Mike Gundy points to offensive line improvement for recent OSU offensive success
Braden Bush, Sports Editor, @BradenBush21 Oct 16, 2023 Updated Oct 16, 2023 Comments
Mike Gundy has the same answer for why Oklahoma State’s offense has found life in the past two weeks.
Alan Bowman has spent three games as the starting quarterback now, and running back Ollie Gordon has certified himself as RB1, becoming the first Cowboy running back since 1989 to have more than 100 yards rushing and receiving. Neither are the responsible for the offensive resurgence, though, Gundy said Monday at his press conference.
“The best way to illustrate it is our offensive line has played considerably better in the last month,” Gundy said. “It has nothing to do with the quarterback or the running back.
“You have guys moving around, you’re vulnerable.”
The Cowboys have had the same starting lineup at offensive line the past two weeks, which Gundy said has helped with continuity.
Preston Wilson started his fourth consecutive game at right guard, Jake Springfield made his second straight start at right tackle and Pro Football Focus grade Joe Michalski as the top-performing center in college football this past week.
Gundy said the OSU’s use of tight ends has changed, too, which has helped in protection.
“Joe (Michalski) has played good. His maturity, Springfield’s maturity, is starting to show up, (Preston Wilson) played good,” Gundy said. “The majority of them played much better than they did earlier in the year based on (Wilson) sitting there in the same spot and Joe is obviously in the same spot, and we're getting some good play out of our tight ends. We've involved them considerably in the running game over the last month, and that’s the direction we're going, and those guys are starting to play better just based on reps.”
Gundy tackled tackling issues
In OSU’s first few games, Gundy often brought up his team’s missed tackling problem.
“We were awful,” Gundy said. “You can say it, it’s OK.”
Against Kansas on Saturday, OSU missed only three tackles, a massive improvement from OSU’s first two games in which it missed 38 tackles.
The Cowboys coach said he owned the problem and changed his philosophy. Gundy had reduced tackling in practice to keep players healthy, but it was at the expense of performance.
“I leaned toward health, and it didn't work. We weren't very good tackles,” Gundy said. “The last four weeks, we've tackled more than we've tackled ever since I've been a head coach. And we're seeing good results.”
Gundy’s 400th OSU game
Saturday’s game at West Virginia will be a milestone for Gundy.
He will be on the sideline for his 400th OSU game as either a coach or player. Gundy played quarterback for the Cowboys from 1986-89, then became OSU’s wide receivers coach in 1990. He was QB coach from 1991-95 before spending five seasons at Baylor and Maryland as a quarterback or wide receivers coach.
Gundy returned to OSU in 2000 as the offensive coordinator under coach Les Miles and has since spent the past 19 seasons as head coach, amassing a 160-77 record.
“We've seen a lot, done a lot here and built a lot here,” Gundy said. “We have Oklahoma State football to a level that has a national brand, and we're very proud of that. Those were things that I enjoy.”
Gundy, who was hired in 2005, is the third-longest tenured active college football head coach, behind only Utah’s Kyle Wittingham (hired less than a month earlier) and Iowa’s Kirk Ferentz (1999).
“This is just who I am,” Gundy said. “This place is who I am, and I’ve been lucky that they've kept me around here for this long. They’ve had a number of chances to run me off and haven't done it. But 400 games is a lot of games to be in one spot.”
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