Mike Gundy on blowout loss vs. Oregon: ‘I didn’t do a good job’

Oklahoma State head coach Mike Gundy took the blame for the Cowboys’ 69-3 loss to Oregon on Saturday. The Cowboys gave up 631 yards to the Ducks’ offense during the matchup.

The loss drops Oklahoma State to 1-1 on the early season. Gundy revealed the message he sent to his team following the 66-point loss.

“I told the team that I did not do a very good job of getting our players in the right position,” Gundy said in his opening postgame statement. “We were too complicated in all three phases. We tried to do too much on offense and defense, and we ended up not being able to execute at anything.

“That is my fault. I don’t fault the players for what they were doing. Oregon is a very good football team. They were trying to find ways to maneuver, get stops, and move the football. We ended up not being very good at anything and  did not execute.”

Oklahoma State trailed Oregon 20-0 by the end of the first quarter. Gundy said they were trying to play “catch-up,” from there.

The Cowboys head coach plans to “be very simple” moving forward. That includes doing the little things right — be in the right spot for blocks, gap assignments and tackles on defense. Establish the run, then use play action to set up the pass game.

Oklahoma State ended up having some success in the run game, finishing with 144 yards on the ground. Kalib Hicks rushed for a team-high 14 carries for 63 yards. Trent Howland added six carries for 31 yards to boot.

Still, the Cowboys rushed the ball 42 times and averaged 3.4 yards per carry on the afternoon. Oklahoma State QB Zane Flores finished with 67 passing yards and two interceptions through the air.

“We go to a point where we were so far behind that we were reaching for anything,” Gundy said. “I shared with the team that the good news is this was just one game. I am going to take the blame with them, but they have all got to come back and train tomorrow.

“We will evaluate the tape, the coaches have to take responsibility, and then we will move forward. We have an open week, so we have a chance to get four good days of practice  in. Then, we need to get back into a game routine and get ready to play Tulsa.”