Oklahoma State Playing Well In Heat Which Matters More Than You Think

Earlier this week, Gary Patterson told reporters that he’s not real impressed with his TCU football team right now. This comes off as a little Glenn Spencer-ish (it’s probably not as bad as it sounds), but the point remains that TCU has not responded well to 100 degree temperatures down here in the DFW metroplex.

“I can tell you we are not very good on offense. And we don’t know how to fight through heat,” Patterson told Scout. “The first team that I have had in ten years that doesn’t know how to do that. We have had some kids banged up. The bottom line is, we aren’t very good right now, either side of the ball.”

So that’s interesting. And it’s interesting to me that coaches are big on how their teams peform in the thick of the summer. It matters, I suppose, because the first 4-6 games are generally played in weather that would keep Eddie Sutton away from the tanning salon for months. Gundy actually mentioned this (the heat, not Eddie) the other day.

“We need to practice in the heat,” Gundy told Go Pokes. “We have three games in the afternoon, and I’m guessing the turf will be 130 degrees for each one of those games. Maybe not so hot for the 11 a.m. game, but it could be. We need to practice in the heat. It’s a big difference. We don’t practice as much in the heat during preseason, but we need this prep time to get players adjusted. It takes six or eight practices to adjust to opening up in the heat.”

Two of OSU’s first three games will be in September at 2:30. Not exactly pullover weather. The idea that underpins all of this is that this is one measuring stick for how tough a team is. Or that’s how the coaches see it. Fight through this in the summer. Fight through that in fall camp. Overcome an adversity in the first two weeks, and all of a sudden you’re ready for conference play.

“We had a good workout today,” Gundy added. “The defense was really aggressive, and I think they’ve improved considerably over the last couple of days. It’s good for us to get out and practice in the heat.”

Gary Patterson is concerned about his squad. Mike Gundy is not (so far). That’s a good thing if you’re a Cowboy fan.