Hangover from Oregon, Much Greater for the Fans than the Oklahoma State Team

STILLWATER – Nobody has said it this week,so here goes and I will. If the Oklahoma State Cowboys are thinking about the 69-3 loss at Oregon as much as it still permeates in the minds of fans, then Friday night might not be as much fun as I’m hoping it will be. 

“Tulsa is just good enough to beat Oklahoma State if the Cowboys don’t prepare and play the way they should,” one observer told me this week. He’s right.

In his weekly news conference on Monday, head coach Mike Gundy was asked early about prevailing thoughts on the loss at Oregon.

“We graded the game, corrected it and then moved on,” Gundy said matter-of-fact. “We don’t really go back to it, much less with it being over a week.”

I promise you that you don’t have to remind players about Oregon. Any player will tell you that while you move past losses like the one at Oregon, you never forget. I can tell you about the worse losses from my playing days, even my broadcasting days way before I can tell you about the best wins. Coaches, players, they are all the same. You remember the worst days more quickly, and often more vividly than the best days.

“We look at missed assignments, fundamentals, techniques. We look at coaching. Different things. We can get a pretty good feel from it,” Gundy said of the more immediate autopsy of a loss. “Those are the things that we have to improve on, which we worked on last week.”

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The return of the Black-out game, which proved to be a solid tactic in 2023 vs. Kansas State, Hopefully will be just as successful.

“For sure. We definitely are talking about being better,” wide receiver Shamar Rigby told several of us on Monday. “Like I said, we’ve been trying to execute and get our plays together. Everybody just do their assignments and like if we just do our assignments, everything will fall in place. We don’t have to overdo it. We don’t have to be like the man of the team. If everybody do their part, that’ll never happen (again).”

You can hope. If you put in the work and the coaches and players have the right mindset and the daily results that add up with practice and the improvement that Gundy spoke of, then you avoid another on-the-field disaster.

Gundy has lots of experience in dealing with winning, not as much with losing. One thing the veteran head coach is certain about is success comes with running the football. Gundy is the coach that has always told me that when you can run the football when everybody in the stadium knows that you are going to run, then you will be fine. 

With a young quarterback in Zane Flores and a receiver corps that also seems to be looking for their footing, running the football is an absolute. The offensive line improved at Oregon.

“I think that we'll improve in the run game. I think that we have enough to be successful in the run game to get to where we need to be to balance our offense,” Gundy analyzed. “I used to always say 4.5 yards a carry. I mean, I'm just throwing this out myself. I've noticed recently, it's not as prominent as it used to be. Teams are more physical up front. They're better athletes up front on defense than they have been in years past. I think if you can average four yards a carry, you had a pretty good night.”

Football is still a simple game, if you can run the football and you can play defense and stop the run then chances are pretty good you can win. I know in talking to “star” Kenneth Harris that he agreed with me, the defense we saw throughout the spring and in fall camp didn’t seem to make the trip to the Pacific Northwest.

"I think you're right,” Harris responded. “The defense you saw in the spring and in fall camp was not the defense that showed up at Oregon. I think with the bye week it gave us the time to reflect and get back on track to play Oklahoma State defense."

That would help right there with running the football helping the offense. All of it will help Oklahoma State fans feel better. There are still 10 games to go in the regular season. I’ll be honest, my life is more fun when people around me are excited about the football season. Football games have become huge events that make for a whole lot of fun when the Cowboys and their fans are enthused. 

I know Mike Gundy doesn’t read the media or peek much at social media. He advised me to limit my viewing. Most of all, I know when his team plays well there is less that keeps him up and robs him of sleep.

“There’s a lot of things that keep me up at night,” Gundy answered an inquiry on Monday. “My youngest son just turned 21, that’s another one that keeps me up at night. All those things go through my mind. I try to get five hours of sleep. You ever try to do that? 

I have. Honestly, most of the time I do. It is more difficult after games like that last one.