Jeff Blake-US PRESSWIRE
Once again, Mike Gundy is writing a check with his mouth that his football team might not be able to cash.
The Oklahoma State football coach, famous for his “I’m a man; I’m forty” tirade let SEC football fans know that their preferred brand of smashmouth, defense-first football is going the way of the horseless carriage and traditional uniforms.
On Monday, Gundy spoke to reporters inside the Cowboys’ Boone Pickens Stadium, and addressed comments by Alabama head coach Nick Saban as to whether the air attack of teams like the Cowboys or Oregon was what people wanted. His opinion was decidedly different than that of Saban.
“I think that in five years, you’re going to see the SEC playing offensive football like this league,” Gundy said.
“When you watch a good defense like the ones you are talking about in the SEC, Alabama, LSU, you don’t really see any matchups that fire you up,” Gundy explained. “But I know that I’m not fired up at all if I have to play inside the hashmarks. That makes me really miserable. I’d rather get them all spread out and try to hit some lanes.”
Gundy’s personal preference aside, there is a difference of opinion in what makes for a good football game that seems to split along geographical lines. Throughout the Southeast and up into parts of the Midwest and New England, playing defense and ball control is emphasized. Out West where the games kickoff well past bedtime for East Coast pollsters, fleet players and lots of scoring is the order of the day. It’s fun to watch, and it’s never dull. And those shiny helmets sure look great on TV.
But does it win games, which is – at least for now – the whole point?
Oregon got to the BCS Championship game in 2010 with their pinball offense, and went down to SEC champs Auburn. Gundy’s Oklahoma State hasn’t gotten a sniff of the championship game and won’t this year due to two losses (so far). Meanwhile, the Southeastern Conference is chasing a seventh consecutive national title.
Gundy attempted to make the case that the SEC is already in the process of changing by noting that some SEC teams are experimenting with a faster, more pass-happy offense.
“A&M’s already doing it,” Gundy said. “From what I saw, Georgia’s running a number of plays no huddle from the line. Arkansas was moving fast with Petrino, I don’t know what they’re doing over there now.”
If he was making a case for the aerial attack, he couldn’t have done a worse job. Arkansas is dreadful, A&M is still figuring out how to be an SEC team, and Georgia nearly lost to Tennessee before finally being blown out by South Carolina.
Meanwhile, smashmouth teams Alabama, Florida and LSU, along with South Carolina top the rankings.
Gundy may prove to be right in the end, as some SEC teams try to emulate the high-powered offenses of the PAC-12 and other conferences. But as one smashmouth coach once said, the same things win that always win.
And until ESPN tells us otherwise, winning is still the name of the game.
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