Mike Gundy breaks down challenges of Texas defense

The road doesn’t easier for Oklahoma State after they dropped their first game of the season last week against TCU. This week, the Cowboys play host to a surging Texas team that’s undefeated when its quarterback both starts and finishes games.

But OSU coach Mike Gundy views the Longhorns as a pesky matchup defensively for his team. Texas just always seems to have talented, athletic dudes up and down their defensive lineup, whether the unit as a whole is good or not. And the jury’s still out for this season. For the most part, it’s a formidable group that gives up about 20 points a game. Except for one outlier performance in Lubbock vs. the Red Raiders where they allowed 37.

Anyway, at his most recent press conference, Coach Gundy addressed the Texas defensive side and their daunting physicality, which he notes is a hallmark of these Longhorn teams.

Here was Gundy:

“They’re the same every year, right. They’re big up front. Or, you know, they don’t play with small guys. They don’t play with undersized guys. All their linebackers are thick and they can run. They’re in a challenging mode more this year than they were last year. They’re playing more man this year than they were last year, they’re going to play some quarters. But you know, they’re playing with NFL guys on defense. I mean, it’s the same thing they’ve always played with.”

So still a talented and young athletic defense for Texas. And on the other side of the coin, Texas coach Steve Sarkisian had nothing but good things to say about the Oklahoma State defense under Mike Gundy and DC Derek Mason, the former Vanderbilt head man.

“They obviously had a tremendous defense last year and I’m sure before I got here, but last year most notably with Coach Knowles and what they did,” Sarkisian said. “They had really good players, veteran players, they had a really good team. I’ve got a lot of respect for Coach Mason. He’s been doing it for a long time and I think he came in and with his expertise in defensive football, I think he adopted a lot of what they did. But you can definitely see his fingerprints on it, as well. I think he’s, like good coaches do, they’re trying to do what’s best for their players to have success and you can see him trying to do that.”

A well-coached and well-organized group on the other sideline, according to Sarkisian. Overall, clear respect going both ways as these two coaches gear up for Saturday’s contest.