The Top Five Quotes from Mike Gundy’s Pre-Utah News Conference

STILLWATER — The most hyped up game week of Oklahoma State’s season is upon us.

The Cowboys host Utah at 3 p.m. Saturday in Boone Pickens Stadium in a game that pits the No. 3 team in the preseason Big 12 poll (OSU) against that poll’s top team (Utah). Mike Gundy had his weekly media luncheon Monday to preview the matchup. Here are five things he said with his full video below.

1. On Opening Big 12 Play with Utah and Kansas State

After a nonconference schedule that saw the Cowboys play a game against the two-time defending FCS champs and a team from the SEC, the Cowboys start Big 12 play with the top two teams in the league’s preseason poll.

The Cowboys host the Utes this weekend before traveling to Kansas State next weekend. If the Big 12 goes as expected, which it’s still early and might not, these next two games will be crucial for the Cowboys’ chances of making it to Arlington for the Big 12 title game and a potential playoff berth. That’s a high-octane way to open conference play.

“I thought that they were trying to make it hard on us, to be honest with you,” Gundy said. “Commissioner is my buddy, but he doesn’t do the scheduling. So, I’ve sent the wrong guy pecans for Christmas. I should’ve sent the scheduling guy pecans for Christmas.

“I’m sure they set this up based on success over an extended period of time and what they thought could be games that might determine what happens at the end of the year. Their job is to create games that are gonna draw viewership, and I would guess they probably had that in mind when they scheduled these games.”

2. ‘I’m Not Concerned about the Running Game’

The Cowboys are 3-0 after a tough nonconference schedule, but it hasn’t exactly happened the way we all thought it would.

Through three games, reigning Doak Walker winner Ollie Gordon has ran for 216 yards and four touchdowns while averaging 3.5 yards a carry. For reference, Gordon ran for 6.1 yards a carry when he won the Doak Walker last season. Gundy has pointed to teams loading the box in an attempt to take Gordon out of the game as a reason for the lower rushing totals. Something that Gundy said Utah already does.

“I’m not concerned about the running game,” Gundy said. “We ran the ball well Saturday when we had an equal number or a half-man disadvantage. We didn’t run the ball well when they had one or two people extra there. This team (Utah) is gonna put an extra guy in the box all the time. There will be three or four ways that we’ll have to rush the football, and then when you play teams that are going to defend you the way that these people have shown they will defend, you’re gonna be throwing more passes than what some people would say they would want to.

“It’s just kind of a numbers game. There’s not any secret with that. That’s what they have done for an extended number of years, and that’s what people have forced them to do.”

3. Gordon’s Impact Is Still Evident

Despite Gordon perhaps not having as noticeable an impact on OSU’s victories to this point, Gundy said his tailback is still a key cog in the Cowboys’ success.

With teams loading the box, that has led to OSU quarterback Alan Bowman throwing for 967 yards and eight touchdowns in the first three games. That yardage total is good for sixth nationally.

Gundy pointed to a couple plays from Saturday’s win against Tulsa that also had Gordon’s fingerprints on it despite the ball not being in his hands. The most notable one was tight end Josh Ford’s first career touchdown. Ford came across in motion in the second quarter Saturday and feinted a block before popping free in the middle of the field. Bowman faked a give to Gordon, freezing all eight TU defenders in the box as Ford ran by them.

True freshman TD! The hometown kid scores his first touchdown as a Cowboy 🤠

📺: ESPN2 | @JoshFord888 pic.twitter.com/fTjja6ZGQ6

— OSU Cowboy Football (@CowboyFB) September 14, 2024

“I don’t think there’s any doubt that human nature for Ollie, any other player or any other human, is to want to think they’re actually doing good or having success, particularly when people build you up to be something,” Gundy said. “But I can show you five or six plays real quick where we had really successful plays because Ollie went this way and eight guys chased him that way. And then Ollie went this way and everyone chased him that way.

“The pop pass we threw to (Ford), Bowman could’ve thrown it without looking because everyone on defense came running up to tackle Ollie. We can show him that, but Ollie is very intelligent. He knows. When he watches tape, he can see that. The truth is, the NFL, which is where they all want to get to, they understand that as well.”

4. Is the Big 12 a Passing League Again?

Six or seven years ago, it wouldn’t have been any big shock to see so many Big 12 quarterbacks among the national leaders, but here lately the league had found more balance.

Well, as previously mentioned, Bowman ranks sixth nationally in passing yards. That’s good for only fourth in the Big 12. Josh Hoover (TCU), Shedeur Sanders (Colorado) and Behren Morton (Texas Tech) are all ahead of Bowman. The four Big 12 quarterbacks are separated by 55 yards.

There still is some balance in the league, though. The other half of the league has some running backs among the nation’s top rushers. RJ Harvey (UCF), Cam Skattebo (Arizona State), Devin Neal (Kansas) and DJ Giddens (Kansas State) all rank in the top 15 nationally in rushing.

Despite not many perhaps predicting the Big 12 would have a handful of guys atop the national passing charts, Gundy said it’s hard to predict much these days given the ever-shifting landscape.

“It’s a little different,” Gundy said. “Forever, there were three or four or five teams that were in the top 10 in the country every year, particularly throwing the ball. I don’t know that we would have predicted it this year, but it’s like everything else. It’s real hard to tell with the direction things are going. You never know. Teams change so much.”

5. Whittingham ‘Coaches Like His Dad’s a Coach’

Gundy and Utah coach Kyle Whittingham have been compared plenty over the years because of their longevity.

Gundy took over in Stillwater in 2005 — the same season Whittingham did at Utah.

Whittingham’s father — Fred “Mad Dog” Whittingham — was also a coach after a successful playing career at BYU and in the NFL.

“He coaches like his dad’s a coach,” Gundy said. “They’re fundamentally sound, and they’re tough. Their guys play hard. They’re physical. They don’t get out of place a lot. They don’t make a lot of mistakes. They don’t get a lot of penalties. They don’t turn the ball over much.”