I just got off the teleconference with Oklahoma State coach Mike Gundy. Regardless of what youtube might have you believe he was very accomodating to the media, even telling us we could call him back if we have more questions. (Which means if you have questions you want me to ask him, feel free to post them and i'll be sure to get the answers the next time I get the chance.)
But for now, here's a rough transcript of what he had to say:
OVERVIEW OF HIS TEAM
"We're in the Big 12 South, I've been head coach three years, I was here starting in 2000 as Offensive Coordinator with Coach (Les) Miles who's now at LSU. I played and coached at Oklahoma State in early 90's, then Coach Miles and I came back here in 2000 and I've been here since. We've been to five bowls in six years, we've been traditionally a rushing football team, in the past we've had very good tailbacks here. Defensively we've been average here over the last six or eight years. We're a young football team, we have changed at the quarterback position in game three, Zac Robinson took over for Bobby Reid. We have an all Big 12 running back in Dantrell Savage, a second all Big 12 receiver in Adarius Bowman. We're fairly young upfront in the offensive line, we start three sophomores. Defensively we have two senior defensive ends, Donavon Woods is a senior linebacker, Martel Van Zant is a senior cornerback who's deaf. Outside of football we're in the process of building a brand new facility and new stadium."
ON THE HOOSIERS
"I've been very impressed with Kellen, their quarterbackm and also James Hardy. I guess they're no secret up there they've played very well and made lots of plays for them. They're very athletic and do a nice job of spreading out and doing a nice job on offense. Defensively 92 (Greg Middleton), he does a nice job coming off the edge, 57 (Jammie Kirlew) is the other one, those guys do a nice job of coming off the edge. I'm impressed with number 8 (Nick Polk) the safety, he comes up and tackles well plays coverage well. I see a team that plays with a lot of effort, I see a team that's well coached, they're in the right gaps in my opinion on defense, I see a team that plays with a lot of effort and are well coached."
WHAT TEAM THE HOOSIERS REMIND HIM OF IN THE BIG 12 "There are some similarities to Kansas with the exception to how athletic Kellen is. Hardy is bigger and has gotten more numbers but Kansas is a team that uses big receivers."
ON THE ADVANTAGE IN PLAYING IN A BOWL GAME LAST YEAR
"I don't think there's much of an advantage to it, I know IU is very excited to be playing in a bowl just like our team, it's hard to tell nowadays where you get advantages. I think if you have experience playing in a national championship game I think it would be more of an advantage in that situation. I don't think we have any advantage from playing in a bowl game last year, I don't know if that's an advantage but I could be wrong there."
ON WHAT HE KNOWS ABOUT THE COACH HOEPPNER STORY
"I'm somewhat familiar with it, during the season I don't know what's going on anywhere outside of Stillwater, I don't watch T.V. But I know that you guys had lost him last (June), I knew Coach Lynch had taken over and done well and I know he got a contract extension. I know coach Hoeppner's wife has been involved with the program and she was really excited because her husbands' goal was to play 13 and I did see some of the highlights where she was celebrating with Coach Lynch after the victory."
ON THE IMPACT LOSING A HEAD COACH WOULD HAVE ON A TEAM
"Hard for me to speak to the relationship there, but I know we lost a player here three years ago, our best defensive player was killed in a car crash in the spring and I know how difficult it was to the players and I can only imagine how difficult it would be to the team and the staff to lose their head coach. I've had a lot of respect for what they've been able to accomplish, obviously the players have rallied around it."
ON SAVAGE
"Savage is a good player, he's very shifty, this is his second year here, and he's been a really good player for us. He's been a good receiver and he's had the ability to make people miss in space, we didn't have him for the first three games, he wasn't healthy and we got him back I think in the third or fourth game and since then he's had nine straight 100 yard rushing games."
ON HIS TEAMS ITENERARY FOR THE BOWL GAME
"We will give our players four days off to go home for Christmas, we're going to travel on the 26th, but we'll let them go home for four nights. I've always felt like if you've earned the right to be in a bowl game they need to prepare well, but they should still have time to be home with their families for the Christmas holiday."
ON HIS TEAMS STYLE OF PLAY
"I watched some of the Wisconsin tape, I would consider them more of a downhill style of offense and we're more of a spread attack. We're in the (shot)gun 75 percent of the time."
IF HE'S EVER PLAYED AGAINST A WIDE RECEIVER AS BIG AS HARDY
"Not that I can remember have we played a guy that tall, with our corners we'd have to put another guy on his shoulder, I saw a picture of him, he's a good looking athlete but I don't remember going up against a receiver that's that tall."
ON HIS INFAMOUS TIRADE
"I don't know how long it will take for it to go away, it hasn't affected anybody nor has it done anything. I was discussing with someone if there's anyway I can make money of it, like If I could get a dime for every hit. It's something I think people talk about now and then but for the most part its gone away, the most stressful part was our media relations director, he felt like he was representing Brittany Spears there for about a week. "
ON IF HE'S PLANNING ON CONTACTING COACHES IN THE BIG TEN ABOUT IU
"We have time to do our own homework and bowl preparation. You have a video exchange, you have time to do everything prep wise we need to get prepared for the game. I don't have any reason to call them and ask any information, I think we have time to take care of our own business."
That's all I got. But if you have anymore questions, as always, go ahead and comment as much as you want. After talking to Gundy and looking at their stats, i'd say the team they most remind me of that the Hoosiers have played is Northwestern. They have a really good running back, a quarterback who can make plays and a questionable defense. To me, they are a better version of Northwestern. For whatever thats worth.
