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OKLAHOMA STATE UNIVERSITY FOOTBALL MEDIA CONFERENCE

September 30, 2017

Mike Gundy

Lubbock, Texas

Oklahoma State - 41, Texas Tech - 34

OKLAHOMA STATE INTERVIEW

COACH GUNDY: It was a good win for our team. Anytime you're traveling on the road, especially if you don't play as well as you wanted to the week before -- so I was really proud of our team. There's a lot of ups and downs in this game. It's always that way when we play Tech, I don't know why.

But what I thought going in the game held to be true. They're playing better on defense. Obviously we had a big day on offense. But we weren't able to get as many big plays and create as many big plays through missed tackles against them.

Defensively we played terrific. They hit us on a few drives in the end of the third quarter and the fourth quarter, and then we made a couple of adjustments and got a couple of key stops.

So we have to improve in the kicking game. We need to be able to locate our kickoffs better. We had too many kickoffs that landed in the middle of the field at the 9, 10, 11, 12-yard line. So we really need to improve on where we're kicking the ball and how we're doing it so we don't stress our coverage units.

Ammendola had a tough day of PAT/field goals, but he'll be fine. Sometimes that happens. We got confidence in him. We'll put him back out there to kick another one.

Overall, I thought we tackled better. We still missed three or four tackles. But Tech has really good skill guys. Sometimes you're going to miss some tackles. We prefer that to be less than three.

In the first half I thought we were really good tackling. Latter part of the third quarter we got our head down a couple of times. I thought the coaches, the assistant coaches did a really good job. The game plans were really sound.

Offensively, in the first half, it was just a matter of not shooting ourselves in the foot. Mason let one go there, overthrew the guy. The depth and the width of that route, anytime you overthrow a guy, you're going to hit a corner right in the chest. You can just bank on it. That's what happened.

But then he rallied back and played terrific, made key throws. Wideouts continue to make great catches in crucial situations, like James did on the third and long and then Ateman did on the third and long on the last drive.

So I'm just really proud of our guys. I thought our backs ran hard. The open week comes at a good time for us. We've got some guys that are beat up a little bit, need a little bit of a break. See if we can get guys back and let our guys get off our feet for a while.

Q. Justice Hill was only averaging about two yards a carry through the first quarter and a half. How essential was it to make sure that you guys continued with him because it seemed that's what kind of led to that, that touchdown at the end was they were more focused on Justice than they were on Mason.
COACH GUNDY: They started traveling from behind, running us down from behind. And that happens to our offense because we don't have a running quarterback. And, so, coaches make that adjustment, and then Mason was willing to run the ball effectively. And really the end of the game is what changed the game -- nobody to block the last man on the line. So he did a good job making the adjustment.

I thought Justice ran really hard. A lot of carries now, 30 carries. Mason had 11 carries for 55 yards. So good day for him. Good day for all of us. I thought 72 did a nice job filling in for Lundblade, had to bump him down and put 73 at guard, which he's never practiced guard.

Overall they held up pretty good and kind of patching the O line together and keeping it going.

Q. You mentioned you guys were shooting yourselves in the foot. What does the team need to do mentally to fix those errors?
COACH GUNDY: Really in the kicking game. With Mason overthrowing the ball down there, we're going to score going in and instead you give them a score.

Other than that, I don't think they really slowed us down. And then by not converting field goals and chip shots and things like that, and kind of shooting yourself in the foot and not capitalizing on making the game more than a two-score game. And We had a chance to extend it out really strain them and we didn't do it.

Q. The red zone problem today. (Indiscernible) score when you got inside the 20?
COACH GUNDY: We ended up in a fourth and one and a fourth and two. And just kind of fell that way. I don't really think it was anything other than we just ended up a little short.

I probably should have gone for it the last time on fourth and one when we kicked the field goal. But we just need to do a better job finishing drives. The one time they stopped us coming in down this way, I thought James could have made the catch in the end zone. He didn't.

Sometimes that happens. They rallied up. Couple times they dropped out and played a pure zone defense down there on -- at a time that would mainly be in sort of a man. Kind of tricked us. But we do need to improve in that, that's for sure.

Q. Speaking of James Washington, how important was it for you guys to get him the ball in the fourth quarter after not really touching it in the latter half of the second and third quarter?
COACH GUNDY: Just based on the way they play. And then one time he caught the ball, they had a man on him and a man chasing him. Made an unbelievable catch.

They used a lot of trap coverage on him. So Mason's gotta go to other guys. That's just part of it. That's the way it is.

Q. You spoke of the defense. They only scored two touchdowns in their final nine drives of the game. How important of a turnaround is it for your defense after last week when they couldn't get off the field?
COACH GUNDY: I thought our defense played really well. You take away the pick-six. So you keep them, you're holding them at 26 points or 25, whatever it is, out here, pretty good.

We got room for improvement. But what we did is they were 5-of-12 on third down. So for us that's a significant improvement. And so that's a nice job. 0-for-1 on fourth and five-of-12 on third downs. And that's a big jump for us.

Q. You didn't want it to be this close, but how gratifying for you guys to be put in an intense situation to be in and they came through the way they did?
COACH GUNDY: It is. And I was talking to Kliff before the game, and this league, there's going to be a lot of exciting games with the way everything is.

And we've got to have some resiliency. Chad Whitener was terrific as a leader. McGruder was terrific as a leader. Mason obviously. And that's what you have to have. When you get in those games you've got to have guys that can settle down and make a play on the road.

And that's the value of having veteran players that have won a lot and been on the road and get it. Because when you're a young team, guys get big eyes and don't react very well.

Q. Seemed like in the second half they were finding lots of holes in the middle of the secondary. There at the end you did a lot of stunting and blitzing the very last drive. Pretty gutsy. What was going through your head at that time?
COACH GUNDY: I thought that Kliff had got a bead on us. And good offensive coaches, they're going to do that. So the longer the game goes on, they're going to start to get a feel for it because essentially defenses run out of stuff. There's so many plays in the game.

We had 82. They had 72. So you just kind of run out of stuff and coaches can make really good adjustments. The same thing we do. And then we made a couple other adjustments on defense.

And there's some risk. When you're in attack mode and you're seeing them manning up freshman corners, you're in a little bit of a risk. But we felt like we had to do something because they got on a roll there pretty good and we need to change it up.

Q. (Indiscernible) do you feel like this game helped this team kind of take a step forward?
COACH GUNDY: No question. We all know momentum and your mental state's huge in football. And we didn't play very good last week. We were negative-4 in the turnover margin. We were terrible on special teams. So you gotta come back and find a way to play well and try to get momentum back.

Now, if you don't and you lose, you've got to rally and you've got to get over it. But it sure helps attitudes in the open week when you win a game like this. And we had the best team. They're a better team than they have been. They don't miss near the tackles that they used to. They don't give up as many big plays.

We should have won the game, but when you play on the road and make a few mistakes in the kicking game you become vulnerable.

Q. Marcell (indiscernible) chances when it's one-on-one with him (indiscernible)?
COACH GUNDY: That was the big play, because we were on, what, the 40 going that way.

Q. 26.
COACH GUNDY: Is that what it was? That makes me even more nervous. He landed on the 40. If you punt there, momentum is not very good because we hadn't really done much.

And Mason does a nice job and 3's having a great year for us. He does everything we ask him to do. He went up and rebounded the ball, and that guy got his hand in there at the last second. And I thought on the way down he was going to flick it out, but he gripped it. Out of all the stuff that happened in that game that was the biggest play, no question.

Q. Lundblade, do you know how serious he is?
COACH GUNDY: I think he'll be fine. He just has a sprain. He was sore, couldn't push off. I'm hoping in 12 days he'll be fine. We'll set him and I would think he would be fine.

Q. How valuable is this (indiscernible), the highest win on the road and also for those young guys on the line?
COACH GUNDY: Right. We need some work. Crabtree is going to be really sore. He'll be really sore. Lundblade will be sore. McGruder is not full speed. We just need an open week like everybody.

It comes at a good time. And hopefully we can get some guys back and get some quality work in and also get them off their feet, get their coaches on the road do a little recruiting.

Q. How big was Jordan Brailford's interception there late in the fourth quarter?
COACH GUNDY: That's what I told the team. You know, we knew they were going to onside. We moved everybody up. Guy kicked a great kick. I mean, that's two years in a row he's done that. I don't think that's the same guy.

I'm not for sure. But that ball rolls on the ground and then jumps up and 3 went after it, 80 went after it, and there's a collision there. And so it's twice they've got us on that. But it wasn't like we didn't know it was coming. It's just a terrific kick. A really good kick.

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