You Want Some Positive News on Cowboy Football?
I have to admit that I forgot what it was like on the radio show the Monday after a Bedlam loss. You’d think I would have remembered and maybe made that note to self that I needed to take that day off. No, I’m not doing that. That is a chicken thing to do.
It is a rough day because Oklahoma State fans forget where their program has come from. This is a program that before Mike Gundy became head coach had gone to 16 bowl games in 104-years of football and now in 119-years of football will be going to their 30 bowl game this December.
On top of that, the decade ended for regular season Big 12 football last Saturday. I know that it did not end well with Oklahoma State losing to Oklahoma 34-16 in Boone Pickens Stadium, but over the decade the team that calls Boone Pickens Stadium home is the second winningest program in the Big 12. You can doctor non conference game and schools like Kansas State and Baylor have. Heck, even Oklahoma State has been known to play some easy non conference games. You can’t doctor conference games. Everybody has to play everybody.
Now, it wasn’t that way over the entire decade. In 2010 the Big 12 still played eight conference games, so the teams in the league for the entire decade have all played 89 Big 12 games. West Virginia and TCU have played less coming into the league in 2012.
Here are your conference standings for the decade, conference games only.
- Oklahoma – 73-16 .820
- Oklahoma State – 58-31 .652
- Kansas State – 52-37 .584
- Baylor – 52-37 .584
- TCU – 39-33 .541
- Texas – 47-42 .528
- West Virginia – 36-36 .500
- Iowa State – 31-58 .348
- Texas Tech – 30-59 .337
- Kansas – 6-83 .067
I don’t know about you, but considering the first 11 decades of Oklahoma State football prior, that record looks pretty good to me. I’ll say this too, I spoke to Mike Gundy after the Bedlam loss for the Oklahoma State Cowboys Network post game and locker room show, and I found a coach that was just a little...okay, a lot ticked off.
Mike Gundy, in my opinion, is very engaged right now to improving the program. He was on the road in California recruiting early Sunday morning. He plans to be on the road all week and I sense he is pretty determined to pushing this team and this program further.
“As always, I wouldn't trade this team, our team for anybody. That is just the way it is,” Gundy said on the radio broadcast. “Could we have played better, yes. Could we have coached better, yes. Is it a little frustrating to me, yes. Is it a little frustrating to the team, yes. The people out there that know me, the first thing we're going to do is we are going to give the players five or six days off. The coaches are going to be out on the road recruiting all week. We're going to start practicing when we get back and we are going to go somewhere for a week for a bowl game. It is a reward for guys busting their butt year round, so we're going to go and have a good time, go play, go have fun, and compete. That is what we do.
“In the big picture the fans out there and myself we support them and I never lose sight that we could play better,” Gundy continued. “Everybody gets a little salty. I'm a little salty right now, but I love the players, the organization, the culture, and it continues to get better and better. We've been running here for a long time. We brought in Todd Bradford in recruiting and he has been doing a great job and I'm excited about what we are going to bring in with the classes the next two or three years. There were 27 prospects we offered at the game tonight. That awesome, that’s a lot of kids to be here. We have to get a few guys every year so we can stand toe-to-toe with the schools that recruit the top-of-the-line. I wouldn't trade any of our guys for anybody.”
You can decide for yourself, but I like the Mike Gundy Oklahoma State has right now and with this young team I think there are some good things, even better things about to happen.
