Delay for Tulsa at Oklahoma State Advantage or Disadvantage for Pokes
STILLWATER -- A week ago after being granted a one week delay before playing Oklahoma State, Tulsa head football coach Philip Montgomery sounded grateful, but also made it sound like it would be a positive for both his team, short on practice in fall camp because of COVID-19, and Oklahoma State. No doubt, Tulsa needed it.
"I think for both schools and for both parties, it was more about making sure that our guys have had — and theirs as well — just making sure that we are prepared physically and mentally to step onto the field," Montgomery said the day after the athletic directors from the two schools agreed to the one-week delay.
Speaking in his normal Monday morning Zoom conference with the media, Oklahoma State head coach Mike Gundy said he wasn't aware of the delay until it came out.
"I didn't know," Gundy answered when asked about when he first knew the game was being delayed a week. "I wasn't involved in any of that. I just got a text message that the game was postponed and rescheduled for a week later. I wasn't involved in discussions."
He went further and said nobody every explained to him the reasons for the delay, but he kind of "read the tea leaves."
"I haven't been told," Gundy continued. "I've just heard what you guys have. Nobody even actually told me the reason, but I was assuming it was because of the virus. I never asked. Nobody told me."
After a weekend that saw the Big 12 lose a ranked-team in Iowa State to a 31-14 upset to a talented Louisiana team. The other losses were Arkansas State outfinishing Kansas State 35-31. Kansas losing was always a possibility.
Honestly, I don't think Gundy and the Cowboys gleaned any great advantages from sitting out a week and Tulsa really needed more practice time. Gundy said the one advantage gained was with Washington State wide receiver transfer Tay Martin. He gained another week to get ready to play.
"We've had a few players that had minor injuries that we should get back this week, (that) is an advantage," Gundy said. "Certainly with Tay (Martin), another week of practice is an advantage for us and for him as well. We're dealt a hand and we try to make the best out of it. It doesn't make any difference because there's a lot of uncertainty that we can't control at this point. We try to take advantage as much as possible as we could with the extra week."
As Pokes Report reported on Sunday, the Cowboys scrimmaged Saturday while the games were being played. I've never heard of a full scrimmage one week out. At least, I've never heard of it in the last 20-years or more. Gundy gave the team Friday off and then after the scrimmage the Cowboys had Sunday and Monday off too. The head coach cited making sure the players were rested and the legs were fresh. The emphasis is to make sure they are ready to play physical, ready to tackle, and ready to crush it on special teams.
"There's been a level of how physical teams want to prepare, what your limitations have been based on the virus back and forth," Gundy said referring to teams like Navy and some others that were swamped, even Iowa State and maybe Texas Tech with their close call to Houston Baptist, an FCS team. "We've tried to push forward, we've tried to push hard, dealing with the emotions of the players, continual practice with no games has been much different. We've pushed hard and continued to do everything we can to try to get our players in a position to where they can play an up-tempo, physical game to start the season."
The Cowboys scrimmaged roughly four and half times where a normal fall camp would be two and a half. Of course, this preseason was nearly twice as long as most.
