Gundy: "Spencer Sanders Will Get Better Each Week

Redshirt freshman quarterback Spencer Sanders is entering just his eighth start for Oklahoma State. He will get better.

STILLWATER -- There's no denying the fact that Saturday's Homecoming loss to Baylor was a frustrating one. There were several mental mistakes that led to Baylor taking the lead back over and running away with it.

Spencer Sanders had three turnovers, one interception and two fumbles, one of which was picked up by Baylor and ran back in for a touchdown.

There were also several big plays given up by the OSU defense, and according to head coach Mike Gundy, a few of those were made because of coaching mistakes.

Young quarterbacks are going to make mistakes at any level, so there's no reason to jump ship on Sanders.

Also, because Mike Gundy confirmed during his weekly press conference that they won't be changing quarterbacks anytime soon.

"If the guy that's playing has unforced errors and then is mentally not aware of it and trying to clean it up; [that] would be the only way."

We've seen week in and week out that Spencer Sanders has taken his mistakes and the losses very seriously. He's taken responsibility and he's certainly worked harder, and gotten better over the past few weeks.

"Let's address the two things people want to know: [Spencer Sanders] made a poor throw at the end of the first half, he just made the same throw perfect. People will say 'What happened?' I don't know what happened, If I had known what happened, I would've fixed it before it happened. Arguably the most decorated quarterback to play here ever, other than me was Mason [Rudolph], and I saw Mason against Oklahoma pull an RPO and throw it right to a safety in the back of the end zone on first and goal from the six yard line. I don't have any idea why he did that. Now, [Sanders'] demeanor, and the way he handled the offense, I'll just come clean with you because I said he got flustered at [Texas] Tech and became emotional, he was good. He was like a seasoned veteran. He was fine, he was communicating. He got off the field and he talked to Sean [Gleeson] and he was doing really well. He understood it, he got it. And even when he missed reads, he's gonna miss reads. When Mason [Rudolph] was at his best here, he would still miss a couple of reads in a half. That's normal, there's a lot going on out there. So, I think [Sanders] missed four total in the game. For a guy in his progression and at his age, there's nothing wrong with that. That's going to happen. All of that was good, forget the throw at the end of the first half; if he doesn't drop the ball and [Baylor] runs it in for a touchdown, we're not really having this discussion. He had improved and he had gotten better. He will get better each week, I guarantee it."

Other than the interception at the end of the first half, and the two fumbles towards the end of the game, Sanders definitely played better against Baylor than he did Tech.

It's not fun to lose games. It's not fun for the fans, it's not fun for the media and it's certainly not fun for the team. But things will get better.

"The program's on good a ground as it's ever been on here, we've just got to correct a few mistakes," said coach Gundy. "That's just life, that's just kind of the way it is. What people have to understand is this, I think most everybody knows me know, it's not like I don't get frustrated either. I've told you this, I go home and take double Ambien, it didn't work and I woke up at 3:17 a.m. and I came to work at 3:45 Sunday morning. That's just the way it is. So, it's not like I don't notice, and it's not like I don't understand peoples frustrations. But, we also live in a society today where people want to bitch and complain about everything instead of putting their pants on and go fix it. We're going to fix it. Nobody around here's going to bitch and complain, from me, to a coach, to a player, to anybody in that building over there. That's the way it works and that's the way that we'll get better."

Will it get better overnight? No, probably not. Is the program where it was with a redshirt senior quarterback who broke virtually every program record before he left? No, but that certainly doesn't mean that the coaches and players are lying down and not trying to improve each week.

Again, was the Baylor loss rough? Yes. Were there mistakes made that shouldn't have been? Yes. But the coaching staff and players are working hard at getting better each week and they certainly were this past week against Baylor than they were against Tech. Will they play well against Iowa State? Only time will tell, but you won't see them lie down and quit.