OSU football: Mike Gundy would put Alabama ahead of Cowboys

The OSU coach says ‘In our situation, if I was doing it fair, I don't know how I could put us in front of (Alabama) right now.'

by Gina Mizell Published: November 28, 2011

STILLWATER — Mike Gundy stood before the media at his weekly press conference Monday and said he felt uncomfortable politicking that Oklahoma State, the No. 3 team in the Bowl Championship Series standings, deserves to be in the national title game over No. 2 Alabama.

In fact, the Cowboy coach did the exact opposite of politicking.

Gundy is not a voter in this season's USA Today/Coaches poll. But he said if he did fill out a ballot, right now he would put 11-1 Alabama ahead of 10-1 OSU after comparing each team's loss.

“If somebody sat me down and said (I) had to make a decision,” Gundy said, “with where we're at right now, Alabama lost to what would be the No. 1 team in the country (LSU), and Oklahoma State lost to Iowa State.


Gundy may not have a say in the USA Today/Coaches poll, but 59 other coaches around the country do, including LSU's Les Miles, Alabama's Nick Saban, No. 4 Stanford's David Shaw and No. 5 Virginia Tech's Frank Beamer. And OSU's place in that poll, along with the Harris Poll, is a key reason for the fairly significant gap between the Crimson Tide (. 955) and Cowboys (. 871) in the BCS standings.

The Cowboys rank fifth in both human polls, behind Stanford and Virginia Tech. Each poll makes up one-third of the BCS formula.

Gundy did not say how he would vote if OSU beats No. 10 Oklahoma on Saturday night, because he's more concerned with preparing his team for that game. If the Cowboys lose to the Sooners, all national title discussions are officially squashed.

But if OSU comes away with the Bedlam win, then those voters must decide if they want to put a greater emphasis on a team's loss, like Gundy, or its wins when they submit their final ballot before bowl selections are made.

by Gina Mizell
OSU Sports Reporter
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