The Rundown: What Mike Gundy Said after OSU’s Shutout Win in Lubbock

LUBBOCK, Texas — Mike Gundy has coached a team to 10 wins for the seventh time.

Oklahoma State beat Texas Tech 23-0 on Saturday at Jones AT&T Stadium to advance to 10-1 and clinch a spot in the Big 12 title game. Here is what OSU’s coach said after the game.

Opening statement

“So, obviously a really good win for us. I don’t know what to say, what else to say about the defense. I just kind of run out of things to say about them on Saturdays. Hopefully they can just stay the course. Somebody told me this is the first time [Texas Tech] has been shut out here since ’87. So, it’s pretty impressive. You know, last week they ran up some big numbers and played a new quarterback. That’s the third or fourth week in a row that we’ve seen that. Third week in a row we’ve faced teams that played their best game the game before they played us. Never easy playing out here at night, you all know that. I mean, that was a topic of discussion during the week. Those of you that have followed Big 12 football for a long time know there’s been a lot of good football teams come out here at night time and lose, been in shootouts right ’till the end. So, these guys continue to work hard, they like each other, they care about each other, the culture is through the roof, they practice hard.

“I don’t really do much anymore. I just kind of stand back and watch it and not mess it up. So, they’re really, really good. I know they’re excited right now. Like any other Saturday though, even though this is a big Saturday for our team, we still got a job to do, we got to go to work tomorrow and once we start with the team, we got to get back to work. We got let this one go and get rolling, get ready for the next one.”

On what it means to secure a spot in the Big 12 title game

“I just think it’s — you know it’s hard to get in there. Games are hard to win with the parity in college football and parity in this league. Teams that compete against each other, teams that beat teams that shouldn’t beat teams, close games, and it’s really hard to predict. So, for these guys to be able to find a way to get in that game is a big accomplishment. And they did it, you know, this is their team, not the coaches’ team. It’s their team, it’s a choice they make. We had several players that came back for the super senior season and that’s why they came back, and so you just hope that works out.

“You know, we were a beat up team on offense. We were down about five starters on offense and we couldn’t practice very well this week. [Josh Sills] didn’t practice, [Danny Godlevske] didn’t practice, [Brennan Presley] didn’t practice. [Jaylen Warren] didn’t practice, [Braden Cassity] didn’t practice, and [Logan Carter] didn’t practice. I think that’s all of them. And so, our practices on offense this week were very average, because we didn’t have anybody out there. So, coach (Kasey) Dunn and his staff had to work hard to manage to put some things together to 1) run some clock and 2) find a way to score enough points.

“They did a good job of stopping us and made us kick, I guess three field goals, is that right or am I wrong? At least three, maybe more. So, you know, we felt pretty good about, at halftime, if we could get into a three score game that just seeing what was happening it would be tough for them to catch us.”

On Jaylen Warren not being 100% healthy

“Yeah, we wouldn’t have put him in the game if he wasn’t okay, but he’s not full-speed.”

On if he cares about who Oklahoma State will play in the Big 12 title game

“No. You know, I’ve said this every Monday, my concern is that they played 11 weeks and there hasn’t been a ‘let down.’ I know percentages and how things work, I don’t know who’s left, I mean, OU, is Baylor still in it? So, both have active quarterbacks and obviously firepower on the perimeter and can score points. So, I mean I’ve told them in there every Saturday, I don’t mind telling you all the same thing, they got to stay the course and practice well and give themselves a chance. I don’t see that as being a problem. They’ve been building, but if they don’t, you can get knocked off real quick. So, you know, it’ll be the same process this week starting tomorrow. It’ll be an early morning for the coaches, and players come in tomorrow afternoon and go to work.”

On what stood out about Oklahoma State’s defensive performance

“First team to shut them out since ’87 — 34 years. That’s pretty impressive. They got a lot of good guys. They can score points out here and we all know that. So, and, it’s hard to do that. It’s hard to shut people out, especially at home. So, they just keep playing well and they just gotta stay the course.”

On if he could tell the Oklahoma State defense wanted a shutout

“Oh, I don’t know. I mean, I’m on the headphones, and I’m listening to coaches.  I mean, I would guess, yes, but I just leave them alone. I stay as far away as I can so I don’t mess them up. That’s the truth.”

On the Oklahoma State offense in the second half

“We ate a lot of clock in the second half, particularly in the middle of the third quarter until the end of the game. We should have eaten more clock. A couple times when we should have just run the ball and used the clock, we were throwing it and that’s based on some RPO read stuff we have. It’s not anybody’s fault in particular, but could have used more clock and been a little bit more efficient in that area, in my opinion. But they did a good job with it. Then obviously on the last drive, [Dominic Richardson] pounds in there pretty good. We blocked them all up. [Josh Sills] came in and played because [Tyrese Williams] got hurt, and so [Sills] played and there’s a good chance he’ll be pretty sore tomorrow, but hopefully not enough where we can get him back to practice maybe Wednesday.”

On John Paul Richardson’s pass attempt

“Well, JP threw a lot of passes in high school. He’s a good thrower. He’s a good athlete, and we can do a lot of things with him. Probably should’ve done it earlier in the year, but for the most part, we had a good play call. 

“We scored 23 points. We were very efficient with our field goals, and we dropped a touchdown. We had another one on the double pass, and it kinda got messed up. In theory, the way I have to look at it as a head coach, we had 30. We just had some mistakes. Obviously Tay (Martin) played a great game. He had another drop over here on that side of the field. It wasn’t an easy catch but still could’ve converted. We had a banged up and skeleton crew on offense and should’ve probably scored 30.”

On Spencer Sanders’ performance

“I thought he was fine. I didn’t hear a lot of complaining on the headset.”

On stoppages after Tech fans threw objects onto the field

“Everybody’s good. Threw flour tortillas to start and I guess two bottles of beer, cans of beer or something. The refs are in a bad situation, right? They don’t really want to penalize the players for people in the stands, but ultimately, things keep flying on the field, it becomes disruptive to the game. They got helmets on, so in most cases, they’ll be OK. I guess a coach could be vulnerable. They had to penalize them. They came over and explained to me, ‘Coach, we don’t want to penalize anybody for people throwing cans of beer on the field.’ I said, ‘Well, I think that one bottle is whiskey, and that’s definitely worth 15 yards.’ They’re just trying to do the right thing. They’re in a tough situation.”

On if he senses other teams’ breaking points against OSU’s defense

“It’s hard for me to speak for others, which I guess in a court of law we call judgemental. The truth is, I would think if I was on offense, eventually it just kind of wears you out. The reason is because we play a lot of guys on the front and we get a lot of pressure and we’ve been fortunate enough to put the quarterbacks under duress. Quarterbacks have a biological clock that runs, and if the offensive line starts the game and is protecting for him very well, they’re comfortable. If they start and they’re not protecting for him very well, they hurry their throws, they move their feet, they get in panic mode. That’s pretty much every quarterback there is at any level. Our guys have done a good job of putting them under duress and hurrying some of their throws. [Donovan Smith is] young, obviously, but he made four, five, six throws in the first quarter and second quarter that weren’t even close. I think that’s what happens when you get as much pressure as we get up front.”

On the offensive line’s performance

“What we were trying to accomplish, I think they were good. It’s really hard. They wanted to twist and move and stunt and run backers through quite a bit, so it’s hard for me to see in a game what’s going on if they’re doing that without running it back and seeing what’s all involved there. They chose to twist and do different things, which really helped us, but in their opinion, that’s obviously what they thought would be best for them.”

On if 10 wins is a significant number to him

“Well it means you’re doing good. It means that our organization and our culture is, as I said last week, stronger now than it ever has been in my 17 years as a head coach. I think it’s just important that we stay the course. As I said, I just let everybody do their job, not mess with them. The players are motivating and committing themselves to the organization. We have a strong staff from top to bottom, not just coaching, everybody in our building now — administration, strength and conditioning, medical, recruiting staff, it’s the best staff we’ve had since I’ve been here in 17 years, going on 18 years. You’re seeing the results.”

On if he looks at the bigger picture with Oregon and Michigan State losing

“I bet we move up two spots. Don’t you? We’ll move up two spots. … I don’t know how [the committee] sees all that. I guess they look at it somehow, but if I had to guess, we’ll move up two spots.”