Why Oklahoma State Will Steal from Virginia Tech’s Coaches After the Bowl

Oklahoma State does a lot of things well that Virginia Tech does not do well. The opposite of that is also true. VT is No. 6 nationally in points per drive allowed at 1.16. If OSU was even within striking distance of that, they would be preparing for the Rose Bowl on Monday instead of the Camping World Bowl on Thursday.

And because the two teams play in different conferences where there is rarely overlap, Mike Gundy said on Wednesday the Pokes will steal from the Hokies after all is said and done in Orlando. It’s not dissimilar to what happened during award week recently when James Washington was giving out state secrets on Baker Mayfield.

“Last night we got to visit (Virginia Tech head coach) Justin (Fuente) and I got to visit for about 30 minutes, and it was really good,” said Gundy. “I had watched Justin but in our profession you don’t get a chance to hang out a lot. I mean, you know, we work all the time. We recruit, and we spend time with our families. But it’s been impressive in what he’s been able to accomplish.

“(Defensive coordinator) Bud Foster has been around for 100 years. I visited with him for 20 minutes last night. Really the first time I have come across him because he has been on the east coast forever, and we don’t see them in recruiting much. But great visit with him.”

Now, the good stuff.

“And so it was really fun to catch up with some of those guys last night,” added Gundy. “So, you know, when it’s over I heard a couple of our coaches last night talking with a couple of Justin’s assistants and they said, ‘When this game is over, I need to get with you guys to find out why you’re doing certain things.’

“That’s a smart move because they know a lot about us now, and we should know a lot about them. And they’re in a different league. They’re on the other side of the country. And we’ve done this in the past.

“We did this with Washington when we played them in the Cactus Bowl a few years ago with Coach Petersen and his staff, where we got with them afterwards, and you find a lot of things out that make you feel like you’re not very smart, because you should have already known it. So it’s been good to spend time with the staff.”

Hopefully a few of those things include how you put together a defensive game log like this one Foster and Co. have slapped together over the last four months.