I'll usually leave this for OSTATE1 to do but it pretty revealing to me that this is a different Gundy...a better Gundy. Really impressed with his candidness and straightforwardness....and the article is spot on...by Tramel...and perfect timing.
Will this team model 2011 or ’13 Cowboys?
A lifetime ago, in wrestling tournaments around Midwest City, a little kid named Mike Gundy learned a valuable lesson.
“There’s always somebody around the corner,” Gundy says today. “And that’s what my 12 years in wrestling taught me. As soon as you start thinking you’re pretty good, there’s somebody down the street here that is going to whip you if you back off any at all in your training and your progress in getting better every day.”
The grownup Gundy wrestles not on the mat, but against the principalities of the air, which will whisper to the OSU football team that which the rest
of us believe to be true.
The Cowboys are the Big 12’s best team.
We’ll find out soon enough, of course, perhaps even by Saturday night, after OSU gets its crack as the lead dog in the fox hunt, against Texas Tech, while OU (vs. Iowa State) and Baylor (at Kansas State) get equally difficult assignments.
This is new territory for these Cowboys, but not for the program. OSU had the Big 12’s best team in 2011, which you no doubt remember well, and the Big 12’s best team in 2013, which you might have banished to the Sea of Forgetfulness. With good reason.
And therein lies the cautionary tale for the Cowboys. The 2011 team finished strong and is revered by the Loyal & True. The 2013 squad staggered at the end and is remembered mostly as the team that played between 2012 and 2014.
How the Cowboys handle the next three weeks will determine which fate they are assigned.
“I try to not ever think past tomorrow’s practice,” Gundy said of what the Cowboys can accomplish. Bedlam glory. Big 12 title. College Football Playoff.
Even in enemy camps, even among national pundits who have spent their careers ignoring OSU, those are considered legitimate goals for the Cowboys. Clearly reachable.
“Human nature,” Gundy said of allowing yourself to harbor such thoughts, “and I can only imagine that the players and everybody...”
Gundy changed his train of thought. Like he didn’t even want to speak what he knows to be true. That such thoughts will linger.
Which is OK. Scattering those thoughts is pointless. Realizing what it takes to reach those goals is the mission.
“We’re just locked in right now; we don’t worry about those outside of this stadium right now,” said tailback Dominic Richardson. “We don’t really care about what social media thinks. We wouldn’t win as many games as we’re winning right now saying that we’re great. That’s just distracting for us.”
Putting the cart before Bullet is not advisable. But distractions can happen. The 2011 squad started 10-0, then lost 37-31 in overtime at Iowa State. Those Cowboys were absolutely distracted, having awakened that morning to the news that OSU women’s basketball coaches Kurt Budke and Miranda Serna, along with boosters Olin and Paula Branstetter, had died in a plane crash.
But those Cowboys entered the season finale Bedlam game ranked fifth in the Bowl Championship Series. That’s right, BCS. A spot in the two-team playoff was at least possible, and the Big 12 title was on the line. And the Cowboys rolled, walloping the Sooners 44-10. OSU went on to beat Stanford 41-38 in the Fiesta Bowl.
The 2013 Cowboys entered the season finale Bedlam game with a 10-1 record and ranked sixth in the BCS. A spot in the two-team playoff was off the table, but the Big 12 title and a Fiesta Bowl berth were there for the taking.
The 10-1 Cowboys were surging, Clint Chelf had developed into a big-time quarterback and the Sooners were slumping. But on a frigid afternoon, the Cowboys let OU hang around, and the Sooners scored two touchdowns in the final 20 seconds to win 33-24.
OSU went on to lose to Missouri 41-31 in the Cotton Bowl.
Two teams, two excellent teams, two best-in-the-Big-12 teams. And now another team joins the club, with a chance to go either way.
“I spend my time stressing to them the importance of what tomorrow brings and what’s got them here,” Gundy said. “What’s got them here is their focus, their discipline and their toughness and staying the course.
“It’s just so difficult in the world today with social media and the outside people who now are going to tell them how great they are … to stay focused.”
Tech is a classic trap game. The Cowboys have been discovered. Lubbock is a difficult place for visitors to win. Bedlam is next week.
But Gundy will preach all week about who’s around the corner.
Berry Tramel
Will this team model 2011 or ’13 Cowboys?
A lifetime ago, in wrestling tournaments around Midwest City, a little kid named Mike Gundy learned a valuable lesson.
“There’s always somebody around the corner,” Gundy says today. “And that’s what my 12 years in wrestling taught me. As soon as you start thinking you’re pretty good, there’s somebody down the street here that is going to whip you if you back off any at all in your training and your progress in getting better every day.”
The grownup Gundy wrestles not on the mat, but against the principalities of the air, which will whisper to the OSU football team that which the rest
of us believe to be true.
The Cowboys are the Big 12’s best team.
We’ll find out soon enough, of course, perhaps even by Saturday night, after OSU gets its crack as the lead dog in the fox hunt, against Texas Tech, while OU (vs. Iowa State) and Baylor (at Kansas State) get equally difficult assignments.
This is new territory for these Cowboys, but not for the program. OSU had the Big 12’s best team in 2011, which you no doubt remember well, and the Big 12’s best team in 2013, which you might have banished to the Sea of Forgetfulness. With good reason.
And therein lies the cautionary tale for the Cowboys. The 2011 team finished strong and is revered by the Loyal & True. The 2013 squad staggered at the end and is remembered mostly as the team that played between 2012 and 2014.
How the Cowboys handle the next three weeks will determine which fate they are assigned.
“I try to not ever think past tomorrow’s practice,” Gundy said of what the Cowboys can accomplish. Bedlam glory. Big 12 title. College Football Playoff.
Even in enemy camps, even among national pundits who have spent their careers ignoring OSU, those are considered legitimate goals for the Cowboys. Clearly reachable.
“Human nature,” Gundy said of allowing yourself to harbor such thoughts, “and I can only imagine that the players and everybody...”
Gundy changed his train of thought. Like he didn’t even want to speak what he knows to be true. That such thoughts will linger.
Which is OK. Scattering those thoughts is pointless. Realizing what it takes to reach those goals is the mission.
“We’re just locked in right now; we don’t worry about those outside of this stadium right now,” said tailback Dominic Richardson. “We don’t really care about what social media thinks. We wouldn’t win as many games as we’re winning right now saying that we’re great. That’s just distracting for us.”
Putting the cart before Bullet is not advisable. But distractions can happen. The 2011 squad started 10-0, then lost 37-31 in overtime at Iowa State. Those Cowboys were absolutely distracted, having awakened that morning to the news that OSU women’s basketball coaches Kurt Budke and Miranda Serna, along with boosters Olin and Paula Branstetter, had died in a plane crash.
But those Cowboys entered the season finale Bedlam game ranked fifth in the Bowl Championship Series. That’s right, BCS. A spot in the two-team playoff was at least possible, and the Big 12 title was on the line. And the Cowboys rolled, walloping the Sooners 44-10. OSU went on to beat Stanford 41-38 in the Fiesta Bowl.
The 2013 Cowboys entered the season finale Bedlam game with a 10-1 record and ranked sixth in the BCS. A spot in the two-team playoff was off the table, but the Big 12 title and a Fiesta Bowl berth were there for the taking.
The 10-1 Cowboys were surging, Clint Chelf had developed into a big-time quarterback and the Sooners were slumping. But on a frigid afternoon, the Cowboys let OU hang around, and the Sooners scored two touchdowns in the final 20 seconds to win 33-24.
OSU went on to lose to Missouri 41-31 in the Cotton Bowl.
Two teams, two excellent teams, two best-in-the-Big-12 teams. And now another team joins the club, with a chance to go either way.
“I spend my time stressing to them the importance of what tomorrow brings and what’s got them here,” Gundy said. “What’s got them here is their focus, their discipline and their toughness and staying the course.
“It’s just so difficult in the world today with social media and the outside people who now are going to tell them how great they are … to stay focused.”
Tech is a classic trap game. The Cowboys have been discovered. Lubbock is a difficult place for visitors to win. Bedlam is next week.
But Gundy will preach all week about who’s around the corner.
Berry Tramel
