Mike Gundy continues public criticism of Kasey Dunn, but are the Cowboys ever going to actually change anything?
If the offense doesn't figure things out, OSU may squander Ollie Gordon and a talented team.
STILLWATER — Judy Gundy was the matriarch of one of Oklahoma's preeminent football families.
Apparently, she was also a football philosopher.
On Monday during her son Mike's weekly press conference, I asked the Oklahoma State coach about his team's lacking offensive game plan in Saturday’s loss to Utah. He'd said Saturday that the plan wasn't good, then added Monday that the offense hadn't gotten to the right stuff.
So, I asked about OSU's lone scoring drive of the first half, a possession that ended with a field goal but included all sorts of fascinating formations and interesting plays. Was that an example of the right stuff to which Gundy was referring?
"What we should have done was use my mom's philosophy: if those seven or eight plays worked on that drive, why don't you just run 'em again the next drive?'" Gundy said. "Why do you change? Why do you go to something else? Because they haven't stopped any of those plays, and in most of those cases, they don't have time on the sideline to fix 'em, and that's exactly what we should have done."
I don't think Judy Gundy was wrong.
Neither is her son.
I even wrote after the game that during that field goal drive when OSU ran a play with Ollie Gordon in the wildcat formation and it gained 11 yards on a Brennen Presley run, I'd have left Gordon in the wildcat. Run it some. Hand it off some. But make Utah stop it before you go away from it.
But here's what I can't figure out: how many times and how many ways can Mike Gundy publicly call out Kasey Dunn's game planning and play calling before we start asking when a change is going to happen?
Now, a quick word of admission: I'm a huge fan of Kasey Dunn the person. The OSU offensive coordinator has always been open and honest with me. He's been nothing but great, honestly.
But already this season, he has been called out after the Arkansas game, after the Utah game and now with what we heard Monday.
I may like Dunn. Heck, Gundy may like Dunn. But it sure doesn't seem like Gundy's a fan of what Dunn is doing.
Asked Monday how involved he was with the offensive game planning, Gundy didn't really answer the question. Instead, he seemed to indicate he knew what the plan was heading into the Utah game and had signed off on it.
But ...
"We didn't get to the right stuff we needed to get to. We didn’t make in-game adjustments that we needed to get to, OK?" Gundy said. "Our system is versatile enough that we can do a lot of things, because we've been in it a long time. I just didn't feel like that we got to things that we needed to, and we kind of beat our head against the wall for an extended period of time when we probably should have went another direction."
The Cowboys beat their head against the wall?
That sounds like another indictment of Dunn.
And the numbers back it up.
On the Cowboys' three scoring drives against the Utes — that first-half field-goal drive plus two late, desperation drives that ended in touchdowns — OSU rolled up 189 yards. But on its 11 other possessions not stopped by the end of a half, the Cowboys managed only 96 yards.
And seven of those possessions were three-and-outs.
Net yardage on those seven possessions: 3 yards.
Three!
That's abysmal.
Ollie Gordon should be able to sneeze and get 3 yards.
That's another thing: how does OSU have Gordon, who Pro Football Focus argued before the season might be the best player in college football, and more veteran offensive linemen than starting spots and struggle to run the ball like it has?
I know Gundy would tell me it's about defenses constantly sending extra defenders into the box, committing extra bodies closer to the line of scrimmage. But if the Cowboys know that has been the case and is going to be the case moving forward, don't they need to scheme to attack it?
"There’s not anything we need to change from a scheme standpoint," Gundy insisted Monday. "We need to improve a little bit in fundamentals and technique and things that we would work on every year. But from a change standpoint, there’s no reason to change anything right now.
"The majority of the teams in college football that can run the ball decent with extra people in the box are playing with a running quarterback."
Hold up.
Iowa running back Kaleb Johnson leads the nation with 685 rushing yards. The Hawkeyes' quarterback, Cade McNamara, has rushed for minus-18 yards this season.
Boise State running back Ashton Jeanty has the highest per game average in the country at 195.3 yards rushing. His quarterback, Maddux Madsen, has rushed for 19 yards.
OSU quarterback Alan Bowman, by comparison, has rushed for 7 yards.
I guarantee Iowa and Boise State are seeing defenses do many of the same things they're doing against OSU. Still, Johnson and Jeanty are rolling up big rushing totals.
Bottom line: Gordon should be, too.
If Gundy and Dunn and whoever else is involved in game planning aren’t able to get something figured out, they're going to squander one of the best talents the program has ever had.
They may squander a really good team, too. This OSU squad has the talent to win the Big 12 and make the College Football Playoff. Such opportunities don't come around very often at non-blueblood programs. The Cowboys need to do everything they can to maximize this season.
I don't think they have to change offensive coordinators to do that, but Dunn sure needs to be much, much better.
Sounds like he already knows as much. Apparently, Gundy isn't shy about letting his coaches know when he doesn't approve of their work.
"There's a lot of Monday morning quarterbacks ... ," Gundy said. "I'm a Sunday morning quarterback in our own office. So all the people that work in our building hate to see me come walking down the hallway on Sundays because I'm the worst when it comes to that."
Listen, I'm not totally absolving Gundy of blame when it comes to the OSU offense. If the game plan is bad, he needs to call his offensive staff on it before they start implementing it. If the in-game execution is bad, it's my understanding Gundy wears a headset on game day — say something.
But if Gundy does his Sunday morning quarterbacking and the same thing keeps happening, isn't he guilty of one of the same sins he accused Dunn and his offensive coaches of committing?
Isn't he beating his head against the wall, too?