Power Lunch Chat Recap
OSU football: Is there pressure on Mike Gundy in Bedlam
Thurman Thomas was in Tulsa awhile back and said what a lot of Oklahoma State Cowboys feels. That it is time to “beat OU.”
Mike Gundy has a ready answer for his old backfield mate. “You should have asked him how many times he beat ‘em,” Gundy said.
Then Gundy smiled, knowing he was damning himself, since he was the quarterback three of Thomas’ four seasons at OSU.
As a head coach, Gundy takes an 0-6 record into Bedlam. But he also was 0-4 as a player. Not that he hasn’t tasted Bedlam victory. Gundy was 3-6-1 as an assistant coach (0-4-1 with Pat Jones, 1-0 with Bob Simmons, 2-2 with Les Miles).
But he knows what Thomas said is true. It is time OSU won this game. Not that Gundy feels any pressure.
“I don’t feel any different pressure than I ever have,” Gundy said. “I may see things differently than other people do. Everybody has an opinion. I’m interested in developing these guys. I feel responsible that when they leave this program, we’ve helped them better their lives. We’ve instilled some values and principles in ‘em.
“Then we want to play good football, win a Big 12 championship.”
Gundy is paid about $50,000 to develop character and instill values. He’s paid $1.95 million to win big.
So don’t let him fool you. He knows it’s time to win Bedlam. Time to win the first outright conference title in OSU history.
But that doesn’t Gundy necessarily feels pressure. He’s got the world by the tail. He’s lifted OSU football higher than it’s ever been. If OSU loses this Bedlam, it’s great opportunity lost, but it’s still a landmark season in many ways. A No. 2 national ranking, are you kidding me?
Gundy can coach with the freedom that this isn’t a sour season, even with a Bedlam defeat, no matter what anyone says. I don’t know if that helps or hurts the OSU cause this week, but it’s true.
“The way I see Oklahoma State football, and the real supporters that care about Oklahoma State University, I don’t believe in saying anything that could distract or take away from a positive.”
So Gundy won’t say this is a do-or-die game. Won’t say the pressure mounts on him to beat OU. Maybe because it’s true.
OU football: Finally, the secret behind all the injuries
A reader sent me on a mission. Would I ask Bob Stoops if he had considered activities like mixed martial arts and tumbling to help his football players avoid injury?
Considering the rash of injuries the Sooners have experienced in recent years, I thought it was interesting. Exactly what have the Sooners done to try to stay healthy.
Stoops, of course, was not crazy about the question. He asked if I was asking if OU had figured out a way to keep an interior cruciate ligament from popping.
But Stoops did start talking about injury prevention, which was semi-interesting.
“We have guys that take yoga, Pilates. Extra stretching,” Stoops said. “We do a lot of things in different ways in trying to help guys and stretch ‘em.”
DeMarco Murray was involved in mixed martial arts the last couple of years and added yoga and Pilates (which seems to be similar to yoga), “trying to get him more flexible,” Stoops said. “But to prevent a knee injury, short of wearing a brace?
“This year’s been pretty tough to manage. What hurts you, it’s some of your best players. That changes the complexion of your team some. That’s just the way it is.”
But another reader tossed out a theory. Are the Sooners encountering more injuries because they’re playing more plays?
Think about it. The 2011 Sooners have had 1,706 plays from scrimmage, combining both offense and defense, in 11 games. That’s 155 per game. The 2008 Sooners, who pioneered the hurryup offense for OU, had 2,002 in 14 games. That’s 143 per game, so even more plays now than in what seemed like the frenetic 2008 season.
OK, now go back to 2004, which was a heck of a Sooner team. A powerhouse offense, a dominant defense. That team had 1,783 plays from scrimmage in 13 games. That’s 137 plays per game. Go back to 2000. That 2000 team had 1,669 plays, offense and defense combined. That’s 128 per game.
Think about that. OU is averaging 27 more plays from scrimmage, offense and defense, now than 10-11 years ago. Over 13 games, that’s 350 extra plays.
Now, that doesn’t explain Jermaine Gresham stepping funny in August and ending his season. That doesn’t explain Sam Bradford going down in the first half of the first game of the season. But when you play 350 extra plays, maybe it does help show why Ryan Broyles and Ronnell Lewis suffered November injuries.
This is not an excuse defense for OU. Every team faces it, to some degree. Longer season. OU played 10 games in Steve Owens’ senior season, 1969. Senior tight end James Hanna has played in 52 games already, with two more to come. But not just longer season, but longer games. More plays, more exposure to injury.
Those 350 extra plays is equivalent to at least two extra games.
I don’t know about yoga and tumbling. But I know this. More football means more injuries.
OSU football: Gundy sometimes startled by his brother
Mike Gundy says he’s sometimes startled during Bedlam football games. A play will carry over to the OU sideline, he will follow the action and suddenly, there’s his brother.
And Mike Gundy will think, “What’s he doing over there?”
Of course, Cale Gundy is coaching OU running backs. He’s been on Bob Stoops’ staff for 13 years, and this will be the 11th meeting that the brothers Gundy have opposed each other.
And while Stoops has often talked of the discomfort of coaching against teams that include his brother – Florida State, with Mark Stoops, the last two seasons – Mike Gundy says it’s no big deal.
“A lot of times I forget he’s over there,” Mike Gundy said. “You don’t really pay much attention to it. We’ve done a really good job – or I’ve done a really good job – keeping that part out.”
But Gundy said it is a tough day on his family. “Extremely difficult day for all of them,” he said. “Doesn’t really affect Cale and I as much as it does everyone else.”
Gundy said his parents typically don’t come to the game, or if they do, they sit in the OU section and don’t tell him about it.
“My mom’s never come to the game,” Gundy said.
Gundy long has talked about how little he and Cale chat during the season. My impression is Stoops talks with his brothers much more. All the time, really, except maybe during OU-Florida State week.
OU football: Will Bedlam be a Baylor repeat?
Baylor burned the Sooner defensive backs with deep balls. Now OU plays at Oklahoma State, which has a quarterback (Brandon Weeden) who throws a mean deep pass and a flanker (Justin Blackmon) who’s been known to catch a long ball or two.
So why will things be different for the Sooners in Stillwater?
Bob Stoops didn’t say they would be different. But at his press conference Tuesday, he did offer a reason why it could be. Weeden doesn’t run.
“It’s different,” Stoops said. “The dimension of the quarterback run game gives us the ability to change up our coverage quite a bit. Hopefully, that will help us.”
Baylor’s Robert Griffin indeed is a special talent. A constant run threat – his two scrambles on Baylor’s final drive were just as big as the eventual game-winning touchdown pass – puts defensive backs on the cliff. The Sooners can focus completely on pass coverage and not on containment.
“We need to be able to cover people,” Stoops said. “To be in the zones we’re supposed to be in. To do a good job studying and where they like to go. And get pressure, make him move his feet.”
OU pitched a virtual shutout last Saturday against Iowa State, winning 26-6. The Cyclones’ only touchdown came on a 10-yard drive after a botched punt snap.
Safeties Aaron Colvin (moved from strong to free safety), Sam Proctor (moved from free to strong) and Javon Harris (moved to backup status) “did well,” Stoops said. “Everybody played well.”
Stoops declined to say how the Sooner safeties would line up.
But he did say why the Sooners might not repeat their Baylor fiasco.
OSU football: Mike Gundy makes like Walter Mondale
Oklahoma State football coach Mike Gundy channeled former Vice President Walter Mondale (center) a bit Monday when asked whether he would politick for the Cowboys' position in the BCS. (AP Photo/ Paul Sancya)
During his acceptance speech at the 1984 Democratic National Convention, presidential nominee Walter Mondale famously said, “Let’s tell the truth. It must be done, it must be done. Mr. Reagan will raise taxes, and so will I. He won’t tell you. I just did.”
Mondale’s honesty was refreshing. A few months later, Americans went to the polls. Mondale carried one state, his own, and even Minnesota was won by only 3,800 votes.
Monday, OSU football coach Mike Gundy went all Walter Mondale. He foolishly told the truth. Gundy said that while he doesn’t have a vote in the coaches poll, if he did, he would this week rank Alabama ahead of his own Oklahoma State Cowboys, because Bama’s loss (to No. 1-ranked LSU) is a much better loss than OSU’s loss (at Iowa State).
Not wise. OSU doesn’t have much of a chance to jump Alabama in the BCS rankings, even with a Bedlam victory Saturday night, but the Cowboys have no chance without some voters switching to OSU. And Gundy was off point. He shouldn’t be talking about worst loss; he should be talking about best victories. The Cowboys have more good wins than does Alabama, but lots of people nationally only want to talk about the defeat. And Gundy did the same. He said he would rank Bama ahead because of the better loss; what was left unsaid but very clear is that no matter what happens in Bedlam, Bama still will have the better loss.
It was a mistake. Gundy said he doesn’t like to politick, that it’s not his style, which is admirable, but he ended up politicking for Alabama.
Sure, coaches politicking, one way or another, has little effect. Except Mack Brown’s carping in 2004 lifted the Longhorns past California from No. 5 to No. 4 and a Rose Bowl berth. And full-scale politicking by everyone in the SEC, notably Florida coach Urban Meyer, lifted the Gators into the national title game at the expense of Michigan. Voters decided they didn’t want an Ohio State-Michigan rematch, just as voters this year could decide they won’t want an Alabama-LSU rematch.
But if OSU’s own coach isn’t passionate about spouting the Cowboys’ cause, the voters on the fence can’t be asked to jump on board, either.
Gundy said if one of his superiors, athletic director Mike Holder or president Burns Hargis, asked him to be more forceful in promoting the Cowboys, he would. More likely, benefactor Boone Pickens called Gundy on Monday and told him to get with the program.
A fellow writer with no real dog in the OSU-Bama fight, texted me after hearing what Gundy said. “What the HELL was Gundy thinking?”
It was likely the result of a coach still learning. Gundy is in his seventh year as OSU’s head coach and has done a heck of a job. But this is the first time Gundy has had to deal with BCS ramifications. He’ll learn.
Gundy doesn’t claim to know much about the BCS process or BCS politics, and he’s probably telling it straight. At one point Monday, Gundy said he in the past has voted in the USA Today poll but wasn’t sure what that was. It’s the same coaches poll as used in the BCS process. I just don’t think Gundy pays attention to things like this. Maybe he will now.
OSU football: Can the Big 12 title be shared?
Mike Gundy agrees with Bob Stoops. Whoever wins Bedlam is the Big 12 champion. Period.
“I tend to agree with that,” Gundy said Monday. “I think you have one champion … if you end up with one team with one loss, or three teams with two losses.
“You have a round robin format. Everybody has competed against each other.”
After OU’s victory over Iowa State last Saturday, Stoops mocked the Big 12’s summer marketing campaign of “One True Champion,” asking what was untrue about the previous 15 Big 12 titles (he’s won seven of them), and wondering how there could be co-champions of a league that touts one true champ.
If OU beats OSU, the Sooners and Cowboys will tie atop the Big 12 standings, and Kansas State can make it a tri-championship with a victory over Iowa State. OU would secure the Big 12’s Fiesta Bowl berth, by virtue of its victories in Bedlam and over KSU. But the Big 12 apparently will provide trophies for all teams tied.
The whole debate is a little silly. Who is the champion? Depends on what you’re trying to gauge.
If you’re measuring the dominant team in a year, or how many seasons a school was the best, then you designate one champ, even in a tie. If you’re measuring a program’s long-term success (or lack thereof), then by all means you count the ties.
Here are some examples. The 1976 Big Eight tri-championship, shared by Colorado, OU and OSU. Colorado beat both OU and OSU and went to the Orange Bowl. Was that a title for OSU or OU? Yes for OSU, which otherwise never has won one. You’ve got to claim whatever you can when you haven’t won much. But yes for OU, too, when you count how many conference titles Barry Switzer won.
But you might not count ’76 for OU if you’re referring to how many times Switzer had the dominant team in the league. Four of Switzer’s 12 Big Eight titles were co-championships. Two of those teams had the tiebreaker (1975, 1984), while two did not (1976, 1978).
So did Switzer went 12 Big Eight titles? Or 10? Or eight? All just depends on how you want to measure, and there is no right or wrong answer.
“When we start out each year, our goal is to win the conference championship and hopefully have a chance to play for a national championship,” Gundy said.
Syracuse basketball: Jim Boeheim must go
Jim Boeheim has reversed field. Gone from calling Bernie Fine’s accusers “liars” to issuing a statement saying he’s “shocked” at the most recent revelations about his Syracuse assistant coach and supporting the school’s decision to fire Fine.
It’s not enough. Syracuse must fire Boeheim, too.
The most striking thing about the Fine story 11 days ago was Boeheim’s defiant support of Fine. There was no way Boeheim could know if Fine was innocent. Boeheim could know if Fine was guilty, but not innocent. Boeheim’s response victimized the accusers all over again.
I have no idea what Boeheim knew or when he knew it. I have no idea if Boeheim should have known. This doesn’t necessarily have to be another Penn State, in terms of a 10-year coverup.
My problem is completely with Boeheim’s reaction. Especially in the wake of Penn State. Boeheim mentioned that his “liars” comment might have been “insensitive.” No kidding. How could anyone in Boeheim’s position react initially the way he did? How could Boeheim display that much anger, unless it was totally to protect his program?
That was a startling lack of leadership and wisdom and decision-making by Boeheim.
My boss used to work in Utica, N.Y., and says Boeheim is the most well-known figure in upstate New York. More famous than the governor. With that kind of status comes responsibility. Boeheim packs a punch with his words. His initial response to the story was very telling.
Boeheim wasn’t interested in the truth. He was interested in program protection. And that DOES smack of Penn State. I don’t think Syracuse can keep Jim Boeheim as basketball coach.
OSU football: Could Cowboys overtake Alabama?
Is there any chance that Oklahoma State, with a Bedlam victory, could jump Alabama and reach the Big Bowl? It appears not. The experts seem to agree that barring a total pollster revolt, the Cowboys will remain behind Alabama.
Now, it could get interesting if OSU wins Bedlam and Virginia Tech loses the ACC title game. Virginia Tech and Stanford both are ranked ahead of OSU in the polls. If the voters moved OSU ahead of the Hokies and Cardinal, it would tighten the gap between the Cowboys and Alabama. OSU is slightly behind the Crimson Tide in the computers this week but figures to jump back ahead of Bama with a Bedlam victory.
The question actually is shifting, from WILL the Cowboys jump Alabama with a Bedlam victory, to SHOULD the Cowboys jump Bama with a Bedlam victory. Here are some nuggets to chew on.
Victories over the BCS top 25: Alabama two (Arkansas, Penn State); Virginia Tech zero, Stanford one (counting USC, which is ineligible for the rankings but would be highly-ranked); Oklahoma State four (Kansas State, Baylor, Texas, Missouri). OSU would add a fifth with a Bedlam victory; Virginia Tech could get its first, with Clemson in the ACC title game.
Record vs. Division I-A teams with a winning record: OSU 6-1, Virginia Tech 4-1, Stanford 4-1, Alabama 3-1. That’s right. Bama has beaten Arkansas, Penn State and Auburn.
Road wins vs. Division I-A teams with a winning record: OSU 3, Virginia Tech 2, Alabama 1, Stanford 1.
Clearly, OSU is hurt by its bad loss. Alabama lost to LSU. Virginia Tech lost to Clemson. Stanford lost to Oregon. OSU lost to Iowa State. The Cowboys are being hammered for that defeat, and that’s part of the equation, too.
But if someone wants to look for a reason to avoid an LSU-Alabama rematch, the Cowboys could give them a good reason. OSU will have the same record as Bama and Stanford, 11-1, against a much tougher schedule.
Big 12 football: Bring back Mike Leach
Kansas fired Turner Gill on Sunday, agreeing to pay off an overmatched coach who lasted just two years on the job. Don’t ask me where KU is getting the money. But do ask me who I hope gets the job.
Mike Leach. Leach’s name was trotted out Sunday by Kansas City Star columnist Sam Mellinger, and while I think it’s a longshot, I think it would be fantastic for the Big 12. And its networks.
Inventory has become a catchword in conference realignment. Does a 10-team league have enough quality inventory to warrant the big bucks being paid out by ESPN and Fox Sports? Especially a 10-team league that has lost Nebraska and is about too lose Texas A&M and Missouri. Inventory is why West Virginia is headed to the Big 12; the networks want the Mountaineers.
Cold truth: Kansas football adds nothing to the inventory. There hasn’t been one KU football game the last two years that had anyone excited, not after Gill’s debut game was a defeat to North Dakota State.
But Leach would change that. Fans love to watch Leach games. He turned Texas Tech into must-see TV. Leach actually did more for Tech’s television ratings than he did for Tech’s BCS rankings. That Leach offense, coupled with his quirky personality, attracts fans.
And think of the inventory. West Virginia is headed for the league with Leach protege’ Dana Holgorsen as coach. KU games against West Virginia would be wild. Same with the KU-Texas Tech grudge match. Or KU-TCU, where Leach would match wits against old adversary Gary Patterson, who in his last two games against Leach lost 70-35 and won 12-3. Leach-OU. Leach-OSU. I’m telling you, the Big 12 might supplement Kansas’ contract offer to Leach.
But I don’t think it will happen. It’s a political nightmare for Kansas. Think how we got here. Kansas fired Mark Mangino two years ago amid allegations of mistreatment of players, even though there are reasons to think that was just a ready excuse. Tech fired Leach two years ago amid allegations of mistreatment of players, even though it’s clear he was railroaded out of Lubbock for other reasons.
Wouldn’t it be difficult for Kansas to hire a coach with a checkered past on player treatment, considering how and why it fired Mangino?
I think Kansas could afford Leach. He’s clearly a little bit of damaged goods, with his pending lawsuits against Tech. The job offers haven’t flooded him down in Key West, where he’s holed up doing a radio show, waiting to get back in coaching. Leach isn’t in position to demand a huge contract.
Kansas could have probably have Leach if it wants. I just don’t know if KU can rationalize such a hire. As much as it would help the Big 12 and as much as we’d all like to have him back in the league.
