gundy’s Post-Camping World Bowl Press Conference

Mike Gundy addressed the media after 12 minutes of Mason Rudolph and James Washington speaking (which you can read here). Let’s take a look at what the $5 million man had to say.

• “I’m very proud of the organization, the players, the coaching stuff, everybody involved with the effort they put in this year. I was especially happy for the seniors … these guys have been tremendous for Oklahoma State football. They’re very humble. They won a lot of football games.”

• “I was shocked that we could average 8 yards a snap. I was hoping we could average 5.5.”

• Said VT is well coached and he has a lot of respect for Justin Fuente and how he handles his team. “It was a really good win for our organization.”

• “We need to average over 7 yards a snap and we have to force turnovers.”

• Said they would enjoy the win on Thursday and then get started on next year.

• Said Camping World Bowl is “terrific” and that OSU had something to do every day. Easy to get his kids and family to Orlando.

• “They got us on a fake punt.”

• Gave VT a ton of credit and said they had really good game plans. OSU made “really good adjustments” on defense in the second half.

• Had chances to put the game away but when you’re playing a quality team, it’s tough to do.

• You want Ateman and Washington to get their catches because that’s what’s happened for four years. Wanted those guys and Whitener and Flowers to perform.

• Curry and Richards hadn’t practiced corner “hardly at all” in live situations.

• “James’ success speaks for itself. Such a humble young man. Everything he earns, you’re so happy for him. He’s going to play in the NFL for a long time.” The 5-6 guys OSU has who are draft eligible are “a home run” for the NFL.

• “I will be honest. I’m sad that we’re not going to see him running down the middle of the field wide open anymore. It’s just part of who we’ve become over the last three years. That’s been a special time over the last three seasons for our team.”

• OSU made a lot of key stops on defense, he reiterated. Good adjustments at halftime. Offensively didn’t put the game away but defense closed it out with a stop at the end.

• “There’s a lot of people that work hard year-round (to win 10 games a year). All wins are difficult. It’s extremely difficult to get into double-digit wins. Go back over the last five years and look at traditional top 20 teams in the country that have not been able to accomplish that.”

• Staff is proud of the players. Talk about being resilient and being problem solvers.”I’m very proud to be associate and lucky enough to be the head coach at Oklahoma State, even after all these years.”