Cowboy Football Notebook: Gundy Puts a Bow on WVU Game
STILLWATER -- It's been a long season for Oklahoma State, but Bedlam weeks is finally upon us. The Cowboys enter this week fresh off a hard-fought win over a tough West Virginia team on the road in Morgantown, bringing their win streak to four games.
As he does every Monday of game week, Mike Gundy met with the media to put a bow on the previous game and to look ahead at the upcoming game.
"It was a good win by the team [against West Virginia],” said head coach Mike Gundy. “Dru Brown played good and the offensive line played much better in the second half. Chuba [Hubbard] was effective, both rushing and receiving. Most of the passes he caught were behind the line, so it’s just a different way to get the ball to him. Defense was really good, didn’t give up big plays for touchdowns and we tackled well for the most part. Overall, it was a good day for us. Got back together last night and started working on the next game and the game plan moving forward with Oklahoma.”
Following the West Virginia game, quarterback Dru Brown was tabbed the Big 12 Newcomer of the Week. The game also marked his first start for Oklahoma State.
“[Dru Brown] has played a lot of games,” said head coach Mike Gundy. “He has a good demeanor. He has been around a lot and has practiced a lot. He handled himself better than what I thought. I don’t know what I had based that on. He played really well, in my opinion, under the circumstances. He has been voted a captain before he even stepped on the field for the most part. That’s not easy to do. We all know the times that we are in with the transfer portal in college football. If there is a position you can justify having the guys move around: It’s the quarterbacks. If you are behind a guy, you are behind a guy. Dru has been very good for us. He was good and he was effective. He took care of the football. He processed information quickly. He managed the game; quarterbacks who manage the game can be very effective, and that’s what he did in Morgantown.”
Brown finished the game completing 22-of-29 passes for 196 yards and two touchdowns in the 20-13 win over West Virginia.
Coach Gundy also hit on what he, and many others, considered to be one, if not the most, important drive of the game for Oklahoma State.
It came in the second quarter; West Virginia had just driven the ball down the field and was knocking on the door of the Cowboys' end zone. If the Mountaineers get into the end zone, they put the Pokes down by two touchdowns and it would've been a huge shift in momentum.
“Last night, I told the team that was what won the game,” said coach Gundy. “Very seldom do we ever talk about situations that happened in the second quarter. I don’t ever remember seeing the ball that close to the goal line. When both teams lined up, their helmets were essentially over the goal line on both sides. It looked like a pure rugby scrum. You had 20 guys in a pile and fighting, scratching and pulling guys back. That happened twice, then we were able to get the penalty and Tre Sterling was able to get pressure on the quarterback, knock his arm down and held them to a field goal. That’s where the game was won and it was very well done.”
The Cowboys are on to Bedlam this weekend as they'll kickoff against OU at 7 p.m. on FOX. As the week progresses, we'll be diving deeper into the match up and Bedlam history.
