Cowboys Practice Plan for Week in Arizona

SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. – Oklahoma State head football coach Mike Gundy will tell you that back early in his head coach career after he had lost his first bowl game in his fourth season as Cowboys head coach as the Pokes lost 42-31 to Oregon in the Holiday Bowl he received some great advice. Gundy asked then Texas head coach Mack Brown why he had been so successful in bowl games. Brown told Gundy that the key was “to put the hay in the barn” before you leave home. Brown’s advice: get the game plan down and your team prepared while on campus, then use the practices at the bowl sight just to sharpen up and run over the game plan. Gundy has always stayed with that advice and the Cowboys are 10-5 in bowl games with their alumnus as a head coach.

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Jaylen Warren stands out at practice even as the sun sets in Arizona.

Before getting back to the readiness of the team, let’s hit some main story lines. See running back Jaylen Warren in the video. Looks good, deosn’t he? He is and ready to go on Saturday against Notre Dame.. The team is good to go and despite all the issues nationwide, the Cowboys didn’t have any serious travel problems getting everybody to Phoenix. 

Gundy told me back in Stillwater that his team had gone through physical, tough practices.

“By the time we kickoff in the game in Arizona, we will have had the equivalent of 10 Tuesday practices,” Gundy said.

Nine of those Tuesday practices were in Stillwater as the team went through a two days on and one day off schedule allowing for two physical workouts followed by a day off. Gundy was also happy about the post practice scrimmages for the younger players. They received almost a spring practice full of 11-vs-11 reps that will help them all develop toward the increased roles they will be expected to move into for next season.

“They ended up getting close to 250 full scrimmage reps,” Gundy said. “That is almost the same as they would get in 15 days of spring football.”

Those extra periods for the younger players ended with the end of practice at home.

The Cowboys arrived on Sunday and as you can see from the video checked into the hotel and then made it to Saguaro High School in Scottsdale for a practice. It was an hour and a half workout in shorts, shoulder pads, and helmets.

Today, the Cowboys have a Tuesday practice, their tenth of those that Gundy spoke of. They are on the field for two hours and 20 minutes. It will be a practice with some good on good reps and some serious time of offense and defense vs. scout teams. The players have the option of going to the Phoenix Suns game with Memphis this evening.

The Tuesday practice is going to be like a Wednesday practice with the team on the field for two hours and five minutes. There is a team dinner and a free evening on Tuesday.

Wednesday the team will practice for just under an hour as this will be like a Thursday practice at home. The players head to Top Golf on Wednesday. All team entertainment events are now optional as dictated by the College Football Playoff Management Committee.

Thursday will see the Cowboys practice for an hour and 25 minutes and that will also be like a Thursday practice.

The team will get a pregame look at State Farm Stadium on Friday as they will bus there for a walk around. They will come back to their practice site for a more formal call out and walk through before heading back to the hotel. The entire process will last two hours and 45 minutes including travel time on the buses.

I still believe that while the work was primarily done back in Stillwater that the excitement and attention to detail in practices throughout the week will go a long way in deciding which team wins the PlayStation Fiesta Bowl.

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Tay Martin with a catch at practice.

“We’re excited. Anytime we get to put the pads on and put on the jersey and go out there and entertain the fans, we want to perform. We’re just excited and working hard, and anticipating the game in Arizona,” wide receiver Tay Martin said.

“I think we are extremely motivated,” defensive end Kody Walterscheid said. “Almost more than ever and flying around at practice. We’ll be ready.”