Gundy Is the Man Who Gets It Going for Sanders & Co.

SAN DIEGO —  Playing quarterback for Oklahoma State is like playing adjutant for the Normandy Invasion: There’s plenty of glory, lots of frontline action and an almost limitless supply of hands-on experience.

You’re a leader. But you’re not the 5-star general.

“My job,” Mike Gundy said Friday night, “is to study and understand the structure of what the defense is trying to do. Every defense has to be structured to stop either the pass or the run. The only defense ever that was structured to stop both was the 1985 Chicago Bears.”

Gundy had just directed the Oklahoma State offense to 698 yards and 62 points in a Sea World Holiday Bowl that more closely resembled Sherman’s march to the sea.

The identifiable hero was Heisman Trophy winner Barry Sanders, who rushed for 222 yards and 5 touchdowns on 29 carries. The most impressive athlete probably was Oklahoma State wide receiver Hart Lee Dykes, who caught 10 passes for 163 yards.

Sanders breaks tackles in bunches. Dykes is big, fast, cocky and a certain first-round pick in next spring’s NFL draft.

“We knew they had horses,” Wyoming Coach Paul Roach said after the game. “Tonight they got loose.”

If Sanders and Dykes are horses, Gundy is My Little Pony. He is small for a quarterback (5-11, 185) and not especially fast.

But his instincts were consistently beyond reproach most of the season and never better than they were Friday night. His final numbers weren’t too bad either: 20 completions in 24 attempts for 315 yards and 2 touchdowns.

“There’s a lot of people across the country who saw what I can do tonight,” Gundy said.

And there are a lot of people across the country who will remember Gundy forever as the guy who handed off to Barry Sanders.

“That happens when you play with the Heisman Trophy winner,” Gundy said. “He deserves it.”

It’s just that Gundy, a junior, deserves better. He completed 64.8% of his passes this year, which was the best in Big Eight history and good enough to place him second in the nation in passing efficiency. The offense he triggered led the nation in scoring with a 47.5-point average.

But Gundy didn’t even make first team All-Big Eight. Nebraska’s Steve Taylor did.

On Oklahoma State’s first possession against Wyoming Friday, the Cowboys needed six plays to negotiate 55 yards and take a lead they would never surrender. The final 33 came on a Sanders burst off right tackle, through a hole big enough to accommodate a Chuck Wagon.

Sanders never looked back. But it was Gundy who called the audible. It was Gundy who noticed the Wyoming defense had “reduced in” on third and 4. And it was Gundy who delivered the ball quick and true to Sanders on a play called “58 Pitch Sweep.”

“Mike Gundy,” Oklahoma State Coach Pat Jones said, “is an awfully, awfully good operator.”

It was nice to hear something other than the Barry Sanders party line for a change. Oklahoma State also has an estimable offensive line nicknamed the “War Pigs.” It has a defense that gave up more than 450 yards per game this year but allowed just 204 to Wyoming, a team that scored 41.4 points per game in 1988.

Still, Roach said, “I was really impressed with their quarterback.” Gundy even caught a pass from Sanders in the second half on a gadget play that worked though it fooled no one. “Hey Dykes,” Gundy hollered in the locker room. “I go out for one pass all year, and I draw double coverage.”

Gundy’s six carries produced 38 yards.

“Mike made clutch throws,” Jones said. “And he made some clutch scrambles.”

Maybe somebody’s finally beginning to notice.