Gundy on Rest of Season: “We’re Going To Be in Fourth Quarter Games From Here on Out.”
STILLWATER – Let me make this perfectly clear. Saturday night when the Oklahoma State team, staff, and support staff squeezed into the small visitor’s locker room at Boise State the feeling permeating the room was of joy and satisfaction. It was not lost on the players, the equipment managers, and most certainly the medical staff that this was a good win. Way too many missing pieces particularly at wide receiver, but also players like defensive end Trace Ford, safety Tre Sterling, and running back Dezmon Jackson were back in Oklahoma. The receivers alone made up six players that would have been on the plane and in the line-up. Sure, there are Tay Martin (ankle), Langston Anderson (broken foot), Braydon Johnson (medical condition), Blaine Green (shoulder), Jaden Bray (foot), and Matt Polk (knee).
Players understand what a barrage of injuries like that to one position can do to a football team. They realized they had done something special in Boise thanks to the contributions of many from the offensive line to running back Jaylen Warren, quarterback Spencer Sanders, the few healthy receivers, the entire defense, punter Tom Hutton and the punt team, all the special teams. This was a group victory, a team victory in all regards. Coaches thought long and hard as to what to do at certain points in the game to give the players the best chance to execute and win the game.
Style points haven’t mattered since the week before the Sept. 4 season opener with Missouri State. The record is 3-0, but the scrap book isn’t loaded with highlights. The final score and Oklahoma State with one more point that the opposition is what has mattered.
“As you look across the country, you might have four or five teams that are playing really well, but most everybody else is essentially beating themselves,” Oklahoma State head coach Mike Gundy theorized. “If you can avoid beating yourself, it will give you a chance in most games. I think our players up to this point have understood that. The things that can really hurt you as a football team, if you can avoid those, you will have a chance in the fourth quarter. That's really where we're at right now with this team."
As he looks at the video of this week’s opponent in Kansas State, he sees a team in the same mode. The Wildcats had most everybody healthy and flexed their muscles, more muscles than most Big 12 observers thought they had, in a 24-7 win over Stanford. That is the same Stanford team that came bac week two and hammered USC 42-28 and helped Trojans athletic director Mike Bohn decide to fire his head coach Clay Helton.
Then against Southern Illinois, the Wildcats in the first quarter lost heart and soul quarterback Skyler Thompson. Back-up quarterback Will Howard is experienced. He started against Oklahoma State last season, but he changes things. K-State has now lost defensive end and pass rusher Khalid Duke.
They still have explosive Big 12 rushing leader Duece Vaughn. They have solid receivers led by speedster Malik Knowles, a big transfer tight end in Daniel Imatorbhebhe, a good offensive line, and a solid overall defense. They are winning games running the football and playing defense and special teams.
Both teams threw the ball just 13 times in wins last week. Kansas State, at home, beat a good Nevada team 38-17. The score was 17-17 going to the fourth quarter before the Wildcats exploded for 21 points.
The fourth quarter will be big for both teams and Gundy believes for his Cowboys it will be important the rest of the season. He knows Oklahoma State fans have become used to leaving early and even before the fourth quarter to eat, drink, and be merry at the tailgates. The Cowboys will need their fans for the fourth quarter.
"We'll be in a fourth quarter game. We're going to be in fourth quarter games from here on out,” Gundy said on Monday. “We lost a pretty good firepower on offense for the year. So, we're trying to do the best we can to manage and work together as a team, rush the football, work the clock, keep the defense off the field and play good special teams. We're trying to find a way to win the game other than just saying that we have guys injured and we don't know what we're going to do. It's just like what happened on Saturday. We rushed the football effectively enough, we had the football for 21 and a half minutes in the second half, they only had it for nine. We had really good target punting and special teams, and that's what won the game for us."
They’ll need all those things again this week. They could use some healthy receivers returning with Martin, Green, and Bray being the most likely, but there are no promises. The only promise is that the majority of the games will be closer and the exits to the tailgates and the parking lot later than they’ve been in a few years in Stillwater.