Mike Gundy shares the message he sent to Ollie Gordon after fumble against Cincinnati
Oklahoma State running back Ollie Gordon was fuming after a fumble early in the second quarter against Cincinnati on Saturday. Gordon coughed up the ball at the Bearcats 17-yard line before walking over to the sidelines and furiously slamming his helmet a few times and throwing it.
It was the first fumble this season for the sophomore and provided coach Mike Gundy a chance to share some advice with him. Gundy was seen speaking with Gordon following the running back’s outburst, and shared his message following a 45-13 Cowboys victory.
“Ollie wants to perform well for everybody all the time like we all do,” Gundy explained. “We all want to do good and have people tell us that we’re doing good. Human nature is we like that. Now everywhere he goes they chant his name. …There’s a lot of pressure involved in that and he’s a very prideful young man and that’s good. But what I shared with him is, I’ve been around the greatest running backs to play this game. None of them did that.
“They all learned to keep their composure. There’s times where they don’t play as well. There’s times they make a mistake. If he wants to play this game for a long time, then he’ll learn to keep composure. Because all that’s a waste of time. It’s a waste of energy, a waste of effort and it becomes negative for the football team. That’s what I told him.”
Ollie Gordon responded in the second half, accounting for two of Oklahoma State’s five touchdowns. He finished the game with 271 yards rushing, marking his second straight game with at least 250 yards rushing after he ran for 282 yards and four scores the week prior against West Virginia.
That puts him in elite company alongside Barry Sanders, a Heisman winner and Gundy’s former teammate, as the only players in OSU history with back-to-back 250-yard games.
Furthermore, Gordon has rushed for at least 100 yards in five straight games. His performance from Saturday moved him into the NCAA lead for rushing yards with 1,087 to go along with 10 touchdowns.
It’s clear the Cowboys have a budding star on their hands, and the results have been apparent on the field as they have now won four straight games. As they head into a Bedlam matchup against Oklahoma this weekend, they’ll need Gordon to continue to keep his composure and remember the advice from Gundy.
“I said, ‘it’s a choice you make,'” Gundy continued. “‘It’s our team and your career. But that is gonna get you nowhere. That is not gonna get us anywhere.’ So the six or eight or 10 backs I’ve been around that are really, really, really good and two or three of them are the best ever, don’t do that.
“He had a choice to make then. He can get made at me and sulk, feel sorry for himself and try to make a statement or he can say, ‘I’m sorry. I apologize. I’m gonna do better.’ He said, ‘coach, I apologize. I’m gonna do better.’ I said, ‘I’m glad to see that. That means we’re gonna be better and you’re gonna be better for the rest of your career.'”
Oklahoma State kicks off against Oklahoma at 2:30 p.m. CT on Saturday in Stillwater.