Oregon tried to ‘break the scoreboard’ vs. Oklahoma State over Mike Gundy comments
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Mike Gundy may have felt his comments were more innocuous than not, but Oregon’s Dan Lanning did come from the Kirby Smart School of Motivational Tactics after all.
For a highly-ranked team that is favored by a billion points against an overmatched opponent, a head coach will take whatever scrap of perceived disrespect he can and turn it into a motivational tool. Smart has made a killing with that tactic while at Georgia. And Lanning has taken it with him out west.
Earlier this week, Oklahoma State head coach Mike Gundy suggested that Oregon should only play teams with similar recruiting budgets. He said he didn’t think the Autzen Stadium crowd would bother his Cowboys. Lanning made sure his team interpreted those comments as disrespect aimed at the Oregon program.
After a 69-3 curb-stomping, Oregon quarterback Dante Moore said the Ducks wanted to “break the scoreboard” against the Pokes.
“When you attack our head coach, it’s like you’re attacking my dad,” Moore said. “It’s like you’re attacking a family member. … For him to attack Phil (Knight) and attack Coach Lanning and attack our team was personal.
“Throughout this whole week, we just used that as fire to make sure we push ourselves and score 69 points. We did that. … Coach Lanning said we were gonna keep the foot on their neck and make sure we score as many points (as possible) and try to break the scoreboard.”
The Ducks led Oklahoma State 41-3 at the halftime break, giving Gundy the largest first-half deficit of his 21-year tenure in Stillwater.
The 66-point victory was the worst defeat Oklahoma State has ever suffered under Gundy. Oregon finished with a 631-211 advantage in total offense. The Ducks averaged 10.2 yards per play while holding Oklahoma State to just 3.4 yards per play.
Oregon didn’t quite break the scoreboard, but it did give the scorekeepers a workout throughout the afternoon.
Derek Peterson does a bit of everything, not unlike Taysom Hill. He has covered Oklahoma, Nebraska, the Pac-12, and now delivers CFB-wide content.
