The Rundown: What Mike Gundy Said After Another Bedlam Loss

If there is a list of things Mike Gundy has hammered home in his postgame news conferences this season, kicking too many field goals and losing the turnover battle would be on it.

Oklahoma State did both of those Saturday night in the Cowboys’ 34-16 loss to Oklahoma in Boone Pickens Stadium. After the game, Gundy spoke on field goals, the Cowboys inability to stop the run and Chuba Hubbard.

• “What this game comes down to is you can’t kick field goals to beat a good football team.”

• “We didn’t do a very good job against the rush. The guard/tackle pull play gave us a lot of issues.”

• “We lost the turnover battle. We were pretty sound penalty-wise. Obviously, Tre (Sterling) got up high. It was the first targeting that we’ve had this year. … For the most part we were really disciplined in that game, but in the end it’s simple: you can’t kick field goals and beat a good team like that.”

• On OU selling out to stop Chuba Hubbard after his first nine carries: “They put the safeties down in there, and that’s why we were trying to throw it. We got some pass interference and some holding, and we hit some throws on them. They made the adjustment to drop the safeties down. Then what happened was, by us not keeping it within a one-score game, it allowed them more flexibility on defense.”

• On OU’s defense: “They’ve played good this year in my opinion. They’ve always had good players. Their schemes are good, and they’re running to the ball, playing with more confidence.”

• On OU’s run game: “I think (Kennedy Brooks) ran fine. He was running through big holes, in my opinion.”

• On Dru Brown: “I thought he played pretty good. He made a poor decision (on the INT that got called back after review). He knew it. He got lucky with the player stepping out of bounds. But overall he played pretty good. He ran the ball effectively at times. He made a bad decision there. He missed a throw to (Dillon) Stoner in the second quarter going down the middle of the field when I kinda felt like they grabbed our guy and pulled him down. … He missed that throw, and then he made a poor decision there. But overall, they got some pressure on him, and I thought he played pretty good.

“I thought that his preparation was good. I thought that his competitive nature was good, and he made some throws.”

• “You have to give them credit. They had good plans coach-wise. Their players made plays. We gotta rally back now. We’ll start back up in about six days, some bowl prep. Start working there and get the guys up and running and get ready to go play in a bowl game.”

• On OSU’s secondary play: “Except for the first two drives, the first two drives we turned guys loose. But from that point on, they settled down, and they were in proximity. The bad news on the flip side of that is, that means we have one less guy in run support. It’s a game. We were doing pretty good in (the secondary), guys were a little bit further back. They were rushing the ball, they started running the ball some.”

• “Wish we would’ve played better. They are a good football team. We lost the turnover battle, didn’t stop the rush and kicked too many field goals. In the end, that’s what it came down to.”

• “These guys have done a great job. We’re a young football team. They’ve rallied. They had their backs against the wall (earlier in the year). They fought back, found ways to win games. Defensively, got better as the season went on. We lost (Tylan) Wallace and then lost Spencer (Sanders). Dru came in and Stoner’s made some plays. (Jordan McCray) made some plays tonight. (Braydon Johnson) stepped up. I like my guys.

“It’s a disappointing loss because I just didn’t feel like we played as good as we could’ve, coaches and players. I didn’t think we performed as good as we could have, coaches and players. But we did lose to a good football team. They’re a good football team. They got a lot of skill. We should’ve played better, and we should’ve coached better in my opinion. But I am proud of them. I told them that in the locker room. I told them the same thing I’m telling you. We could’ve coached better, and we could’ve played better. But I’m proud of what they’ve given us this year and the way they rallied and improved. They’re a young football team. They gotta learn and keep rolling.”

• On Hubbard surpassing 1,900 yards: “That’s a lot of yards. He’s been fantastic. I do think he’s a little bit fatigued. The last three weeks or so he’s not been quite as electrifying as he was early in the season. The reason for that is just wear and tear. We always try to protect those guys, but we haven’t been able to protect him. We’ve had to ride that horse. You saw tonight, he got in the open field and got tripped. Earlier in the year, that probably wouldn’t have happened. Middle of the year, it probably wouldn’t have happened.

“But he’s been fantastic, 1,900 yards. He’s over 2,000 (all-purpose yards) for the year, right? He’s at 2,100 total offense, pretty special. Special guy. He’s gonna get postseason awards, and he deserves them. He deserves a rest. We’ll probably hold him out for two weeks. We probably won’t let him practice for two weeks, just let his body recover.”