Gundy frustrated with offense after win at Texas
Coach Mike Gundy vented his frustration during Saturday’s news conference following Oklahoma State’s 13-10 overtime victory over the Longhorns in Texas.
AUSTIN, TEXAS — Mike Gundy hadn’t yet sat down in his chair when he started his postgame speech on Saturday afternoon.
“Defense won the game, offense couldn’t move the ball, made too many mistakes on special teams. I had my speech ready whether we won or lost,” Gundy said as he settled into the chair in front of a small room packed tight with reporters ready to hear the Oklahoma State coach’s thoughts on his team’s 13-10 overtime victory at Texas.
And Gundy didn’t disappoint. He insists he’s too old for coach-speak, and never was it more true.
To call it a news conference doesn’t do it justice. It was more an interactive monologue, in which Gundy occasionally answered questions from the media, but mostly opened up a freeflow of thought from his brain to his mouth like a rushing river to a waterfall.
He was open and genuine. Multiple times he reiterated his appreciation for the defense’s outstanding effort. He let his frustration show with the offense’s inability to adjust to Texas’ defensive schemes, and the special teams difficulties.
His opening statement lasted nearly four minutes and he was at the microphone for almost 20 — and it was worth every second. As pure and entertaining a postgame speech as you’ll see.
At one point, he leaned back in his chair, his shoulders cocked sideways, like a grandpa on a country porch, preparing to tell a tale or impart some wisdom.
And he did a little of both, and a lot more.
Early in his opening statement, Gundy ran down a laundry list of things that didn’t go well for the Cowboys on Saturday.
“Texas is good on defense. They dropped eight and played coverage. We didn’t run the ball very well. We made too many mistakes trying to block people. We went down a lineman, put another guy in and didn’t play very well. Then we couldn’t convert short yardage, couldn’t kick field goals, weren’t very good on kickoffs, and their punter is — did he win the Ray Guy Award last year? He should have won it. He changed the field on us. I don’t know what the yardage is, I just know that every time we got a little bit of field position, he changed the field.”
Fourth down-and-short was a tricky situation with the Cowboys’ run game struggles, plus some shaky field goal kicking.
“We’re in two fourth downs, one fourth and that much (holding his hands a couple feet apart), and one fourth and about that much (holding his hands a couple feet farther apart), and everybody is screaming at the TV back home, ‘why is coach Gundy not going for it?’ Well, because we got a couple of linemen down, we hadn’t been able to get a yard anyway, why would we be able to get a yard if they know it’s fourth-and-1? As much as I would like to have gone for it, I just didn’t feel good about it. I even debated going for it in the end, in the overtime. That’s a long way to go when you’re limited with what you’re doing running the ball right now, in my opinion.”
OSU’s Matt Ammendola missed a short field goal, which has plagued him this season, but Gundy had to send him out for another in overtime. Did he talk to his kicker in between?
“No. I don’t want kickers to ever start to affect my mental process, so I stay as far away from those guys as I can, because I’ve never understood them. I don’t know what makes them tick.”
What was he thinking when his defense gave up a 90-yard play, setting up Texas’ only touchdown?
“S***! That’s what I said to myself when it happened.”
What’s it like dealing with an injury-riddled offensive line?
“It’s like Gene Hackman in Hoosiers when he started looking on the bench for a replacement player and there’s nobody there. That’s kinda what happens to us when we’re looking for O-linemen. Turn around and there’s nobody there.”
Here are a few other gems from Gundy’s postgame speech:
•“There’s 95,000 people here I think. How many does this place hold? It’s a fish story, there’s 120,000 people here. It’s like Soldier Field in the ‘60s, playing the city championship in high school. There’s 125,000 people here and our backs are against the wall and (Ramon Richards) made a play.”
•“I just told (OSU athletic director Mike) Holder I needed a raise. That’ll be good for our relationship, won’t it? You know what he said? ‘You get one.’ See, you gotta pin him down on it, because he won’t remember 30 minutes from now.”
•“I was really disappointed (the players) didn’t want me to dance. I was trying to get a little national publicity, hit SportsCenter and such. And they didn’t ask for that. They’ve gotten so used to winning, they don’t even ask me to dance.”