A few times throughout his presser yesterday previewing their game against Iowa State, Mike Gundy touched on how their defensive front and being able to roll fresh guys in at defensive line has helped them a ton on the defensive side of the ball.
Then, about ten minutes in, Gundy was asked about the last six drives in their last game against Texas where they gave up a total of 12 yards and no first downs, and he ended up providing some interesting perspective on the evolution of college football over the last several years and touches on where he sees the biggest change in the college game today.
"The college game has changed again, in my opinion. We went from fast paced no-huddles, then we started running RPOs here and RPOs went all over the country. Then RPOs kind of weeded themselves out a little bit with more heavy set formations over the last two or three years we're seeing that you haven't seen."
"Now, the biggest adjustment in college football, is the pass rushers have gotten better than they ever have been, like in the NFL. For years the NFL was controlled by the two guys rushing the quarterback on the edge. College football hadn't made that transition yet, from an athleticism standpoint. But now it has. Guys can control a game, like #9 for Iowa State for instance, can control a game by rushing the quarterback."
Instead of one guy doing that for Gundy's defense, they're finding ways to effect the quarterback (and the game) by rotating their defensive lineman and keeping guys fresh and those last handful of drives last week against the Longhorns are a prime example of that.
"So that would be where the game has changed, and our defensive front, we can keep people fresh, we have a number of guys healthy, and they're playing well enough at our level that when they're fresh, they can affect the offense and I think that's what you're seeing."
Hear Gundy's full comments in the clip.