Scott Wright, who covers OK State for The Oklahoman, tells McElroy & Cubelic what he saw at Big 12 Media Days & why Oklahoma State has a great shot at a CFP bye
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Strongest warranty, job done right, and the best price. Call them today at 942-1976 or visit BeDryAlabama.com. Scott Wright covers Oklahoma State for the Oklahoman. You can follow him on Twitter at ScottWrightOK, and he's with us now on the Buyer's Right Hotline. Scott, what is the response or the thought process or the mindset of people with Oklahoma State today

to what Coach Gundy had to say about bringing his star player to sort of face the music and then his comments around how and why he made his decision earlier this week at Big 12 Media Days. As far as the decision, I think that people were very supportive of the idea. There were some people that thought it would be better to hide Ali and not put him out there nine days after a DUI arrest.

But Gundy has kind of – this is one area where he is a little bit more forward-thinking than some other areas when it comes to media interaction with his players. He realized that they could get Ali out there, let him answer the questions, let him face the music.

right now rather than drag this on for a month and then it becomes a story again on August 1st when we get to talk to him or hold him out until the first game and we talk to him after South Dakota State and it becomes a story again. So, Gundy,

Gundy realized that it was best to just kind of rip the Band-Aid off, handle this now. And he realized that Ollie has the maturity, which I realize is a little bit ironic considering the mistake he made. But in this situation, he has maturity.

the maturity to stand there in front of the cameras and in the spotlight and handle himself the right way, which he did. He handled himself incredibly well. Gundy, not always so much based on some of his comments yesterday or two days ago, but

But Ollie handled himself incredibly well in the spotlight of a really long day of answering the same questions over and over again. So it was pretty impressive for him to do what he did and own up to his mistake the way that he did. Well, looking at the Big 12 this year as we transition onto the field, it

It's wide open. There's a bunch of teams, probably six or seven, that could potentially win the league. I don't think anyone would be that surprised if one of the newcomers came in and actually made it happen. So as you're kind of sizing everybody up, I kind of lean Oklahoma State, but I seem to be the only one. How would you kind of assess where everybody's at right now? You know, as far as Oklahoma State first, I've been really surprised.

by the fact, you know, of course, you know, the sports books are one thing. You know, they have them with the seventh best odds to win the league and seven and a half wins for their over-under for the season. And I think that's mostly based on just looking at what this defense did last year and not having a lot of confidence in their ability to improve, but that's a different story. So, yeah, I think...

think from other the people that that followed the this league in college football uh... pretty closely in the in the media landscape

People see the talent on offense and realize that this defense was in its first year under a new coordinator in a new scheme and that there is a lot of room for growth over there and that they have a chance to definitely be in the mix. Now, being in the mix could be a mix of six or seven teams. This league is going to be impossible to try.

to try to predict, it's going to be incredibly deep. You know, I'm sure out in SEC country, some of Brett Yormark's comments about it being the deepest conference in the country probably got some side-eye, but when you look at, you know, the games that

these teams are going to be in on a week-to-week basis, this really is going to be an incredibly competitive league. Now, it might not have the star power at the top the way that either the SEC or the Big Ten does, but...

In terms of the depth of this conference, it really is incredibly deep, and this is going to go all the way down to Thanksgiving weekend to decide who is playing for the Big 12 title. It could be, like you said, a couple of the newcomers, I think, are definitely in the mix with Utah and Arizona, and then you've got some of the traditional Big 12 teams

Programs like Oklahoma State, Kansas State. Kansas is really a program on the rise with Lance Leipold. And then you've got some wild cards like Texas Tech or Iowa State that's been there before. So it can go a lot of different directions, and it's going to be a really fun season.

When you look at this Oklahoma State football team, outside of some of the skill guys that we've mentioned, I think this offensive line has a chance to be pretty good. What are some areas that maybe people aren't spending enough time talking about as to just why they might be able to make a playoff run?

You know, it's hard to point to this and have a lot of backing because the defense was really bad statistically last year. You look at all the major categories, they were not in the top 90 nationally. They were in the 120s in passing yards allowed, things like that. So statistically, this defense looked really bad, but

In context of the season, they responded incredibly well. They had multiple games where they would get torched early and then be able to shut a team down for a quarter and a half or the entire second half. I think of games like Kansas where they were down big and they allowed one –

Second half touchdown to start the second half and then shut them out the rest of the way. All fits comes back. They win that game. BYU was similar until they gave up a late field goal to force overtime. Houston, at Houston, was similar. So there really is...

reason to believe this defense can be better, even though the numbers were really bad. They've done a lot of work this spring to adjust the defense to meld with their talent a little bit better. They realize that Colin Oliver is a really good linebacker, but he's also their most dangerous pass rusher, so they've got to get him more involved in that

part of the game, which is one of the areas that they've really got to improve in. That's one of the big keys for this defense. If they can rush the passer better, they've got a lot of room to grow really quickly. And then it comes down to coverage on the back end. So I think that last year was a lot of the players learning the defense, and now this year is going to be a lot more about fitting the players into the defense in the right way and melding the talent to match them.

How would you assess, finally, kind of the depth of the league and looking at kind of the incumbents, those that are in the league, Kansas State, Kansas, Oklahoma State, of course, how much of an advantage do they have as opposed to the four-corner schools that are now joining?

You know, I'm curious about that and to see how it goes for those programs because it's different than last year when BYU and Houston and Cincinnati and UCF came in because it was a step up for them. BYU plays a different kind of schedule, but the other three, it was a completely different type of league.

These programs coming in have played in a good league for a while now. So it's not going to be the same kind of change that those programs faced a year ago. But it's definitely going to be different in terms of the depth and the number of

of really good games. I mean, we'll see what Arizona and Cincinnati and Houston look like. Cincinnati, I probably shouldn't even throw them in there. I think they're probably good enough to not be dropped down to the bottom. But Arizona State and Houston are the two teams that a lot of people think are maybe at the bottom of this league, but

I think they're going to have the talent to go win a couple of games and beat some people that maybe you don't expect. So there's just not going to be a week off, and I think that's going to be the big challenge. The Big 12 teams have faced that now for a few years as this league has been kind of really...

Fleshing out its depth with what Kansas has got going. That was the big thing because they were always at the bottom and you didn't ever have to worry about them. But now that they're going again, it's a different story. So that's going to be the thing is that there's never going to be a week off and those new four corner schools are going to have to learn that. Scott, we appreciate the time. Great stuff. Thanks for hopping on with us and just talking a little bit of Big 12 Media Days, talking a little bit of Oklahoma State. We'll look forward to having you back again soon.

Anytime, fellas. Thanks. There you go. Scott Wright covers Oklahoma State for the Oklahoman at Big 12 Media Days. Joining us there to discuss it all, some quick transfer portal news. Maryland transfer linebacker Finaje Gote has committed to Auburn. 133 tackles, 7 tackles for loss, 3 sacks, 2 picks in his career.

Number nine for Maryland last year, if you're wondering. Yeah. I remember the name. Good pick up. Solid athletic. Yeah. Solid addition, I think. Depth is, of course, of the utmost importance. So, yeah, I think it's a guy that can help you. Probably need some depth at that spot, too. Probably not a guy that you're going to circle and say, oh, man, we've got to be careful with this guy. But I think he's a solid piece. Yeah, for sure.

All right. So randomly late. I saw the announcement from the Auburn football account. I was just kind of like, how? What?

But, yeah, it's a little bit odd. But maybe he can come in camp, give him some depth, help a little bit there for Hugh Freeze's team and his defense this upcoming season. All right, we'll finish up the show with some Auburn and Alabama statistical numbers for this upcoming football season right after this on Mac and Cube in the morning. Catch up with all things McElroy and Kublik in the morning by subscribing to the podcast. Mythically, he's grown. He's almost like a little bit bigger than...

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