Oklahoma State hosts Arkansas Saturday with kickoff set for 11 a.m. It’s the first time the two border state foes will play in football since 1980.
Gundy previewed the contest against the Razorbacks while reviewing the previous game against the Jackrabbits at his weekly Monday press conference.
Here’s everything Gundy said Monday:
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You’ve had a couple days to look at film, what are your takeaways?
“Not a lot different than what we talked about after the game. We ran the ball OK, not good enough. Defensively, we had 49 plays and gave up 174 yards and we had six plays where we gave up 210 (yards). Which is what I thought afterwards, so I was kind of close with my math. We tackled better than we tackled last year early in the season, but not good enough. As I mentioned, I was pleased with the discipline of our team — turnovers, penalties, negative yard plays. Not far off from the postgame.”
Were you able to diagnose what went wrong on those six big plays?
“It’s a simple concept for what we do. Sometimes it’s a little confusing publicly. Our players need to have their eyes in the correct spots. They did a couple things that were really good. That’s why I mentioned I didn’t want to go into it too much without watching. They did a couple things scheme-wise that were really good, so four of the six (plays) we need to be more disciplined with our eyes. We need to adjust to what they did to us. That’s going to happen. Other teams, their coaches get a chance to coach and their players get a chance to play. The majority of it is, we have to have our eyes in the right place.”
On Arkansas’ defensive line vs the run game:
“I mentioned this to you this summer in Vegas and somebody brought it up in the preseason. When you’re playing a team in the SEC, you’re going to play girth. You’re going to run into guys that have a lot of guys with a lot of size and are physical in the box. They have a really good geographical location for producing bigger type bodies like that. That’s where I mentioned that we need to make good strides from last week to this week in order to block a completely different front than we did last week.”
What did you think of South Dakota State’s defensive front?
“In my opinion, being fair, they had four guys on that defense that could play in this league. I don’t get paid to evaluate players from other teams, but when I looked at it, that’s what I thought. They haven’t gotten to the point where they are without having good players and good concepts. The difference between the team we played and the team we’re playing now is the girth and mass of what you’re going to face up front. That’s the difference. From a technique standpoint, from concept and fundamental standpoint, the team we just played was excellent. They didn’t have as much size as what we’ll face on Saturday.”
Thoughts on your offensive line against South Dakota State?
“They were good. They didn’t give up any sacks. (Alan) Bowman did a better job in this game of sitting in the pocket and not running out for no reason. That’s what we’ve asked him to do and what we’ve been working on. We only had one or two negative yard plays. I think we lost three yards on one play and one yard on another. You always have to take that into part. Sacks and negative yard plays are a big part of the game. We have to get better and continue to work to improve some things in the running game that will help us. The things that we need to improve on this week are things that we’ve done and improved on in the past.”
What did you think of Bowman’s game?
“I thought he played very well for what we ask our quarterbacks to do in this system. And the improvement that you guys see, which I’m guessing from what he did in this game compared to the majority of the games he did last year, was good, and he distributed the ball in a manner that we asked him to in our system, and he did a nice job sitting in the pocket and relaxing and Making some throws after he had really good protection.”
Sam Pittman, you know him?
“He’s been in Oklahoma, but I was, I think when he was in Oklahoma, I was in Maryland or something. I can’t remember. I had seen him before. Know people that know him more so than me. He’s a lot older than me. I say that jokingly, but people that I know that know him speak very highly of him as a person and a football coach, and so I’ve just been more aware of and not really knowing him (((dog barks))). He must be out there right now. I told Kenzie and Ginger to bark if they saw coach Pittman and coach Petrino.”
Series with history and people are excited?
“I think the series is good for the reasons, you were there the other night, right? The other day or night, whatever, but because you’re going to want to play quality non conference schedules now, so the committee will have respect for that. And this is a good matchup because it’s two hours and 45 minutes away. You have a lot of crossover with people. There’s a lot of Arkansas people that can live up here. There’s a lot of Oklahoma people that have migrated over there with Walmart and all that stuff so I think it is good.”
Good as first game from penalty standpoint as possible?
“I think so, we played with discipline and it was interesting that the first scrimmage and the second scrimmage we had in August that was a concern of mine. I thought we had way too many penalties. And then we must have done a good job of instilling the discipline in our players because in that game we played really well in those area, that hidden yard area which would be your special team’s production and your penalties.”
Trey Rucker hit people, had gap control, run support, he’s the man.
“Trey loves to play football and always has. He’s reckless and will totally disregard his body to play the game, which is what you have to do to be competitive at this level. And he likes football. I mean Trey is a guy that would play forever if you’d let him and he’s a quiet leader, he’s not vocal, but players do enjoy watching him, and it’s valuable to have a player like him on your team, because he’s relentless and he’ll compete from start to finish.”
What wide receiver Gavin Freeman has done so well do garner early playing time:
“Well, he’s fast and he’s tough. He’s always had success. He disregards his body at wide receiver. He takes hits all the time. He tries to hurdle people. He runs through people. He’s a returner. He wrestled for 10 years. He just has a toughness about him – a competitive nature. And you want guys like that on your team.”
“He really wasn’t under the radar. And I can’t remember exactly the players that we took in that class. We watched him and watched him and liked him and watched him. And Gauge, actually – my youngest (son) – told me that year, ‘You guys are making a mistake not taking him.’ He crossed paths with him in the summer 7on7, and all that stuff. But we had a reason for not (taking him). I think that we were in a year that we didn’t take a bunch (of wide receiver prospects). But we certainly were aware that he was good enough to play at this level.”
On Leslie O’Neal being inducted into the OSU Football Ring of Honor:
“I don’t know what Leslie’s last year (at OSU) was. I know Leslie was here in ’84. I came in ’86. But really close. You know, it’s really interesting – our former players, we talk so much about Barry (Sanders) and Thurman (Thomas), because of the offensive position. But as far as like former players that were dominant here, (O’Neal) was as dominant defensively as Barry and Thurman were offensively. It’s just a position that people talk about a lot. But (he was a) great player. Very moderately recruited, is what I was told, from Arkansas. Just a great player. And he had how many years in the NFL? Twelve? (Double digits). Playing in the position he players, multiple years in the NFL is tough. Just a great player.”
How Gundy decides whether to redshirt a player:
“So, you always, first and foremost, you want to do what you think is best for the young man, and what he wants to do. Now, those two don’t always jive together. And so the second (part), we ask and think what’s best for the team. Years ago, coaches made that determination. But over the last three, four, five years, there’s a neutral conversation between the player, their family, their representatives and the coaches, as you move forward. It’s just one of the changes that we’re going through that’s part of the game. I guess, ultimately, a coach could just say, ‘This is what you’re doing one way or another.’ That’s not what we do here. Because I think long term, that would be counterproductive in a free agency world.”
On Gavin Freeman’s situation being similar to Leon Johnson III‘s last season:
“We tried to redshirt him. Had injuries. Leon is a perfect example. We’d love to have him back, but at that point we were on a run and had a chance to get into the Big 12 Championship game. We would not have got in it without him. But, he also had to make a commitment to a team. We talked to him. We had the discussion. At first, I think he still wanted to redshirt, and then he finally said, ‘OK, I’ll play.’ We wouldn’t have gotten in that game without him. You guys know in the last two or three games, he had a couple big games, made big plays. So that was a difficult one because we started him to redshirt because making the jump from where he was to our level was huge, and he wasn’t ready up to the middle of October. Then all of a sudden he continued to get better and better, and we had injuries and we needed him.”
On where he sees the most growth between Week 1 and Week 2:
“Young players that were out there for the first time. So, a couple names would be Sesi (Vailahi), the running back because he played last year some but not a lot. Those guys will start to get better early in the year. Jeff Roberson, who played a number of snaps, that hasn’t really played before. That type of player that has a little experience but now is asked to play a bigger role, that’s where you’ll see the most improvement.
“Jaleel (Johnson) should really get better over the next few weeks.”
On Arkansas QB Taylen Green:
“You gotta have a guy for him. When you are competing against a guy that has the ability to run, you have to take that into account in your structure of defense and the style of play. We have plenty of ways to do that because we see them quite a bit now. It’s just a matter of being disciplined and making sure somebody has responsibility for the quarterback.
More on Green and general Arkansas talk:
“He’s a guy that can make plays. I’ve scanned through them over the summer, and they had four or five games last year that they could’ve won. I don’t know what their record was last year, but it looked to me they could’ve won eight games pretty easy in obviously a very difficult conference. They played against good teams and lost (by) single-digit points late in the fourth quarter. So, this team that we’re playing Saturday – regardless of what anybody in the country may think – will be as talented as anybody we play this year, in my opinion.”
On Petrino’s Feed the Studs theory, his system:
“He’s got a system he believes in. From a distance, crossed paths with him some and then seen crossover tape on him for years, he’s got a system he’s gonna stay in and then he’s gonna vary it a little bit based on what the strengths are of his skill players, which is what he’s referring to would be my guess. A comparison would be like what we’ve done the last 15 years on offense. We don’t get away from our core system and what we do on offense, but it varies based on who our quarterback is, what kind of a threat we have outside and who our running back is. We look a little different now than we did when Mason Rudolph was playing here. That was because of Mason and the skill we had on the perimeter compared to what we have with Ollie right now. I would say that would be a pretty good illustration of what his system is, in my opinion, I could be way off, and what he’s trying to get accomplished.”
Pros and cons from Saturday on in-helmet communication and sideline tablets:
“We had that discussion yesterday and it was all pretty smooth. I’ll be honest with you, much smoother than what I thought it would be with all the new technology during the game with so many other things going on. The newness of it was a real concern of mine, and it actually still is now, but we didn’t have many glitches, and I was pleased with the way that it came through.”
Could that be an advantage? Staffs that are comfortable with the new tech:
“We think that what we’re doing gives us an advantage, but maybe someone else is doing something better. We’ve had long discussions about it for months, so we had a plan going in. There’s not a lot we feel like we want to change. There’s a couple things that we might alter a little bit for this next game, but we think we have a productive way of using it and facilitating it to the best that we can for our players.”
On players taking it upon themselves to look at video on sidelines, even without coaches:
“Were you able to go look and see if they were watching YouTube or actually watching the game? Now a days, these kids will probably try to pull YouTube up to watch some goofy video. Smart players will go back and continue to watch the game. It’s like taking a cheat sheet into the test, so you can go and look and see what all the answers are and then go back out and play. I had a couple of teachers in high school that had a really good approach of teaching. They said, here is the material I want you to learn over the next two weeks. I’m gonna lecture on this, and I’m gonna give you the material with the answers, and then I’m gonna give you the test two weeks from now on Friday. That’s probably the best teaching procedure there is in my opinion because whatever material he wanted us to learn, he gave us the answers. So who cares? He lectured on it, gave us the answers, you studied it, you paid attention, you made an A. If you didn’t, you made whatever is accordingly and in the end you learned the information that he wanted you to every two weeks. Well that’s what those tablets do. The information is right there in the tablet. So you can look at it and get it, it’s a cheat sheet to go back out, or you can not look at it, not absorb the information and go out and figure it out on your own.”
Does Arkansas series have bearing on recruiting?
“With the business side of what we’re getting into, I don’t know anymore. I think the business side — based on the same thing we talk about over and over — if she signs off on what we think she’s gonna sign off on, recruiting will be limited. Negotiating will be prominent.”
How did Kendal Daniels handle new position?
“Collin (Oliver) was excellent because he was playing the same location he did early in his career. Based on what they were doing and where he was located, that wasn’t anything new to him. Kendal was good, but has a lot of room for improvement because he’s in an area that he’s not as frequent with, where he hasn’t been as much. He should get better each week. Collin has had a lot of reps in the world he played in last Saturday.”
Are there things Kendal can do because of his safety skills?
“His ability to affect the throwing game in some type of zone responsibilities or a pass coverage should be better than most of those guys because he lived in that world for a couple years.”
More defensive subs because of SDSU huddling?
“It was more based on they’re not a tempo team. In a two-minute offense, for this league, they’re a moderate speed, even for a two-minute offense. So there’s a lot more substitution opportunities.”
Is it easier to go fast?
“It’s interesting, over the years we’ve done it so many different ways. If you lean toward being a tempo team, you’re good at what you practice. And then you try to present a slower system, almost mentally, you struggle a little bit. You become sluggish. The defense forced them into stops on fourth down, and offensively, we lined up in places we should’ve scored touchdowns in the fourth quarter. And we were sluggish and there was nothing to us. If you do it all over again, you’d probably go out and just go. Just to maybe keep that tempo. That was one thing about the game that I wasn’t pleased with, the finish offensively in the fourth quarter.”
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