Mike Gundy says OSU will 'keep moving forward' after upset loss to Tulsa

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Almost a year ago, Mike Gundy’s team picked up a 45-10 win against Tulsa.

But on Friday, after falling to TU 19-12 in lousy fashion, Gundy stood behind a podium and had to answer questions about his future as Oklahoma State’s football coach.

“Those aren’t decisions that I make,” Gundy said. “And my decision is to do exactly what I mentioned earlier. Get these guys and keep moving forward and go on down the road, and that’s what we do.”

The Cowboys are 1-2 on the season and at their lowest point under Gundy’s guidance. They’ve lost their last 11 games against FBS opponents and haven’t shown any signs they’re headed toward a turnaround. Now, the question looms: what’s next for OSU football?

Tulsa hadn’t beaten the Cowboys in Stillwater since 1951. OSU was still called Oklahoma A&M. Harry Truman was president. The NBA was five years old. Gundy wouldn’t be born for 16 more years.

The Cowboys used to dominate TU, having won the last 10 matchups entering Friday. But now, OSU is in a much different place.

After the Cowboys kicked a field goal on the game’s opening drive, the Golden Hurricane responded with a 75-yard touchdown drive to take a 7-3 lead. OSU trailed the rest of the way and didn’t cut its deficit to single digits until there were 5:49 remaining in the game.

“We’re trying to come around,” Gundy said. “We’re not where we were two or three years ago. We’re building back from where we were, and we just have to continue to push forward… I have faith in them. I told (the team) that I have faith in the concepts.”

When OSU headed toward its locker room at halftime, trailing 16-3, boos rained down on Cowboy players and staff — one of several instances in which the crowd at Boone Pickens Stadium voiced its displeasure with the on-field product.

“I look at it as a good thing because it shows they care,” OSU defensive back Dylan Smith said. “It shows they want to win just as bad as we do. So, now we just have to do our part.”

Zane Flores made his second-career start at quarterback for the Cowboys and finished 25 of 40 for 214 yards. He ran for 56 yards and a touchdown on 10 rushes and showed signs of growth.

But Flores also missed a couple of much-needed throws, including one to running back Rodney Fields Jr. on a fourth down with 2:19 left while the Cowboys trailed by a touchdown.

OSU got the ball back, though, with 26 seconds left and one last shot at a comeback. The Cowboys reached TU’s 42-yard line but couldn’t find the end zone after a failed deep pass and a poorly-executed lateral play with wide receiver Gavin Freeman.

The clock had hit zero, and Golden Hurricane players stormed the field in celebration.

TU coach spoke to his team’s win on the ESPN broadcast and highlighted running back Dominic Richardson, a former Cowboy who stole the show with 157 scrimmage yards and managed several timely first downs.

“They told (Richardson) he wasn’t good enough to play here,” Lamb said. “…We’re tired of being little brother. Tulsa football is back.”

Now, OSU will open Big 12 Conference play next Saturday (Sept. 27) at home against Baylor, which is 2-1 on the season and quarterbacked by Sawyer Robertson, the conference’s leader in passing yards.

The Cowboys had 13 days to prepare for TU and came out sloppy. Now they have eight days before they try to avoid a 1-3 start to the season against a stronger opponent.

“I can tell (the team is) hurting, which is good,” Gundy said. “There’s not finger pointing, which is good, because it’s difficult for them… We can’t get rid of the three games we’ve already played. But one thing we can do is, as coaches, we can continue to work and put together plans that we think, based on what happened in these games, give us a chance to play well in the next game.”