'We Had To Take The Game From Them. They Weren’t Going To Give Us The Game:' OSU Opens The Season With a 44-20 Win Over South Dakota State

17th ranked Oklahoma State opened the 2024 football season with a 44-20 win over South Dakota State. The win extended the Cowboys' win streak in season openers to ten, and improved to 16-0 against FCS opponents in the Mike Gundy era.

The loss snapped a 29-game win streak for South Dakota State, who entered the contest ranked No. 1 in the FCS poll.

Following the game, OSU head coach Mike Gundy met with the media.

Mike Gundy, Oklahoma State Head Coach on…

 … Opening statement:

“I told the team, that was a really good first game of the season, which we all know is always a little scary, not quite as much for us this year with all the returning starters. But as I have said for months, this team (SDSU) doesn’t make a lot of mistakes, they’re very well-coached; they’re tough. We had to take the game from them, like I thought we’d have to. They weren’t going to give us the game. They had opportunities, at times -- a couple times -- where we dropped coverage and they had a chance to hit it and make a play, but they didn’t. Sometimes that works for you, sometimes it doesn’t. Those are areas we need to be better in. Overall, I was pleased with the performance from a discipline standpoint, we only had one penalty, which is really good, and I thought we were good in special teams. Not excellent, because we gave up a couple returns, too many yards, missed tackles, but overall in special teams, our ability to punt, flip the field, and down the ball inside the five-yard-line and perform in the PAT field goals, was really good. So, we were good in special teams, good in penalties and good in hidden yards. We rushed the ball for 127 yards on 38 carries, so we’re a little bit under where we should be. We should be about almost a yard more per carry there. Overall, it was good for us. We have a lot of work to do. I shared with those guys that, in all three phases, there’s going to be some really good video, based on what I was told on the headphones from the tablets, because now we’re able to watch the video during the games. So, we know a lot more during the game than we used to. There will be some really good teaching moving forward. This gives them a chance to relax a little bit tonight and then get back to work. Each week, the challenge gets greater.”

 … Setting the tone early with two defensive stands:

“Defensively, we played good and then gave up big plays. I almost did the math in my head, there were about four plays that, if we could have taken that away, it would’ve been almost 35-50% of their production. Again, that’s just me doing it in my head, but those are important -- early in the game -- to get those stops and get rolling. One time we were up three to four touchdowns, we could have stopped them and scored again, which maybe would’ve extended the game to where we could have played a lot of other guys, but we didn’t. We gave them a cheap one, dropped coverage in my opinion. Then, offensively, in the fourth quarter, we just sputtered around. We tried to run the ball to use the clock, but we weren’t very good. If I had to do it all over again, I’d just go play fast because I didn’t like that side of it. We were trying to nonchalantly use the clock and move the ball.”

 … Alan Bowman’s performance:

“Alan was good from a mental standpoint, based on what I heard from the headphones. He made decisions in what we asked him to do, and his grade in that area, I think, will be really high. That’s where he can help himself and help our team, if he’ll get the ball distributed to the people that we have, because most of what we do is run-pass options.”

 … Ollie Gordon’s physicality:

“He was physical last year and he looks to be very physical now. I thought he ran the ball really well today, made guys miss and bounce off of him. He made big runs at key times today. He looks better physically, running-wise, than he did last year, in my opinion. Now, as we get through the next month, we start to play teams that are bigger and more athletic. Not to take anything away from them (South Dakota State), but we’re going to play teams that will be in a better physical presence. But today, I thought he was good from a physical standpoint.”

 … De’Zhaun Stribling’s return from injury:

“He’s been really, really good. It’s extremely difficult for guys to get injured early in the season. They put so much time and effort into everything they do, and his composure and the way he handled himself was awesome. He had one of those injuries where he could’ve played, but we chose not to play him based on a small percentage (chance) that he could have really injured himself more. We could’ve casted it up and let him go, and I think there was a time where he wanted to do that. But, we felt like we knew better for his long-term, and he’s really worked hard and hasd a good August. There was one ball today that he could’ve caught that he didn’t catch. Normally, he’ll catch that. If he makes that catch in the endzone, then he’s would’ve ended up with 125 yards. He had a good day, but that would’ve been a great day.”