STILLWATER – Oklahoma State’s first possession in the game last Saturday with Baylor and the Cowboys faced a fourth and one at the Baylor 15-yard-line. The Bears had stalled and kicked a field goal on their first possession and led 3-0. Going for it and missing would give Baylor the ball back early in the game and a chance to boost their lead, maybe even a two score advantage early. Cowboys head coach Mike Gundy said go for it.
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Gundy has proven to have a good feel for making the call of “go for it” or “punt it”.
"I just wanted our players to know that we could be better than what we were in Dallas (Big 12 Championship) in that situation, and I wanted them to know that it was our fault, not theirs,” Gundy said in a way trying to erase ghosts from last December. “We didn't prepare them for that. We put it out there. And I think that to be fair to… I'm not blaming (Kasey) Dunn and the offensive staff. I'm pulling myself into this as much as anybody… to be fair, we didn't really expect it to be like that.”
Oklahoma State was without Jaylen Warren at running back and Danny Godlevske at center in that 21-16 loss to Baylor back on Dec. 4, 2021. Since then, as Kasey Dunn pointed out after the win Saturday, the Cowboys have added a new two-back formation with the quarterback under center and it has worked so far with near perfection. The Cowboys were one-for-one on fourth down tries in the 36-25 win in Waco. Baylor was three-for-five. On the season this week’s opponent Texas Tech is 10-for-18 on fourth down tries and they’ve punted only 19 times.
“We learned to be prepared for that. I would like to continue with that (going for it on fourth down), because it's good if we can keep the ball and keep the drive alive,” Gundy said in discussing fourth down tries and how Baylor last week and Texas Tech this week will do it often. “We also have been very fortunate we have a really good target punter, who can play really good field position. And, you know, that field position got us a safety in that game. That field position two other times put them in a position that they had less than seven percent chance to score based on where they started. So, you know, it's gone on forever. I don't think anybody's reinventing the game, I just think it's a feel for, in my opinion, as a head coach, I have to make those decisions.”
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This safety was set up by a Tom Hutton punt downed inside the two-yard-line.
Gundy gets really detailed adding he thinks about field condition. Is the ball wet? Could his players slip on the play? Most of all, how has the game played out? Can his offense get it done? Is there an advantage in a personnel situation or a play call? Otherwise, Tom Hutton and the punt team have proven to be a near lock to get their job done. Hutton is averaging 42.7-yards a kick on 20 punts. The Cowboys net punt average is 39.4-yards. Of Hutton’s 20 punts, 11 have been inside the 20 and six have been fair caught. He has no touchbacks. He has plenty of help in the coverage unit going down and getting the ball.
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Hutton is the oldest Cowboys player at 32-years-old.
"We were pretty good at it last year,” Gundy answered when asked about the success of the punt unit. “All those guys are back that are running down there and covering with the exception of little (Braylin) Presley. He's kind of new, but I mean he's built for that. And then Tom is a year older and more mature and has a better feel for it. And so, we've just been fortunate that with his experience and the guys that we have covering, they've gotten good at it. Well, that's hard to do, and for [Jaden Nixon] to have that experience just starting it, because he didn't do it last year, and then [Braylin Presley] was playing at Bixby last year. So that was pretty good for those guys to have that maturity at that time."
When you have a unit like that that can protect field position and gain it so secure, it almost makes more sense to punt the ball.
