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OSU Previews Road Game At Missouri

Mike Gundy and the OSU Cowboys have yet another big road test on Saturday, as they travel to Columbia, MO to take on the Missouri Tigers.

Coach Gundy and select players and coaches met with the media in Stillwater on Monday afternoon.  Here are some of the highlights, courtesy of the Oklahoma State Media Relations Department:

Head Coach Mike Gundy

Opening Statement

"We are back it at. Last Saturday was a game on the road. The players played better than I thought. We played good, not great. We played pretty well for the most part. We had some glaring mistakes, which took away from some of our plays. This week we are playing on the road at Missouri. As we watch them on tape, it allows us to see what they have on offense. Missouri has been very athletic on offense for the past several years. Their quarterback is considerably better now. They are also fairly good on defense. They make plays and are well-coached. We are looking forward to the challenge of going there and playing. Our players are excited. Our team shows more enthusiasm about playing each week.  We need a good week of preparation. We need to focus on what is important. We need to play well at Missouri."

On playing Texas

"You always have to be encouraged when you win on the road in this league. I mentioned to my staff after the game, that we needed to get out of Texas as fast as we could, before anyone changed their mind.  This is the approach that a coach must have, in my opinion. Playing on the road is difficult. I am encouraged that we are at a point where the team is mature enough to play better on the road than what we have in the past."

On beating Missouri in 2008

"It was a win against a quality team that had national recognition. Our players worked for that victory. From that point on we have played fairly well on the road. Things happen for a reason. I think our players understand that."

On playing on the road

"We have better players now. We have more depth. Our players believe in themselves enough to go play the game. A lot of playing on the road is coach's talk. For example last Saturday, there were 100,000 on Texas's team. We had a great crowd, but we only get so many tickets. We had 5,000 on our team for what it's worth. We still have to be able to overcome difficult situations, especially when the momentum swings like it did last Saturday.   I do not know what the reason is, other than our players believe in themselves. They just keep playing."

On Saturday's 11 a.m. kickoff

"I like playing during the day. The support we receive is tremendous. I prefer day games though. Just like everyone else's job I wake up at 6 a.m. and then have until 7 p.m. to play. During this time so many things run through my head. So I would rather play at 11 a.m. or 2:30 p.m."

Offensive Coordinator Todd Monken

On the Texas defense:

"They can run pretty well and they did a good job matching up against us. They do a good job of overloading pressures, which puts you under duress a little bit, but I thought we handled it pretty well. It wasn't as smooth as I would have liked, but there was enough good things - a couple fourth down conversions, one that went directly to a score and another led to a score. I thought our guys played really hard. I thought our running backs did a good job in protection. Our receivers I thought played hard. Whether it's them or it's us, we didn't have the same flow, but you're not going to have that every week."

On the OSU defense stepping up when the offense struggled:

"Our defense has played well all year. They've created turnovers. When we've had our ones out there on defense, we haven't given up a great number of yards and scores. I think they've continued to get better and better, so I think you always count on that. And sometimes when we're going fast and we're scoring fast, that adds to the number of plays they have to play. It's always hard to use statistics when you're playing your backups when you're ahead so much because it all goes into one pot. I think they've played well all year."

On Missouri:

"Everybody is just a little bit different depending on who you play. I think they play hard, they're well-coached. They do a nice job mixing looks, because we have some pretty good film of them playing OU and Arizona State and they do some spread stuff. They do a nice job of trying to disrupt your quarterback with different looks. They run a number of coverages. They're not just going to sit back and let you dictate to them, so I think they're doing a real nice job."

Defensive Coordinator Bill Young

On forcing turnovers:

"Turnovers are always going to be big and we really appreciate getting those things and our players understand the importance of it. We're talking about it on the sideline all the time, particularly when our offense has had the defense on the field for a long time and we talk about trying to put them back on there because their tongues are hanging out and they're tired."

On playing at Missouri after playing at Texas:

"Our season is going to be that way. We've gone to Texas, we went to A&M and now we're on our way to Columbia. It'll be a real challenge. Anytime you go on the road, it's a tough deal."

On Missouri:

"They're a spread offense, they've got a lot of receivers and people touching the ball, different athletes, an excellent quarterback who's not only a good thrower, but an excellent runner."

Quarterback Brandon Weeden

On Missouri

"If you look at the games Missouri has lost, both times were to undefeated teams. Their losses were both close games.  They are a good football team. We know we are going have our hands full. They have a good offense. They have a good quarterback. They have a good defense and their defensive line makes plays. It is going to be a battle for us. "

On the early kickoff

"2:30 p.m. is my favorite time to play. It is in the middle of the day. You do not have to wake up early. You eat a good lunch and go straight to the game. We use it to our advantage. We like to play day games. It is tough to play at night in some venues. I have only played one game with an early kickoff, at Kansas State last year. I thought that was kind of fun and I am looking forward to this week's game. Night games are a blast, getting to play under the lights. Early games are better for players because we do not have to sit around all day."

On the Texas game

"When you watch film, the game is never as good or as bad as you thought it was. I made some good passes and some that were not so good. I can take a lot from this game. There are several things I need to change. As a team, we went three-and-out. If you look at the time of possession, our defense was on the field way too much. That is tough on them. If you look at the drive sequence of the game, if a first down occurred we scored. When we moved the ball, we gained confidence. We need to figure out why these things occurred and move on from there."

Running Back Jeremy Smith 

On scoring against Texas

"All the credit goes to the line. They created the holes. If a running back can't find those holes, something is wrong.  They deserve all the credit."

On playing behind the offensive line

"I cannot describe it. It is lovely. I could play behind them for the rest of my life."

On his running style through the line

"You have to hit the next level. You have to get an extra burst of energy going."

On playing Missouri

"We have to fix our mistakes from last week. A win on the road is very important. Winning at Texas is something not a lot of teams can do. Beating them was big for us. We have to continue to get better. We know Missouri is going to be ready for us. We have to continue to take care of business."

Cornerback Justin Gilbert

On how prepared the Cowboys were for Texas:

"There weren't many plays they threw at us that we didn't already see on film, so we prepared well for it. The coaches did a good job getting us prepared during the week."

On containing Missouri quarterback James Franklin:

"Coaches are always telling us to stay in coverage because of the arm and the feet that he has. Hopefully one of our linemen or linebackers can get him down while we're staying in coverage."

On the front seven:

"As long as we hold them up in the back end, we're giving the linemen and linebackers time to get a sack, and as long as they're getting a pass rush, they're giving us an opportunity to get a pick, so we depend on each other."

Wide Receiver Hubert Anyiam

On how tough it is to play at Missouri:

"It's pretty tough. I went down there when I was younger and that was the first impression I had of it. We went down there and we were underdogs, they were top 10-ranked and everyone thought we were going to lose. We went out there and we got a big win. that was a good confidence booster for this program. I think right now, that's the reason why we're top 10-ranked because of that game, and then following that up with the '09 year. Last year we had a good season. Going down to Missouri and playing is going to be hard, but we don't fear the away games."

On what OSU takes away from the win at Texas:

"I feel like we played pretty well, we just had a couple of drops here, drops there on offense. Texas, they played pretty good defense. They have athletes. They have better athletes than they did last year, and they're playing better than they did last year. They changed around their coaches and everything. I'm going to give it to Texas. I'm going to give it to our offensive line; Grant Garner came in off of injury and played well and they pushed the defensive line back and got holes for Jeremy Smith to run the ball. I feel like the defense did a pretty good job. Just knowing we went out there and didn't play to the best of our ability and knowing we can come in here and make our corrections and play better is just a good boost for this team. When we play well like we did against Kansas, we put up points, so just knowing that we can do that is really good."

Safety Daytawion Lowe

On gaining confidence after beating Texas:

"Our confidence goes up with the win, but we have a lot of stuff that we have to get better on."

On facing Missouri's offense:

"We're going to have to play fundamental football and be in our gaps and study hard this week because they're going to try to spread you out."

On going on the road on back-to-back weeks against conference opponents:

"It's what we have to do. We can't think about it, we just have to do what we have to do."

Defensive End Richetti Jones

On the defensive line play against Texas:

"We've always been confident in ourselves. We don't really worry too much what anybody else says. Basically, we're just going to keep on working, keep on doing what we're doing and keep on rolling."

On preparing for back-to-back conference road games:

"The same way we do every week, don't change anything, just keep on working hard like we do every week. It's all about Missouri, and we just go accordingly."

On containing Missouri quarterback James Franklin:

"We learned from playing against David Ash, because he was a running quarterback. Take the things we learned from playing against him and apply them in the game and just get better."

Offensive Lineman Levy Adcock

On what confidence the offensive line gained from beating Texas:

"We look at it as we're not just one-dimensional, so people have to start thinking about the run and stopping it and not just the pass. That's really beneficial to us."

On preparing for back-to-back conference road games:

"We just go out there to get as good as we possibly can and take what we learn into Saturday."

On Missouri:

"They're really good. Their front seven is really talented, really big. They're real physical, really fast guys, so we're definitely going to have to bring what we prepare for."

Linebacker Shaun Lewis

On momentum gained after beating Texas:

"It definitely gives us confidence to play on the road. Whenever you can go into a place where there are 105,000 people rooting against you and get a win like that, it's definitely a momentum booster."

On preparing for back-to-back road conference games:

"Prepare like we did before: take it one day at a time, take our coaching well and practice hard. When we get out there, we should see everything they're doing."

On Missouri:

"They do a good job of getting athletes in space and they make a lot of plays, so if we can slow them down, we have a shot at winning the game, but it won't come easy because we're playing against Missouri and their crowd."