'Haven’t Played Anybody As Dangerous As Him:' OSU On Stopping Shedeur Sanders In Season Finale At Colorado

Oklahoma State will wrap up the 2024 campaign this week, as the Cowboys travel to Boulder to take on the Colorado Buffaloes.

This will be the first-ever Black Friday game for the Pokes. It will also be their first visit to Colorado since 2008. 

The Buffaloes hold a 13-8 edge in Boulder, but the Cowboys have won each of the past two on the road, including a 42-14 win in 2004 and a 30-17 triumph in 2008.

Coach Mike Gundy is 3-1 in his career against Colorado and Deion Sanders has not faced Oklahoma State during his coaching career.

Head coach Mike Gundy met with the media on Monday to preview the game, talk keys to stopping Shedeur Sanders and Travis Hunter, the transfer portal, and what OSU's quarterback situation could look like next season.

Head Coach Mike Gundy

On the keys against Colorado:

“You’ve got to control (Shedeur Sanders). You’ve got to know where Travis Hunter is and you’ve got to somehow get your hands on (Sanders) and make him move his feet and not let him get comfortable, because he’s a really good player. His improvement over three years has been pretty impressive. Obviously, he’s very talented, very athletic and competitive, but his ability to improve each year from three years ago has been pretty impressive. You’ve got to be aware of him and you’ve got to know where Travis hunter is. Offensively, we need to rush the ball for 4.5 (yards) per carry or more and we have to be able to use our play-action passing game to get big plays.”

On preparing for Colorado standout Travis Hunter:

“He’s arguably the best player in the country at what he does. He’s at 135 or 140 snaps a game, which is somewhat unheard of. He’s different from the standpoint that he has great endurance and he has a skillset that is through the roof. His ability to leap and maneuver his body to make catches or tip the ball and make plays. He has vision and a football IQ that allows him to slow the game down and play much faster than everybody else.”

On Maealiuaki Smith’s performance:

“I think all of it surprised me, just because you don’t ever know until you put them out there and let them play. That position is just different until they get out there and they play the whole game, and they feel like nobody’s looking over their shoulder. You never know how they’re going to react, but I thought he had a lot of poise and played with confidence.”

On Rodney Fields Jr.:

“We’ve liked him since August. He took more hits from August until now than anybody in our organization because he was getting lots of reps with the threes and the young guys, then we’d bump him up and get him some work with the twos, and they’d hit him and hit him and hit him. We’ve liked him for five months. We just felt like we had backs that could support Ollie (Gordon II) and there wasn’t any reason to burn a year on him, so that’s why we held him back up to this point. I think he’s got a very promising future.”