Gundy calls Texas victory a ‘culture win’
AUSTIN, Texas — Mike Gundy called it a “culture win.”
His ninth-ranked Oklahoma State football team rallied from two touchdowns back for a 32-24 win over Texas and it was as much about what the team does on Tuesday mornings in June as what it did on Saturday afternoon at Royal-Memorial Stadium.
As much about players' work ethic in meeting rooms as it was about in-game adjustments.
Sure, performance and the execution of game plans mattered on Saturday. Mattered greatly. But so did the foundation on which Gundy has built his program.
“This was a really, really good culture win for us as an organization,” Gundy said moments after shaking his hips in another celebratory locker room dance. “The team, they have a great culture.
They care about each other, and this win is a credit to that.
“In the fourth quarter, we were 170 yards of offense to 1 for Texas, so it’s a credit to (strength coordinator) Rob Glass, a credit to our conditioning, a credit to our players and their willingness to play right to the end of the game.”
The type of culture Gundy is speaking about isn’t something that is developed over the course of six games in a season, or even the span of a calendar year. It’s a devoted effort to forming habits over a long period of time within a program and building trust among players.
OSU puts a lot of veterans on the field at a variety of positions, players who have lived the Cowboy culture for years and become immersed in it.
“They’re not scared of anybody,” Gundy said. “We talk a lot about ‘No fear, no frustration, no fatigue,’ in everything we do.
“They had (100,000 fans) here today and we only had 82 players. So you have to be able to prepare them and let them prepare themselves to be in a hostile environment and it not faze you. On paper, if you just grade it out on paper, Texas is better than us. On paper… but our guys, they prepare well, they focus, they’re disciplined for the most part.”
That’s how these Cowboys have learned to win tight games like the one on Saturday — or just about any other game this season. Their leaders are guys like Malcolm Rodriguez and Brock Martin and Kolby Harvell-Peel — players who are the standard bearers of the Cowboy culture Gundy sells to recruits when they visit.
“We’re resilient,” said Rodriguez, the senior linebacker who had five tackles with a half-tackle for loss and a quarterback hurry. “Just keep throwing punches and getting after it, and it’ll end up going our way. We never got down, so we just kept fighting.”
For the defense, the culture showed in its ability to give up some points and big plays early in the game, but keep tinkering with the strategy to the point that OSU eventually allowed just 12 yards and no first downs on Texas’ final six possessions.
On offense, the culture showed in its ability to bounce back up after getting smacked around and held without a touchdown for three quarters. Running back Jaylen Warren had 118 of his 193 rushing yards in the fourth quarter and OSU outscored Texas 16-0.
“When you get hit — not if, when you get hit — get your ass back up and go swing again,” OSU offensive coordinator Kasey Dunn said. “We knew it was gonna be that kind of game. We were, in a way, looking forward to this kind of game, because we felt like, all week long, that this was how it was going to go. And it did. So I think our kids just believed it all the way through.”
The foundation of the Cowboy culture has been laid, and that enables likeminded transfers — like Warren and offensive lineman Danny Godlevske — to blend in without much difficulty and become impact players.
“Discipline and toughness,” Warren said. “Everybody wants to win. Everybody wants to contribute. Nobody’s selfish, everybody’s selfless. That’s the part of their community I really wanted to be a part of, and that’s why I like it here so much.”