Mike Gundy calls Oklahoma State's 2024 injury issues 'very unusual'

Injuries are always to be expected in football, but Mike Gundy believes Oklahoma State has been hit particularly hard this year. The Cowboys have seen several stars go down on defense, including linebackers Collin Oliver and Nick Martin and safety Cameron Epps.

With so many key players down, the Cowboys currently sit in last place in the Big 12 with an 0-5 conference record just one season after finishing league runner up. Speaking in his Monday press conference before Saturday’s game against Arizona State, Gundy called it an “unusual” year of injuries.

“You’re gonna always have some, but this has been very unusual for us,” the coach said. “Particularly on defense with the hits that we’ve taken. Offensively, I wouldn’t say that it’s an unusual year. You’re always gonna have some. But it certainly was on the defensive side for us.”

Oklahoma State had one of its worst defensive performance of the season in Saturday’s 38-28 loss to Baylor. Gundy opened his press conference by stating that the Cowboys had 21 missed tackles in that game that led to 285 yards for the Bears.

OSU ranks 133rd out of 134 FBS teams in total defense as well as 102nd in scoring defense. The Cowboys have not had a losing season since Mike Gundy’s inaugural year in 2005, but would need to win three of its final four games just to become bowl eligible. Then it would also need to win its bowl game to avoid finishing below .500.

Although the injuries have certainly been a big issues this season, it’s hard to put all of the blame of OSU’s struggles on that. The Cowboys have still been relatively healthy on offense but have had quarterback woes and running back Ollie Gordon hasn’t put up the same numbers he did a year ago.

That said, three of OSU’s losses this year have come by 10 points or less. Perhaps if the roster were in a better position health-wise, some of those would have gone the other way.