How Good Is Mike Gundy In Bowl Games?

Oklahoma State is heading to the Alamo Bowl to face former Big 12 opponent Colorado this year. When the Cowboys take the field on December 29th, it will be the school’s 11th consecutive bowl appearance under head coach Mike Gundy; a school record. The Mullet is 6-4 in postseason appearances, which is pretty good. That 60% winning percentage is better than Bob Stoops (8-9) and Bill Snyder (7-11) and close to Gary Patterson (8-5).

I realize it’s foolish to take for granted that we’ve gone to 11 straight bowl games. Before Gundy, OSU only went to 16 bowl games total in the history of the school. There’s a good chance that by the end of his career, Gundy will take OSU to more bowls than all of the school’s other head coaches combined!

However, for Gundy to take Oklahoma State to the next level in respectability there are a few things he needs to do: win Big 12 championships and win big bowl games.

Outside of the Fiesta Bowl in 2011, OSU has only beaten one other team that came into the bowl game with more than seven wins. Take a look:

Under Gundy, OSU has been favored going into seven of their 10 bowl games. He is 5-2 in those games with the two losses coming to ranked teams. Gundy is 1-2 in games where the Cowboys weren’t the favorites, and the losses weren’t close.

Every game is different. We can lament the fact that the team wasn’t healthy in that 2009 Cotton Bowl. We all knew OSU would likely lose to Ole Miss in the Sugar Bowl last season.

The Alamo Bowl this year is a great opportunity for OSU: It could finish the season with a win over a ranked team. It would get the Cowboys to 10 wins for the third time in four seasons. It would earn OSU a better ranking to start next season. Plus, it always feels better to end the season with a win, especially after that Bedlam loss (see: 2014 compared to 2013, 2015.)

Here’s what I think; 6-4 isn’t great, but it’s not bad. It would be better if more of the wins came against impressive or ranked teams. However having the 10th best record in bowl games (16-10) in college football is pretty awesome. So on December 29th, let’s all cheer for bowl win No. 7 for Mike Gundy and No. 17 for Oklahoma State!