The Aggies play Oklahoma State in a nationally televised Thursday night game on September 30, giving us a conference game before we finish non-conference play with Arkansas on October 9. Given that we play Oklahoma State so early in the season, and because Gary Pinkel of Missouri tends to be a bore at press conferences (read his transcript here, it is a cure for insomnia), I decided to focus more on Mike Gundy's comments yesterday.

The biggest question with OSU will be their offensive line, where they replace four starters. According to Gundy, it hasn't been as much of an adjustment for them, because they're new to the system, so he doesn't see it as much of a change in scheme.

One thing that worked to our advantage was the offensive line. In most cases that's where you have the biggest change. They're all new starters. So part of the reason that we changed systems at this time was because we lost a number of offensive linemen, and we're changing the quarterback.

I wonder if they'll be utilizing the wide splits in their offensive line to stretch out the defense, and force opposing DEs and OLBs to take a more circuitous route when pass rushing the QB. If they do taker wider line splits, it should help their young line on pass protection, but it'll come at the expense of their running game. With a team used to executing in a zone scheme for their running game, the wide splits take away the ability to work the double-team blocks so crucial for a zone team. Joe Wickline has been very successful teaching that blocking scheme, so it will be interesting to see how they adjust. 

Coach Gundy gave the proliferation of spread offenses in Texas, Oklahoma, and Kansas as part of the reason for their switch to the Air Raid scheme.

I felt like the number of players that we could recruit to fit this system was greater than the system that we had competed with in the years before. If you look at the areas that we recruit in Kansas and Oklahoma and Texas, Louisiana, most of the offenses have a number of wide receivers who can make plays and running backs. There's not as many tight ends. There's not as many fullbacks to recruit.
So we believe that the success in college football is all about the players you bring in, and there's a greater pool to choose from in this type of offense than what we have played with in the past.

While I think this is a nice stock quote to give the media, it is a rationale I find somewhat questionable. If you need a fullback, take a power running tailback and teach him how to block. If you need a tight end, take a big tight end with good hands and some size, and teach him how to block. As a college coach, particularly at a school like Oklahoma State, you're going to teach these kids the fundamentals of their position from A to Z, so saying you can't find a kid with these skills in high school is somewhat disingenuous.

Gundy did address one question about the pros and cons about playing A&M on September 30:

It's a great question. I don't know what the pros and cons are other than you're on national TV, which I think is great for your football team and tremendous for the university. Any time that you change your schedule during the week, it is going to be kind of a distraction if you're not careful, but we have done it before. So we have a plan in place for that. I think it should be a great game, and obviously the chance to play on TV is good for everybody involved. Other than that, I don't really know a lot of difference from Thursday to Saturday.

Hmmm, pros for Oklahoma State: You get a chance to play on television in front of all those Texas high school recruits in an early conference game that will make a nice win for your team, should you emerge victorious. Cons: You're playing against a defensive scheme you'll only see one other time the whole season, and you're putting your young offensive line up against the best pass-rusher in the nation in Von Miller. Oh, and there is the little matter of hoping your defense can stop the A&M offense, especially since you are playing at home. The last time Oklahoma State tried one of these nationally-televised games with A&M at home (2004), it didn't end too well for them.