Mike Gundy pleased with offensive balance, explains kicking change

Oklahoma State is doing what it can to remain alive in a Big 12 Championship Game against Texas, but things aren’t going particularly well in the first half for coach Mike Gundy and his team.

The Longhorns jumped out to an early lead in the first quarter and threatened to pour it on more in the second quarter.

Oklahoma State faced a third-and-four just inside Texas territory to begin the second quarter, and Gundy shared with the broadcast crew what needed to happen for his team to convert the third down.

“Well we need to, one, we need to continue to block well up front,” Mike Gundy said. “It looks like to me that we’re doing a good job of staying balanced on offense and keeping them off-balance with run-pass. That helps us more than anything.”

But on the first play after Gundy’s interview in the middle of the first and second quarter, disaster struck for Oklahoma State.

Quarterback Alan Bowman got the blocking he needed and uncorked a deep bomb down the center of the field. With a trio of Texas defenders trailing his intended receiver, Bowman watched as Texas’ Kitan Crawford made a diving interception.

Texas would take full advantage, marching down the field on a seven-play, 95-yard drive to take a 28-7 lead in the contest at the 11:40 mark of the second quarter. Oklahoma State will have its work cut out for it to stay in the game at this point.

Oklahoma State makes a kicking change

One interesting wrinkle early in the game is that Oklahoma State appears to have changed its kickers, with Logan Ward taking over for Alex Hale.

Ward has yet to attempt a field goal this season, with Hale owning those duties. Hale entered the Big 12 Championship Game 26-of-32 on field goals.

Mike Gundy explained the move.

“Well Logan gets a little bit more elevation on the ball on the PATs, so we wanted to give him a shot,” he said.