How does Oklahoma State spell Iowa State? R-E-S-P-E-C-T.
Published: 10/19/2012 5:37 PM
Last Modified: 10/19/2012 5:37 PM
Because Mike Gundy spent a chunk of his weekly press conference answering questions about the surreal day that preceded a loss at Iowa State last season, there are perhaps some folks out there who jumped to a conclusion that the Oklahoma State head coach isn’t giving the Cyclones their fair share of credit for what happened in Ames.
And nothing could be further from the truth.
Does Gundy respect Iowa State? Absolutely. And he was saying so long before this week rolled around. During a SiriusXM radio interview a month ago, Gundy was talking about Big 12 parity and volunteered this about Iowa State:
“Defensively, with the way their ‘backers are playing, you better be real careful playing Iowa State. You better bring your A game. We found that our last year. Or you could lose 21-17 against Iowa State and you walk out of there scratching your head and wondering how that happened.”
Gundy was reminded of the quote this week and he said one of those kind of games almost happened last Saturday, when Iowa State nearly upset Kansas State. The Cyclones lost by “only” a 27-21 count and missed chances to drive for a go-ahead score at game’s end. That game was in Ames, just like OSU’s was last season.
In discussing how difficult it is to play in Ames, Gundy said, “If you think you are going up there to play them and it’s going to be a fun trip, you are wrong in my experience. Players see other teams do flashy things and see them as better (than non-flashy teams). And (the Cyclones) just play good football. That’s not saying anything negative against them. If you watch their games, you don’t see things that are flashy, like when you watch Texas. When we played them and you watched (film of) their early games, they made a bunch of flashy plays. Guys were breaking tackles and they catch a bubble screen and make a guy miss and take off and run 70 yards.”
But flashy things don’t occur for Iowa State. And yet the Cyclones still find a way to get the job done.
Asked if Iowa State coach Paul Rhoads is not given his due for what he has accomplished, Gundy said, “I don’t think it has gone underappreciated with us in our profession. His players compete and they play hard. I think one thing that you should remember -- and we tell our team this -- is your talent level, no matter what it is, you control the ability to play as hard as you want. And his guys play hard. And that’s all you can ask. There are certain teams that are really good and don’t play very hard and there are certain teams that may not be as talented in certain areas and play really hard. What he has done the last couple of years is he has gotten better players and they are still playing hard.”
Put it all together and Iowa State is the kind of team where, all of a sudden, you look up in the fourth quarter and the score is something like 16-12 and the opposing coach is, as Gundy suggested earlier, wondering “how did this happen?”
That’s OSU’s goal Saturday is to avoid a “how did this happen?” game.
Written by
Jimmie Tramel
Sports Writer
