Mike Gundy Explains Running Game Woes in 2015, Blames Running Backs

The bane of Oklahoma State fans across the globe this year was the fact that OSU finished No. 114 in the country in yards per carry this year. That is comically bad. Of Power 5 schools, only Washington State, Missouri, Florida and Kansas were worse. Here are the bottom 15 teams in the country in yards per carry.

The ire of the head ball coach, however, is not directed where you might think. Fans (including myself) have long blamed the offensive line. And to be fair, it has not been pretty.

This picture is going to get me kicked the hell out of this damn press box!! Give me a helmet that's it!!! #WTF pic.twitter.com/ORHXy1gxAx

— Sam Mayes (@AllmericanMayes) January 2, 2016

But Mike Gundy put the blame on his running backs as much as the guys blocking for him.

“The other side of that is, we don’t have the explosive running back in our program like we had (in 2006-12),” Gundy told Go Pokes. “Tie those two things together, and it makes for a difficult running game.”

That’s a pretty big indictment of Chris Carson and Co. but Gundy isn’t wrong.

“If we don’t improve in the running game,we won’t win 10 games next year” Gundy told the Oklahoman. “We’ll improve on the offensive line with two things: experience and size. We need to find a guy to hand the ball to that can be more productive running the ball and not only get what we have blocked for them.

Wow!

“We managed to throw for 352 yards a game without rushing the ball,” he added to the Tulsa World. He also put forth some potential solutions.

“There are two ways to (address) the issues we have,” Gundy told the Tulsa World. One is the way we’re doing it. The other way is to take a risk and go out and (sign) four or five junior college kids for a couple of years, like some schools do on their defensive line and offensive line. To try and get the quick fix. To me, that’s detrimental for Oklahoma State football. It’s not good for the long term. …

“There’s really no reason to panic. We’ve admitted to where we were at. These are discussions we’ve had with the players and coaching staff. … We have a plan in place … and that plan already has started.

I hope parts two, three and four of this plan pan out better than the first one.