Oklahoma State's Mike Gundy and Oregon's Dan Lanning traded barbs Monday after Gundy called attention to the Ducks' sizable budget.
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Gundy calls out Oregon's budget; Lanning: 'We spend to win'
Oklahoma State coach Mike Gundy and Oregon coach Dan Lanning are unexpectedly giving the Week 2 matchup between their teams some extra juice.
While speaking on his radio show Monday, Gundy said Oklahoma State spent "around $7 million" on its team over the past three years before referring to how much the Ducks have spent on their roster in recent years.
"I think Oregon spent close to $40 [million] last year alone," Gundy said. "So, that was just one year. Now, I might be off a few million."
Gundy made several other comments about Oregon's resources -- he said "it'll cost a lot of money to keep" Ducks quarterback Dante Moore and that he believes Oregon's budget should determine the programs they schedule outside of the Big Ten.
"Oregon is paying a lot, a lot of money for their team," Gundy said. "From a nonconference standpoint, there's coaches saying they should [play teams with similar budgets]."
On Monday night during his weekly news conference, Lanning responded.
"If you want to be a top-10 team in college football, you better be invested in winning. We spend to win," Lanning said when asked about Gundy's comments. "Some people save to have an excuse for why they don't ... I can't speak on their situation; I have no idea what they got in their pockets over there."
Lanning added that he has "a lot of respect" for Gundy and praised how Gundy has consistently led his team to winning seasons over his 20-year tenure in Stillwater. Both teams are 1-0 this season; the Ducks are ranked No. 7 and are expected to be vying for a spot in the College Football Playoff.
"Over the last three to five years, they've elevated themselves. They have a lot of resources," Gundy said. "They've got them stacked out there pretty good right now."
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Just sayin': Gundy is just trying to....
however; that is the state of the top tier of college football these days.
After Mike Gundy poured "gasoline on the fire" with his jabs at Oregon's budget, the Ducks proceeded to beat Oklahoma State 69-3 on Saturday.
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Oregon dominates Cowboys after Gundy 'pours gasoline on fire'
A week that began with head coaches Mike Gundy and Dan Lanning trading barbs about each program's budget ended with Oregon handing Oklahoma State a 69-3 loss -- the worst of the Gundy era and the worst the program has seen since 1907.
"It never requires extra motivation for an opportunity to go out and kick ass," Lanning said postgame regarding the message he sent his team. "But it never hurts when somebody pours gasoline on the fire."
On Monday while speaking on his radio show, Gundy said Oregon is "paying a lot of money for their team," citing $40 million as the amount he believed the Ducks spent on their roster last year. Gundy made several other comments about Oregon's resources -- he said "it'll cost a lot of money to keep" quarterback Dante Moore and that he believes Oregon's budget should determine the programs it schedules outside of the Big Ten.
"If you want to be a top-10 team in college football, you better be invested in winning. We spend to win," Lanning said Monday in response. "Some people save to have an excuse for why they don't. ... I can't speak on their situation; I have no idea what they got in their pockets over there."
After Saturday's win, Moore said Gundy's comments hit "close to home" for him and the rest of the team and that the Ducks used them as motivation heading into the matchup.
"For him to attack Phil [Knight], Coach Lanning and our team was personal," Moore, who threw for 266 yards and three touchdowns, said. "We were going to keep the foot on the neck and make sure we score these points and try to break the scoreboard."
Break the scoreboard, they did. The Ducks had a 59-yard touchdown run on their second offensive play of the game and a 65-yard touchdown pass on their third offensive play of the game. Explosive plays were everywhere at Autzen as Oklahoma State's defense provided little to no resistance. Oregon's offense did not punt until the fourth quarter and totaled 631 yards to Oklahoma State's 211 yards.
"It was a lot of fire going into this game," Moore said.
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Gundy is now 4-10 over his past 14 games as the Cowboys' head coach, and two of those losses -- Saturday's at Oregon and last year's 52-0 loss to Colorado -- are the worst of his career.
"Sometimes you're going to play people that have the ability to run away from you," Gundy said. "We gotta look at that and see where we're at. We didn't play good enough, in the systems that we had, to put ourselves in that position."
As the heat rises around the coach who has helmed the Oklahoma State program since 2005, Gundy's son, Gavin, took to X to defend his father.
"Mike Gundy IS Oklahoma State football," Gavin said as part of a long thread of posts. "Period. As QB, he set records in the Barry Sanders era. As coach, he stacked 160+ wins, 19 straight bowls, a Big 12 title, two Fiesta Bowls, multiple Top-10 finishes, & sent dudes to the NFL year after year. He's the winningest coach in OSU history & the most important name this program has EVER had. Without him, you'd have nothing to brag about, nothing to watch, nothing to cry about"
Soon after, Gavin's thread was deleted from the site.
