They're talking about the Sooners in Stillwater
Published: 4/26/2012 11:29 AM
Last Modified: 4/26/2012 11:29 AM
Bedlam football was a lot more fun when Les Miles coached Oklahoma State. He loved poking a stick in Bob Stoops' side. More often than not, he got Stoops to take the bait and say something in retaliation.
Which was sort of brilliant, since there wasn't much reason for anyone at OU to say anything about OSU at the time.
Then Miles took his hat and his mouth to LSU. OSU promoted Mike Gundy, and he more or less went about his business without saying much at all about goings on in Norman. The strategy was as sound as Boone Pickens' pockets were deep, and last fall Gundy's Cowboys overtook Stoops' Sooners.
He didn't gloat about it then – imagine what Miles would have said had he ever beaten Stoops 44-10 – and he's not gloating about it now.
He does, however, address his program's success in relation to OU when asked, like he was recently by The Sporting News' Steve Greenberg.
"I guess if you were an NFL scout or coach and evaluating Oklahoma's 85 or 100 versus ours, you might say, 'Yeah, they have, overall, better players,'" Gundy told Greenberg. "But the team concept? The attitude? The body language? The team chemistry? You put our 11 out there and we'll be OK."
I don't read that as a shot at the Sooners so much as the most recent reality.
I covered both Bedlam camps in Arizona last December, and I promise you the attitude, body language and chemistry was night and day. Which was also the difference between the Insight and Fiesta Bowls.
Sort of explains a lot.
Gundy's comments weren't meant to address OU's issues, but to prop up how much his program has its stuff together. He deserves the most credit for that, and it's certainly his right to boast publicly about it.
This is hardly Miles-esque smack. It's just noteworthy anytime Gundy brings up the Sooners.
Now...
For sharper Bedlam talk, we call on OSU offensive coordinator Todd Monken. And ESPN.com Big 12 blogger David Ubben, who interviewed Monken recently about the Cowboys' quarterback situation.
This is what Ubben wrote: "Monken's not exactly sweating. He had a guy who could do it last year in Weeden, but looking around college football, he knows few teams have a quarterback who can truly carry a team."
And this is what Monken said: "It didn't take long when ol' Broyles went down and they started running the 'dozer to think, 'Do we have our guy?' That didn't take long. Landry Jones went from like, 'I'm the man,' to all of a sudden, 'I haven't thrown a touchdown pass, I'm fumbling it over my head at Oklahoma State. I gotta go back and see my quarterback guru.'"
Somewhere, under the bill of a big-and-tall ballcap, Miles is grinning ear to ear.
-- Guerin Emig
Written by
Guerin Emig
Sports Writer
