The Rundown: What Mike Gundy Said After OSU’s 31-20 Win Over K-State

Mike Gundy dissected OSU’s conference-opening win over Kansas State late Saturday night. In a postgame press conference from the bowels of Boone Pickens Stadium, he discussed OSU’s offense, defense, special teams, the running game and more.

Here are the highlights of his appearance.

• “Offensively we played much better. The first half looked like we’ve done here the last 15 years. Defense played good, gave up a couple big plays but rallied, held them to field goals.”

• “The difference was that we had 25 first downs to 13. They only had 56 offensive plays to our 77. So it comes to a percentage game. We had time of possession 35 to 24. With the team we have this year it’s important.”

• “Spencer played good. I was proud of our team. It helped having a couple guys back out there.” Says having more depth at receiver really helped.

• “I made a poor decision in the first half. When Peel intercepted the ball they wanted to get into the 2-minute offense and I wouldn’t let them. I just felt like with the lead we had and the history of the total number of points Kansas State’s scored this year, it becomes the numbers game. I didn’t want to give them a freebie.”

• “In the second half we didn’t block as well, then at the end of the game when they knew we were running it we started blocking better. Fortunately the defense played good.”

• “Spencer was more consistent tonight. He missed a couple throws. But I thought he was consistent, he competes always, makes good decisions. He’s healthy and he feels good.”

• “Tay Martin is a threat. We have young players at receiver out there and the other teams challenge ’em. Tay Martin is ready for that. He’s a threat out there. Most of the time they kept two people around him, which allowed us to run the football.”

• “Jaden Bray is not 100% but he’s feeling better.”

• “We need to be over 4 [yards per carry]. We were a little short of that. We were better. We blocked em up well tonight.”

• “Jaylen Warren, we had to take him in to IV him just to get him back in the game. He’s a sweater; he sweats all the time. We can’t afford to lose him like we did for a quarter.”

• “We’re working the big guy in a little bit at tackle [Etienne]. We’re liking how he’s playing at tackle. They’re getting comfortable out there as a group [at offensive line].”

• Silas Barr’s move to Cowboy Back is a long-term thing. “Austin’s not far enough along yet. He’s just not ready.” Says Silas can come in and “help us because he’s pretty mobile for his size.”

• “[Braden Cassity] is doing great. He’s had a lot thrown at him in a short time with 87 getting dinged up and Jarrard not playing. All of a sudden he becomes a focal point. He wasn’t ready for that, but he gets better each week.”

• Gundy says he thinks Brock Martin will be back “in a few weeks.” Says he’s hopeful it’s not season-ending.