OSU Head Coach Mike Gundy Breaks Down Bedlam Win

Oklahoma State outlasted Oklahoma, 27-24, in a back-and-forth game for its fifth straight conference win and second consecutive win over the Sooners in Stillwater.

With the Bedlam win, Oklahoma State maintained its spot atop the conference in a tie with Texas.

Oklahoma State head coach Mike Gundy

Opening Statement

“That’s a really good football game. Lots of excitement, it’s kind of the way we wanted it. Back and forth, lots of big plays for both teams. Mistakes from both teams, things we wish we could have back and I’m sure there are mistakes they wish they could take back. Two good teams competing against each other for a heavyweight fight, trading blows. I mentioned in the locker room how proud I was of our coaches, their plans that they had going into the game but then the adjustments they made through the game. Our players’ willingness to ride the wave, ups and downs, and just continue to go out there and compete and play each play. Most of the game I watch faces and monitor body language and things so if I feel like someone is going south, then I’ve got to go over and pick them up. Or, if they’re too enthusiastic and out of control, I’ve got to go over and calm them down. One that was interesting in today’s game, I didn’t really have to do much of either. The excitement that was generated at times by our team was timely, and we didn’t have anybody that really got down on themselves. So they’re starting to learn and get a feel for life lessons that will help them for the rest of their lives to compete, stay the course, be able to take blows and then be able to hit back. As far as the game, our ability to rush the football, again, I don’t know how much we rushed for, but I know we rushed for enough to win. They were heavy into stopping the run, but we knew that, we said it at the press conference, it wasn’t a secret. They were inserting a safety from inside out, which put an extra guy in the box. If we had to do it all over again, we’d probably throw more passes on early downs, but Kasey (Dunn) is pretty entrenched right now with pumping the ball to Ollie (Gordon), and you can’t really blame him for that.”

On the calls on fourth and short to go for it

“We weren’t very good on fourth and short. I got out of my box a little bit, in most cases I would have kicked a field goal in that situation. But I felt comfortable with our ability to run, and I will give them credit for fourth and shorts, they made plays, they had good calls based on the calls that we had. Earlier when I said that our team continues to fight through adversity, that can be a huge momentum swing. Our guys were upset they didn’t get it, but they just came back in, sat down and talked about it, we fixed it and we moved on.”

On OU’s last play of the game

“The last play, well I think they were oh-for on fourth down, right? Defensively, our guys have done a really good job on fourth down. In the end, when they had the fourth and short, 11 (Fr. Dylan Smith) really, really smart standpoint. You have to know where the sticks are. We call coverages and we call defense, and a lot of times, a young player doesn’t understand the importance of knowing where the sticks are. If it’s fourth and four, and they throw it for four-and-a-half yards and complete it and you tackle him, it’s a first down and doesn’t really do us any good. We have coached that, we’ve talked about it, all last spring and all last summer, and in August. We practice fourth downs every Tuesday and every Wednesday, and it paid off for us today. It’s paid off for us this year, and it paid off for us again today. I watched them, and I knew they were going to throw it to (Drake) Stoops, but it doesn’t make any difference if I know it because I can’t get that communicated to them. But hopefully, they (OSU’s defense) had a good idea, I haven’t had a chance to talk to them yet. I watched him, when they covered up and went out, we know they were going to run him in the flat, and 11 went downfield immediately. I don’t know if they even got a yard on the play. When he started to wrap him up, I knew the game was over and then I took my eyes off of him. It was smart football; we talk a lot on our team about being a smart football player. He’s just got to be a smart football player, then that allows us to be a smart football team.”

On Rashod Owens’ performance today:

“I don’t know what to say about Rashod Owens. Owens started the year as a backup. I don’t know what his statistics are now this far into the season, but he’s a perfect example of you never know what a young man can do if given the chance to be in a situation. To start the year as a backup and plays in the final Bedlam game ever, after 118 years, and he’s got 10 catches for 136 yards. It’s pretty cool when a young man gets a chance to play, he was willing to step up and compete and make plays.”

On what this means for the team and for the fans

“I did tell the team, and whoever else was in the locker room, the one thing they should remember is these are special moments. The one thing they can take with them for the rest of their lives is the thrill they gave these fans out here for this game. There’s been a lot of years, a lot of history and a lot of tradition in Bedlam, and the crowd is more engaged with our team than any of the years I’ve been here, about 30-plus years. Our crowd, our fans and our students are more engaged with our team than ever. So what they did is they give them a once-in-a-lifetime experience, and I made sure that they knew we owed them. Here’s why. Earlier in the year, we weren’t coaching very well, and I told you guys that. After our third game of the year, coaching was awful, so we didn’t play very well. I told our coaches their coaching was awful, and my coaching was awful because I watched it happen. We didn’t play well. Then we practice for two weeks and played a little better on the road. Came home, and (the fans) filled this place up. Then we played another good team, and they filled this place up. When they didn’t have to because we didn’t coach very well at the beginning of the year. I wanted to let them know that that was a big win for a lot of people out there, for a lot of years. For the last game, for them to win Bedlam, it gave them a chance of a lifetime.”