Mike Gundy not happy with his team's effort ahead of Arizona State game: 'We didn't play hard'
Oklahoma State coach Mike Gundy did not mince words.
Coming off a 38-28 loss to Baylor where his team allowed 565 yards of offense, Gundy was not happy.
“We didn’t play hard on defense,” Gundy said during his Monday press conference. “That’s one area that I’ll address as the head coach, and we’ll work extremely hard on that this week to get ready for this game."
Oklahoma State (3-5, 0-5) has lost five consecutive games heading into Saturday's homecoming game vs. Arizona State (5-2, 2-2). In order to get back on track, the Cowboys need to shore up a run defense that is allowing 251 yards per game - the second-worst mark in Division 1-A college football.
Here's a snapshot of what Gundy said leading up to the Arizona State game.
Gundy on his team's effort vs. Baylor:
“They’re going to be made aware of it. Then they’ll be told why I think it happened because that’s the only thing that matters, and then there will be a plan in place that we’ll execute during the week to fix it. And then Saturday night we’ll see. We’re going to go up against a guy [Cam Skattebo] that you’re going to find out if you can tackle, so we’ll see. They’ll probably lay odds on it in Vegas. They lay odds on everything else. It’ll probably run on the comedy channel what our odds are of tackling this week.”
Gundy on Arizona State running back Cam Skattebo:
“He’s their energy, right? Guy plays hard. He breaks tackles. He gets up, tells you to bring it on. He likes it. They feed off of him. He’s the guy that, in my opinion, I’m an outsider, they feed off of his energy. He very well could be the best back we’ve played. He’s a good back. ... So if you want to slow them down, in my opinion, you better tackle him.”
On their defensive struggles and the adjustments DC Bryan Nardo needs to make:
“I have to look at what’s going on. When Collin Oliver and Nick Martin went down, it made it very difficult for us to look like we looked the last six games of last year. Nardo is doing fine.”
On Oklahoma State wide receiver Brennan Presley:
“Brennan Presley should be an All American. I mean, somebody would have to show me three or four wide receivers in the country that make as many plays he does with the ball in his hands, or catches like the fourth-down catch. He made an unbelievable play. He’s covered. The guy had his hand on the ball. He reached out at 90 degrees flat, took the ball out of the guy’s hands and landed head first on the ground. He literally should be an All-American.”
Brennan Presley deserves so much morepic.twitter.com/i9eVsV4uRp https://t.co/FCmPs5Cp5v
— Gino Fornaro (@ginoliciousboss) October 26, 2024
Gundy on getting his younger players some experience, specifically on special teams:
“Anybody that we think is far enough along and can help us, even if it is on special teams, then now is the time to get them some work. Because they can show up there more so than actually the technical part of offense and defense. They have not been getting reps. They have been doing demonstration stuff, so it’s hard to bring them up and say, ‘Here is what we’re doing.’ You don’t see a lot of that, but we had that discussion this morning in our meeting on if there were two or three guys that could help us on special teams and give them a little work.”
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Ben Sherman has been covering the sports world for most of his journalism career, including 17 years with The Oregonian/OregonLive. One of his favorite memories was covering the 1999 Fiesta Bowl - the first BCS National Championship Game - at Sun Devil Stadium.