MANHATTAN, Kansas – The look on Spencer Sander’s face was different than the one seen almost a month ago in the waning moments of the win over Texas Tech. That look was pain, but this look was more panic, more demonstrative, and Sanders brought his left arm up and was trying to get to his right shoulder to rub it, check it out. Sanders went to the tent and then a few minutes later after head football trainer Scott Parker conferred with a Kansas State trainer on the Oklahoma State sideline, Sanders was walked over to the Kansas State training room where he likely was X-rayed. By the time the Cowboys team reached the locker room after the 48-0 loss to K-State Sanders was showered and dressed and sitting back out of view in his locker as Mike Gundy addressed the team.
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Sanders sacked on Saturday. He took a fourth quarter hit where his shoulder was mashed into the turf.
Prior to being hurt, Sanders was 13-of-26 for 147-yards and one interception. His one interception was thrown where the ball was supposed to be but after he released it receiver Stephon Johnson Jr. slipped. There were several of Sanders’ throws that were dropped, and a 29-yard gain was lost when Brennan Presley fumbled the ball downfield after the catch. Sanders was seen hugging Presley’s neck on the way to the sideline after that play.
Gundy and his staff don’t address injuries and they especially don’t address injuries when it comes to a starting quarterback and a team most valuable player like Sanders. I’m not a doctor and I don’t know anything, but a good guess would be that the Cowboys might be playing a different quarterback next Saturday in Lawrence, Kan. There would at least be a chance of that. First call on that duty would be red-shirt freshman Gunnar Gundy. In limited duty in the fourth quarter Gundy was the leading rusher with five carries for 27-yards. He was just two-of-seven passing but there was one drop and an almost interception.
His best drive taking the team 43-yards on 10 plays to the Kansas State 32-yard-line before a Patrick Mahomes’ type pitch was intercepted by the Wildcats. How did Gundy feel about his longest playing stint against a Big 12 opponent?
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Gundy very much looks up to Sanders.
“Spencer came out and I had to come in and do the best that I can and run the offense,” Gundy started with his answer. “We had a little drive going and I had an ignorant play (pitch that was intercepted). Something that can’t happen, you have to have your feet set when you throw the ball. You can’t do stupid stuff. I hope Spence (Sanders) is okay. You know I hope everything is fine and I’m praying for him. You have to go home and try to correct the best we can and move on.”
As for the 22-yard run in particular, the only double-digit run of the day for the Cowboys, Gundy said it felt good.
“It felt good making a pretty big run for the first time against a Big 12 team. It felt pretty good,” Gundy said. "It kind of calmed me down just a little bit, but you have to stack good plays and you can’t ruin a good drive with a play like that (intercepted pitch). We just have to get better.”
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Gundy is short on game experience but he has been around football and quarterbacking his entire life.
Gundy has watched his dad, he’s watched Spencer Sanders and OSU quarterbacks before Sanders. He knows how to talk to the media.
“Sometimes in football stuff worked out for them really well in big time situations,” Gundy said of Kansas State. “They had good plays in situations, and they ran the ball well. Sometimes those things happen. It felt like you turn the faucet on and you can’t turn it off. I’m proud of our guys for fighting and they had a little heart, and I was extremely proud of our guys and Spencer.”
Offensive coordinator Kasey Dunn has a theory and a process he wants and he explained it after the game by explaining what he said to his receivers in the locker room, it happened to be right by the quarterbacks including Gundy and Garret Rangel, who are possibly much closer to playing today than they were yesterday at Kansas State.
“The first thing when I pulled the wideouts after the game, this game was the polar opposite of last week's game,” Dunn said. “The highs of that one were just phenomenal. And we've got to learn to put those types of emotions in the middle, no matter what. Get after it and you're winning or winning a big game like last week versus Texas. You've got to find a way to take that thing from being here and move it to there through the course of the week. You can't continue to ride on that (emotion and high). And the same thing has to happen (after) this game. So, we've got to put everything in the middle and just go to work. It needs to be a flatline all year long and the highs and lows are on game day and all the sudden you're back to the middle."
Even though right now at 6-2 but after a 48-0 loss it doesn’t feel like the middle. It feels lower. Spencer Sanders health is a concern, but if you are Gunnar Gundy or Garret Rangel you’d better get yourself ready. It looks like your time to step up might be this week.
