The Rundown: Gundy on Heavy Metal for His Seniors and Top Bedlam Memories

STILLWATER — Mike Gundy brought out a little bit of everything in his pre-Bedlam media luncheon.

He recapped West Virginia, broke out an orchestrated performance on how much Jalen Hurts means to Oklahoma’s offense and he of course threw out some “when I was a kid” stories. Here is a recap of what Oklahoma State’s coach said heading into the state’s biggest football game every year.

• His postgame comments were accurate. Dru Brown played well. OSU offensive line played well in the second half. Chuba Hubbard was good running the ball and catching the ball. OSU’s defense was “really good.”

• On OSU’s goal-line stand in the second quarter of the West Virginia game: “Last night I told the team that that’s what won the game. Very seldom do we ever talk about situations in a game in the second quarter. I don’t ever remember seeing the ball that close to the goal line and both teams lined up and their helmets were essentially over the goal line, both sides. It looked like a pure rugby scrum you had like 20 guys piled up in a pile, fighting and scratching and pulling guys back. It happened twice. Then we were able to get the penalty, and Trace (Ford) was able to get pressure on the quarterback and knock is arm down, held him to a field goal. That’s when the game was won right there.”

• On Cam Murray: “He got big. He’s doing really well. So much of those guys that live in that world is their attitude. They’ve been at it since August. It’s physical. Shoulders, heads, dings, it’s a tough world down there. I tell them that in team meetings, ‘You guys, basically, you’re gladiators, man. That’s what you are.’ You’ve gotta be mentally tougher than the other guys because it just goes on and on. We’re proud of him. He’s been a good leader for us.”

• On the offense persevering through injuries: “We obviously lost some explosiveness with Tylan (Wallace). Then you lose explosiveness with Spencer (Sanders), but we have the five (offensive linemen) back. You talk about (Ry Schneider) and (Bryce Bray) rotating some, but the last couple weeks is the first time we’ve had the core back since, I think, the third week of the season. It’s nice to have those guys back and let them work together.”

• On Marcus Keyes: “He’s been awesome. It’s interesting, we talk about recruiting all the time, and we signed him on signing day. We lost somebody. I’m guessing probably Texas took one of our players, which is pretty common, and we went down and grabbed Marcus. The big debate about whether he’s gonna be big enough or whatever, but he met all the other criteria: he’s intelligent, can process information, momma raised him right, plays hard, tough. He comes in here, and he’s basically a four-year starter, and nobody recruited him. I think he was committed to the Ragin Cajuns, which I’m not saying that they’re not anybody, but let’s just say Power Fives. We were able to get him up here, and he’s been a great player for us. He should be an all-conference player.”

• “We’re healthy on defense now for the first time this year. We started the season with three or four key players injured, and it ran all the way up through the fourth or fifth week of the season. Then you had Amen (Ogbongbemiga) that tore his thumb up. (Devin) Harper broke a hand, broke a bone or something. They’re out there, but they’re wearing big casts, and they don’t get to practice much. (Tre Sterling) was out some. (Malcolm Rodriguez) was hurt a lot. We’ve had linemen hurt all year. Last week, whoever we played before West Virginia (Kansas), that week before that was the first time that everybody practiced. So we could practice at a good pace. Last week was the same, defensively.

“Offensively, we’re back up and running. Obviously, you lose a lot of offense when you lose Wallace. Then with Spencer being out, we lose some explosiveness. The other guys have made a few plays, and Dru played really well.”

• The Big 12 has been different this year. The game has slowed down, and defenses have played better.

• “CeeDee Lamb is good. You can tell they missed him in the Baylor game. He’s an explosive player, and they throw the ball to him. Preseason, they threw it to him down the field. Once you got into league play where guys know each other, he caught a lot of underneath routes, betweeners, a little bit of cross-country stuff. Good player.”

• On Senior Day: “Our younger players are the ones that get the national awards. … But each class that we have, and this is a small class for us, this is kind of a rollover year for us, you have the guys in there that make it special. A.J. Green’s been fantastic. Marcus has been fantastic. There’s just not as many starters. (Johnny Wilson) has been fantastic. I even played, in practice Thursday, I played six heavy-metal songs just for him. It’s the best practice he ever had. You’ve got a certain number of guys, and I’m forgetting some, but you have a certain number of guys that make it special.”

• Gundy said he does not anticipate any of the younger guys walking Saturday for Senior Day.

• “Special teams and penalties, right? You follow the Coach (Bill) Snyder theory at Kansas State. If I can steal 75 yards in the game with an advantage in special teams yards and/or penalties, it’s worth 7 points.”

• On Thomas Harper being back on kick return some against West Virginia: “Giving (Braydon Johnson) a break. We started out with (Hubbard). We’ve ridden that horse a long way all year, so we had to get him off. Then we went to (Johnson), and then when Wallace went down, (Johnson) is playing a lot now. So we rode that horse a little while, so now when he gets a little bit fatigued at times, (Harper) gets in. Let him have a shot at it.”

• On getting Hubbard more involved in the passing game: “They should’ve been throwing to him earlier in the year. Finally they’re throwing to him some. He catches the ball most of the time on the line or behind the line, so basically you’re throwing him a running play. He gets out in space, and he gets to run. If he’s running in space, it’s a good football play.”

• On if he prefers having Bedlam as the last game in the season: “I think they need to move it around like they do with every other game. I don’t know why I think that, but either way it doesn’t make any difference. I think the one adjustment they’re going to next year is you don’t have two open dates. So they’re going back to a normal routine, which I think is smart because if you play in the championship game, you’re playing this week. If you don’t, you’re finishing up a week ago. Hypothetically, I’m building a scenario if it was this year. Then contact period starts on Sunday for recruiting, so you’re not penalized by being in the championship game.

“You can get out and recruit and do all the things you need to do. Get in the homes before teams from other parts of the country get in and try to buy their players. … I’m just joking. Teams from other parts of the country do that. Oklahoma State doesn’t, but.”

• On his top Bedlam memory: “Well when (Brandon) Weeden played and when Tyreek (Hill) played. Those were good ones.”

• On the similarities of Dru Brown starting his second game against OU as Mason Rudolph did in 2014: “I hadn’t thought about that, but that’s a good similarity. I wish it’d play out just like that. That’s a good one.”

• On Gabe Simpson, who has been a Scout Team Player of the Week five times this season: “The scout team guys, which a lot of times can be walk-ons, are the favorite guys in our program for me because they do it for free. They love to play football. They want to be in the front yard.

“They love Oklahoma State, love being part of a team. In most cases, their abilities are not what the other players’ are, but they don’t care. There’s a lot to be said about young men like that. Those are the young men that these people out there in the hiring process, that’s who you want to hire. They’re doing everything we’re asking them to do. Their abilities is not what some of the other guys are. They show up on time, they’re early. Some of them even have part-time jobs. That’s the kinda guys you want to hire. They’ll go out in the work force and do really well. He falls in that category.”