This Year’s Team, Gundy Have Earned Trust

Between the final snap against Tulsa and opening kick in Mobile, Alabama, Oklahoma State had already improved to 2-0.

At coach Mike Gundy’s press conference Monday following Week 1, he displayed loads of confidence. His opening statement included phrases such as, “not a lot of changes,” and “There’s not really anything worth discussing.” He resorted to talking about the Paddle People and about how he wasn’t going to cancel practice.

There are two ways to view that: 1. He is putting on a front about his team’s ability after seeing just one game and before he played one that beat a ranked team the season prior. Or 2. This is a man who has as firm a grip on the makeup of his program as you could humanly ask for, suggesting there was nothing to talk about, knowing there was nothing behind door No. 2 that could jump out and surprise the Cowboys.

Of course Gundy knew and the players knew which of the two was going to show up on that old field minutes from the Gulf of Mexico. We didn’t, but now we do.

What we know now after blowouts against two weaklings is that OSU is nothing short of a national championship contender. Even after playing “just Tulsa” and “just South Alabama,” that’s clear. The Cowboys’ offense is as explosive or more so than it was in 2011. It’s deeper than the menu at Cheesecake Factory. It has more NFL talent than the New York Jets.

Outside of the sack-fumble against Tulsa, there hasn’t been a lick of doubt indicating that any defense could stop this offense, and the defense has looked competent enough to not get scored on every drive. In fact, it has looked a whole lot better than that while the starters were in.

See, throughout the past few years, we all have been skeptics. “OSU can’t get over the hump. … Their offense is nice, but their defense just can’t hold up. … Bedlam.” I’ve been there, too. I’ve been there for just as long as all of you have. I was in the press box last year. I went to all the news availabilities. I talked with probably half of the guys on the roster.

There is a strong business sense about all of them. Stronger than last year. Stronger than, I believe, ever. Take Friday night.

“We caught the ball well. When the backs had the ball, they ran the ball, and on defense, we were really good,” Gundy told the traveling media postgame. “We did really well on third down and getting off the field. There was one point late in the first half where we had only 12 plays of defense.

“You come in, take care of business, get on the plane and get out of here.”

Boom.

So then Pittsburgh. This week will be unequivocally the Cowboys’ toughest non-conference game. But still shouldn’t be that tough. In Week 1, the Panthers beat the Youngstown State Penguins 28-21 in overtime. In week 2, well, Penn State.

Maybe this week Gundy and the Cowboys will be tested and fail. Maybe they will think a 103-31 margin of victory over two games is enough to beat Pitt. I doubt it, but maybe. And maybe at this time next week, I’ll be writing about how business turned to play and they lost.

As for now though, the Oklahoma State Cowboys have earned my trust and everybody else’s who have gone begging to get them over the hump.