OSU Notebook: Gundy Backs Up Quarterback Decision

Coach Gundy, his coordinators and a handful of players met with the media Monday following Saturday's 21-3 victory against Mississippi State.

• Gundy addressed the J.W. Walsh/Clint Chelf decisions, reiterating that Walsh was the starter from this point forward. He also defended his call to keep Walsh in for the remainder of the game.

"We started to see results from what J.W. was giving us and at that point, when you're playing a team with the capability of beating us, we needed to stay with what gave us the best ability to win the game," Gundy said.

"J.W. is our quarterback now. Clint could play. I don't have a time frame for that and I'm not sure we ever will. We're comfortable with the way J.W. played and we think he gives us the best opportunity for success."

• Along the success lines, Gundy smirked while admitting, "It's okay to win on defense every once in a while."

"When you don't play well (on defense), everyone's talking about how you can't win in the long run, then when you play well it's, ‘How come the offense isn't any good?'"

• When asked if, in hindsight, playing a neutral site game against a quality foe like Mississippi State was a good idea, Gundy shook his head.

"I want to play here (Boone Pickens Stadium). I want to get 60-thousand people in this stadium; I want it to be full and I want to bring recruits in and I want people to come in on Friday nights and I want the restaurants to be full and the atmosphere and 35-thousand tailgaters here. That's what I believe in."

"Am I glad we won the game? Yes. Am I glad we won playing an SEC team? Yes. But I would still rather play at home in this facility and sell and market Oklahoma State University."

• Gundy also said safety Larry Stephens is out for the season. Stephens appeared to suffer a leg injury in the first half of Saturday's game and will presumably redshirt this year.

• Offensive coordinator Mike Yurcich mentioned the three-back zone read formation was installed last spring after studying the San Francisco 49ers and Colin Kaepernick.

"They ran some of those exact plays out of that formation, so we just looked at a lot of their tape," Yurcich said. "We installed that last spring. It was effective back then, so we continued to work at it."

• Defensive coordinator Glenn Spencer was cautious but pleased with the pressure applied by his defense.

"I thought we did a really good job in crucial situations of stopping the run," Spencer said. "I thought we affected the quarterback, which doesn't necessarily mean a sack every time, but I think our front seven, when we sent them, did a good job of affecting the quarterback. I thought our secondary made nice breaks on the ball in crucial situations."

• The Big 12's leading rusher, J.W. Walsh, discussed the Cowboy's ability to run the ball and potentially running more against UTSA next Saturday.

"Any time you have something that's working, you never want to go away from that," the sophomore said. "Use what's working and attack what you see with the defense, and that's what we did Saturday. I feel like we'll be able to build on that and move on and expand on our offense going forward. "

• Senior Jeremy Smith said the Cowboy offense didn't let the slow start affect them.

"You have to keep your mind in the game and make sure you are staying with your coach and get those corrections so you can go out there and make better plays," Smith said. "We pretty much did that. We went into halftime, and everyone was calm, laughing around. We knew we were going to go out there and take care of business, and we did."

• Safety Shamiel Gary spoke about the defense's motivation to send a message against Mississippi State.

""Everybody had a chip on their shoulder. We know how we can play," Gary said. "We think that every game is a stepping stone toward how we're going to play for the rest of the year."