Following an embarrassing 33-7 loss at home to the South Alabama Jaguars, Cowboy head coach Mike Gundy said, “We got outcoached and outexecuted.” That’s an understatement. Prior to the game, Gundy said, “If my team isn’t ready, they’ll get embarrassed,” and that’s exactly what happened.
For years, Gundy has seemed satisfied with what has become the status quo in Stillwater: win some games early, beat a team that’s probably better, lose a game or two despite being heavily favored, and then make it a mediocre bowl game. Well, times have changed, and that’s just not enough. The transfer portal is a never-ending rotation of players, NIL seems to be at the forefront of everyone’s mind, and doing the same old thing just isn’t going to cut it anymore.
That brings us to the present day. Oklahoma State entered this season with an unreal turnover of players, and with the lowest recruiting budget in the conference, the Cowboys have no chance of bringing in top players. And so, what was bound to happen actually happened, and South Alabama, a team that is fresh off their first winning season in their short 11-year tenure as an FBS team, came into Stillwater and whooped the Oklahoma State Cowboys for the worst non-conference loss of Gundy’s career.
Playcalling was poor. Issues seemed to pop up in every area. A lack of preparation seemed to be the theme of the game.
“Fire Gundy” has become about as prevalent as ever amongst the Loyal and True. The other side of the crowd is screaming to throw money at the program. I’m not sure either of those is the fix-all, but perhaps one or both would do the trick. Ideally, changes could be made within the program, but it’s hard to tell if that’s even possible.
At this point, something has to change. Mike Gundy needs to take a good hard look at the way that he’s been doing things and realize that while he’s “not really worried about the portal” as he puts it, perhaps he should be worried. Gundy also said that “if a player is gonna transfer, he’s gonna transfer,” and while that sentiment might hold some level of truth, it’s a pretty ridiculous perspective as the leader of a team that supposedly functions as a family.
I’ve been a Cowboy football fan since I was a kid. I went to my first football game in Stillwater when the parking lot was still gravel. I used to listen to the games on the radio because Oklahoma State was rarely good enough to be on TV in the late 90s and early 2000s. For the last couple of decades, I’ve been one of Mike Gundy’s biggest supporters. At this point, though, he’s going to have to either make some changes or be the change.