The Rundown: Gundy on TCU, Tylan/Dez Comparison at Monday Luncheon

STILLWATER — Mike Gundy’s dog made an appearance at his Monday media luncheon for the first time this season.

She was there to hear Gundy recap Oklahoma State’s game against Iowa State and preview the week ahead where the Cowboys take on TCU. Here is a breakdown of Gundy’s news conference.

• OSU’s won the turnover battle and minimized penalties in Ames, which gave the Cowboys a chance to win.

• The team had a good practice Sunday night.

• TCU is “probably the best defense we’ve seen all year.”

• Gundy said TCU’s defense might have the best front six he can remember TCU having.

• “I think they’ve got NFL players in the secondary.”

• TCU’s offense has been playing better.

• “Obviously we need to know where (Jalen Reagor) is. (Reagor) is a difference maker. He’s a really, really special talent.”

• “Teams that take care of the football and don’t make a lot of mistakes give themselves the best chance to win.”

• Gundy said Gary Patterson has gone back to his traditional style now. “He experimented with a little three-down last year, might have been because of injuries. … He’s gone back to what I think he believes in, in his four-down, his quarters coverage. He wants to play man.”

• On Patterson: “And he knows us. I don’t think there’s any secrets there. We know each other very well. I have a lot of respect for him as a football coach. I don’t (know) that there’s anybody in the country that has a better defensive mind that him. Maybe there’s other guys out there just as good, but when it comes to being a defensive coach, he’s as good as anybody in the country.”

• TCU doesn’t miss tackles.

• The quick wide receiver screens are essentially running plays on the perimeter. TCU is going to press the wide receivers to discourage those throws to the flat.

• On Tylan Wallace playing bigger than he is: “Two things: first thing is he’s not scared. You don’t see a lot of that in today’s game. Considerably fewer players now are willing to throw their body at somebody else. It’s just a different generation when it comes to that. He’s extremely physical, he’s not scared and he’s explosive. He’s gonna have a really good vertical jump, and he’s an explosive type of athlete, meaning that when those guys come up on him, he can stiff arm them. He’s got great balance.

“The play that he made Saturday was like Dez Bryant. Looked like something Dez would do back in the day. Bout as good a football play as I’ve seen in a long time. It’s because he’s a very explosive athlete, and he’s not scared.”

• TCU’s front six is going to be a challenge for OSU’s offensive line.

• Dylan Galloway played “pretty well” coming back from his injury.

• On TCU quarterback Max Duggan: “Good football player. He’s gonna be around a while, and he’s starting to adjust and play better. He’s got some elusiveness to him. He’s throwing it around pretty good. They’ve got what looks to be a good, young player in their program.”

• Jim Knowles is doing a good job mixing in quarterback pressure.

• Tyler Lacy wasn’t completely healthy, but he made it through the Iowa State game. He should be better this week.

• OSU has been fortunate with WR/RB duos. Gundy mentions Dez Bryant/Kendall Hunter, Justin Blackmon/Joseph Randle, James Washington/Justice Hill and now Tylan Wallace/Chuba Hubbard.

Gundy said Hubbard probably puts this tandem over the edge. “I’m not taking anything away from Joe and Hill and Kendall and all those guys, but Chuba’s a little different in as far as he is at this stage in his career. Because he’s only in like 11 games. He really hasn’t even completed one full season of number of games. His explosiveness probably gives it an extra dimension.”

• Apparently the charter flight to Des Moines was interesting. “As far as flying with the team, it was by far the worst one ever.”

• Sanders was emotionally stable despite the tough environment at Iowa State.

• On struggling as a home favorite: “Sounds like I need to pick up point shaving for a side job. I was unaware of that because I never know what the spread is. … I think the ingredients for us is: you win the turnover battle, you minimize big plays on defense, it gives you the best chance to win.”

• On what helped OSU force turnovers Saturday: “(Iowa State) ran 86 plays, Baylor ran 55. College offenses, you run 30 more plays, there’s a chance there’s gonna be mistakes. Only about 45 percent of the plays that are run in offensive football in college are executed properly, so more than half of them are not. Great players overcome that, but the more plays you make somebody run, the better chance you have of making something bad happen. I think that’s what happened. We ran 54, they ran 86. The week before, Baylor ran 55, we ran 85. That’s the only comparison I can draw.”

• OSU’s defense handled the workload of playing 86 plays well.

• “I said this to them after the game, and I’m not scared to tell people. I told them, ‘This is how we won games and built this program over the last 10 years, being on the road, having our backs against the wall, coming out and staying together. There’s nobody there except Iowa State.’ And finding a way to win in the end, and that’s what they did. That’s what we used to do around here for a long time.”

• Malcolm Rodriguez’s transition to linebacker was smooth.

• Gundy said he doesn’t think Brock Purdy saw Rodriguez on the play Rodriguez got the pick-six.

• Kolby Harvell-Peel played well. The experience he has is helping with that.

• On Jalen Reagor, who Gundy said is probably the most explosive player OSU has had to play against thus far: “He’s very explosive. He’s a really, really good football player. Difficult to compete against, but I certainly enjoy watching him play.”

• Directional punting is difficult. “At times over my career, I’ve seen guys try to directional punt away from a guy, and a lot of times, they shank it out of bounds for 10 or 12 yards.”

• Ten years ago Gundy took things more personally, he said. “I would leave press conferences and want to wait outside and have an old-school fist fight with everybody in there. Now, I’m good. I might have a disagreement. You have a job to do. I have a job to do. We might not always agree, but that’s the way it is.”

• On Calvin Bundage: “Calvin, he’s supposed to come back over on the fifth of November. Whatever day that is. He could still actually play, but in my opinion, it’s not really beneficial for him because when you have an injury like his, which is a back injury, which nobody knows how to tell how that’s gonna recover. Nobody knows that. You can take him to the best doctors there are, and they’ll say, ‘A month from now, we don’t know how you’re gonna handle being a college football player.’ So, I don’t think it’s beneficial for him to (play this season), but obviously he and his family, his dad, they’ll have to make that decision on their own. Then we’ll follow.

“It’s been that way for three months, ever since since June. He just hasn’t got to where he really feels good. I was told a week ago that he felt considerably better, which is encouraging, and we’re all happy for him. But, we have to see once he comes back and starts training again because you have to train to play. I’m hoping that he’ll feel a lot better, and he’ll be able to rally back and play next year. That’s my opinion on it. I just don’t see a guy jumping in. He hasn’t done anything since June. He’s two weeks out, at least, conditioning-wise, and that’s saying that he’s a really good athlete. Most guys are a month away. So, I don’t really see that happening.

“He was cleared. He’s been cleared. He was practicing. When we were having these discussions in August and whenever, he was out there practicing. He was in non-contact, which is what most of those guys are, but he never felt good. He just kept saying, ‘I don’t feel good.’ So that’s when I brought him in, sat down with him and said, ‘You need to just go and do physical therapy and take care of your body and rehabilitate. There’s no reason for you to be out here padded up, standing there watching, doing a tackling drill and not feel good and go start the process over.'”

• On if there is a possibility Bundage plays some this year, but still redshirts with the four-game rule: “There is, but it goes back to what I was saying. I just don’t know what you get out of it. If he came back and practiced and felt great and said he wanted to play in a couple games, I’m all for him. I’ll be real honest with you, which is one of the few times I am, is the potential setback worth it? That’s where you’re at.”

• On Braydon Johnson: “He’s a really good success story. When he came in here his first year and a half, the culture here was foreign to him from the standpoint of he didn’t know if he wanted to do it. Accountability, structure, discipline, hard work. (Kasey) Dunn is a hard guy to play for. You gotta do everything right all the time or you gotta watch.

“He’s turning the corner now. He has a lot of ability, and he is just now starting to obtain the most important thing for a player, which is called confidence. He believes in himself now, and you’re starting to see the results. He’s really fast. I’m excited about him because he’s a success story. I’ve enjoyed watching him struggle and struggle and struggle and struggle and struggle and start to do a little better, and now he’s doing quite a bit better. And so he’s like, ‘This is pretty cool. I’m having a good time here.’ That’s what it’s all about. I’m enjoying watching him do that.”