Oklahoma State Progressed in the Basics in Preparing for Tulsa

STILLWATER – After the 69-3 blowout loss to Oregon a few weeks back, Oklahoma State head coach Mike Gundy told the media he felt the coaching staff tried to install too much going into the game that it inhibited things against the Ducks.

Not being critical or judgmental, it would be interesting to know the thought process behind trying to install too many schemes. Was it based on confidence in a new staff and new team, or maybe out of desperation? 

“I thought we tried to do too much based on their talent,” coach Gundy said on Monday. “We tried to make too many things up instead of being who we are and what we need to get accomplished.”

Regardless, coach Gundy told the media on Monday the team has heavily evaluated the Oregon film over the past few weeks.

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

There wasn’t much that went right against the Ducks, giving up 631 yards of total offense, gaining just 211 on the other end, with two pick sixes late in the game.

The film has been watched, adjustments are being made, and the open week seemed to be beneficial from a rest and adjustment standpoint.

“Oh sure. I think the bye week was good,” said coach Gundy. “Any game, win or lose, my job is to critique all those areas, have discussions about that the next day, which is usually a Sunday. That’s what I’ve done for 21 years. That was the message that I gave you at that point on what I thought took place. We had shared that, worked on that over the last four days.”

The Golden Hurricane are a drastically different group than Oregon.

They’re averaging about 220 passing yards per game, about 181 rushing yards per game, while averaging 24 points per game. 

They will, however, be desperate for a win. They’re a young team with a new and young coaching staff trying to prove they can compete. They also smell some blood in the (Still)water. Head coach Tre Lamb, regardless of coach speak, feels Tulsa can and should be competing with the Oklahoma States and Kansas States of the world. 

You have to respect an opponent, but only so much. The Cowboys were bad against Oregon, of that there is no doubt or question. But let’s not pretend Tulsa is Oregon. Should the Cowboys get back to basics? Yes, and they should be perfected before moving onto the advanced. But basics shouldn’t be an issue on Friday night.