Quotebook: Mike Gundy Explains Why He Didn’t Dance in Austin on Saturday

AUSTIN, Tex. — Mike Gundy had one of the best postgame press conferences of his career following one of the worst on-the-field performances by his team in recent memory. Here are a few of the gems from the press room after Oklahoma State’s 13-10 W over UT.

Gundy on Luck

“We lose the toss. We lose more tosses, pregame and overtime than anybody in college football. We’ve had seven games this year; we’ve lost six tosses and an overtime. So that pretty much told me to stay out of Las Vegas and quit playing cards, from here on out.”

Gundy on the OT Kick From Ammendola

“I’m usually still bitching and complaining about not getting it on third down. Honestly, I don’t watch anymore. I just watch our sideline. I’m not superstitious at all, but I tell them — they all have a responsibility, four or five guys in the box, they’re watching everybody, to know if we’ve got a blocking problem and all that, and I’ve gone the other way now. It worked the last time — no, it didn’t, because I didn’t watch the other one, either, so I’m 50/50 on that.”

Gundy on OSU’s Defense (and his friends)

“I kinda led into this and then got into the defense to say the same thing I told them. Forever around here it’s been the offense saved us. For six, eight years. Defense, can’t stop anybody, offense saved ’em, offense saved ’em, we gotta score more. The text messages I get all the time from all my buddies that I grew up with that don’t know anything is you’ve got to score more than them, better keep scoring, really?

“I mean, I know that! So the defense, played their ass off, period, and won the damn game, and that’s what you take from it.”

Jordan Brailford on the Defense

“It feels good. It always feels good when we can step up and make a play for the team. The offense always comes through for us so it’s always a good feeling to come through for them.”

Gundy on not getting down

“I told the team this: You guys have one year left and two years of eligibility left. They’ve never lost down here. Okay? So Oklahoma State football has come a long ways, so we don’t see everything. See, I was really disappointed, and they didn’t want it, me to dance. I was trying to get a little bit of national publicity, hit SportsCenter and stuff, and they didn’t ask for that. Now they’ve got so used to winning, they don’t ask me to dance, so that’s a downer for me.

“But the point is, for some reason they’re learning how to win big games, on the road, in difficult places, and they should be proud of that. Kids that grow up in the state of Texas understand Texas football. They come down here and win every year, up to this point, they should be proud of that. Nothing against Herman, nothing against Texas, but our kids should be proud of that.”

Justin Phillips said it wasn’t his call

“I mean honestly, I didn’t even know they didn’t want him to. If it was up to me, I’d be there dancing with him. But I guess our guys are mature enough to go about a win and take the opportunity and learn from it and just move on to the next game.”

Tom Herman on offensive woes

“Monumental effort by our defense. To hold the number one team in the country to 10 points in regulation is something to be very, very proud of on that side of the football.

“We gotta help them more on offense. I’m looking at this 3-of-17 on third down, and obviously the turnover there at the end, we’ve got to fix what’s wrong on the offense. And we have flashes and we’re definitely not consistent enough.”

Glenn Spencer on his defense

“We haven’t suddenly arrived. We could be garbage next week. Don’t write any stuff … It’s all about next week. Just be proud of today. They did their job today. There’s no grand descriptions about what we are now. All we are is a team trying to win a game next week.”

Mason Rudolph on the Defense

“They did a heck of a job. I don’t think I could’ve been happier with the end result play that happened. The lone guy two-feet down and in bounds. It was awesome. That is one of those games that you are going to look back at and say, ‘Hey, hats off to the defense they played an unbelievable game.’ There are always those games where your offense carries you, and we are kind of known for that on the offense. But hats off to the defense. They did a heck of a job today and made plays and unbelievable stops.”

Ramon Richards on the OT finish

“It feels great. I didn’t even know it was the end of the game after I caught that pick. I still thought the offense had to go back there. When I saw everybody rush the field and left to our fans — we have some great fans out there at Oklahoma State in Stillwater — I appreciate them and had to show them that I appreciate them.”

Glenn Spencer on Ramon

“So much for staying focused, right?”