I think for everyone here. Some good, maybe some bad too.
STILLWATER – Friday morning early, first thing, the Oklahoma State staff gathered in the staff meeting room. Head coach Mike Gundy set the schedule. No recruiting visits this weekend, there will be some transfer portal visitors rolling in on Monday. There are still two potential members of the 2024 recruiting class that roll in next weekend. Gundy told the coaching staff and support that as soon as that meeting was over that he wanted them to break up into the offensive and defensive staff rooms and begin plotting practice and preparing for bowl opponent Texas A&M.
Nardo is the kind of coach that eats up self scout opportunities.
Just like with anything in football, there is usually some good and some bad and often some middle ground to any change in scheme or structure. Head coach Mike Gundy wanted to go to an odd man front on defense and he brought in Bryan Nardo, a product of Gannon University, Emporia State, and his collegiate days at Ohio University as the defensive coordinator. In the interest of good the Cowboys had some strong performances like the second half of games like Kansas and BYU. Overall stingy efforts against Cincinnati and OU. The defense paced the team to a plus two in turnover margin with 12 interceptions and nine recovered fumbles. The defense also had 25 sacks to just 13 by opposing defenses.
Nick Martin and Xavier Benson double up for a tackle at West Virginia.
How about this? Oklahoma State has only once had a pair of defenders finish a season with over 100 tackles. In 2019 current Detroit Lions fullback/linebacker had 103 tackles and Amen Ogbongbemiga had 100 stops. This season All-Big 12 linebacker Nick Martin has 133 tackles and heading into the bowl game safety Kendal Daniles has 98 tackles and safety Trey Rucker has 94 tackles. It is very reasonable to expect that after the Tax Act Texas Bowl that for the first time ever there could be a trio of Cowboys defenders with 100 or more tackles.
All that is well and good, but Gundy want less points given up and less yards allowed. Opponents averaged 29 points a game. The Pokes averaged scoring 29.46 making for a very slim margin. Per game the defense allowed 174-yards a game rushing and 267.54-yards per game passing, a total of 441.5-yards a game. Suffice to say, too much.
“It is a bigger off season for Bryan (Nardo) than any of them (coaching staff) because this is all new to him and the concepts we were using were all new to Oklahoma State, so we have a lot of work ahead of us over the next month,” Gundy answered.
Self scouting, going back to examine each game and how opposing offense adjusted and took advantage of the Cowboys schemes and in some cases, personnel is critical. You must diagnose those issues and get them fixed. It is preferable to get those fixed for the bowl game.
Nardo is looking for anything and everything where his defensive schemes can improve.
“Some of the more detail of what I was talking about in getting ready for this bowl is the practice and preparation for spring, and is exactly what Bryan brought up (after the loss toTexas to reporters including Scott Wright of The Oklahoman). We have a new structure on defense where we have found that coaches can identify flaws in our schemes and attack us,” Gundy responded. “We need to find some answers for that as we move forward. Bryan has to do the samething for himself for our concept and schemes. I have that for these guys. The coaches will be out recruiting some, but for all the young coaches and analysts will work on exactly what you brought up, We have a couple of weeks to try and correct some of the flaws.”
The Cowboys will get in 11-12 practices for the bowl game and one of those will be a run thru practice, so there is the urgency to be prepared to get the most out of the time on the field.
“We’re trying to get good quaility reps in with our base, base offense, base defense, and special teams,” Gundy said of the description of bowl practices becoming spring practice prelude. “We need to improve in those areas and now is the time we can get good quality reps in those areas.
“Younger players in our program can get a number of reps in that period of time and start to develop them for the off season,” Gundy continued. “The guys that have played 13 games, they will get some reps and some game planning but we don't need to wear them out and do as much with them as we would have done. I think it is more important to develop young guys and get those guys ready to go for spring ball.”
Lots to get done with the overall philosophy of getting better and getting ready to beat Texas A&M.
Mike Gundy Calls This a Very Important Offseason for Bryan Nardo
STILLWATER – Friday morning early, first thing, the Oklahoma State staff gathered in the staff meeting room. Head coach Mike Gundy set the schedule. No recruiting visits this weekend, there will be some transfer portal visitors rolling in on Monday. There are still two potential members of the 2024 recruiting class that roll in next weekend. Gundy told the coaching staff and support that as soon as that meeting was over that he wanted them to break up into the offensive and defensive staff rooms and begin plotting practice and preparing for bowl opponent Texas A&M.
Nardo is the kind of coach that eats up self scout opportunities.
Just like with anything in football, there is usually some good and some bad and often some middle ground to any change in scheme or structure. Head coach Mike Gundy wanted to go to an odd man front on defense and he brought in Bryan Nardo, a product of Gannon University, Emporia State, and his collegiate days at Ohio University as the defensive coordinator. In the interest of good the Cowboys had some strong performances like the second half of games like Kansas and BYU. Overall stingy efforts against Cincinnati and OU. The defense paced the team to a plus two in turnover margin with 12 interceptions and nine recovered fumbles. The defense also had 25 sacks to just 13 by opposing defenses.
Nick Martin and Xavier Benson double up for a tackle at West Virginia.
How about this? Oklahoma State has only once had a pair of defenders finish a season with over 100 tackles. In 2019 current Detroit Lions fullback/linebacker had 103 tackles and Amen Ogbongbemiga had 100 stops. This season All-Big 12 linebacker Nick Martin has 133 tackles and heading into the bowl game safety Kendal Daniles has 98 tackles and safety Trey Rucker has 94 tackles. It is very reasonable to expect that after the Tax Act Texas Bowl that for the first time ever there could be a trio of Cowboys defenders with 100 or more tackles.
All that is well and good, but Gundy want less points given up and less yards allowed. Opponents averaged 29 points a game. The Pokes averaged scoring 29.46 making for a very slim margin. Per game the defense allowed 174-yards a game rushing and 267.54-yards per game passing, a total of 441.5-yards a game. Suffice to say, too much.
“It is a bigger off season for Bryan (Nardo) than any of them (coaching staff) because this is all new to him and the concepts we were using were all new to Oklahoma State, so we have a lot of work ahead of us over the next month,” Gundy answered.
Self scouting, going back to examine each game and how opposing offense adjusted and took advantage of the Cowboys schemes and in some cases, personnel is critical. You must diagnose those issues and get them fixed. It is preferable to get those fixed for the bowl game.
Nardo is looking for anything and everything where his defensive schemes can improve.
“Some of the more detail of what I was talking about in getting ready for this bowl is the practice and preparation for spring, and is exactly what Bryan brought up (after the loss toTexas to reporters including Scott Wright of The Oklahoman). We have a new structure on defense where we have found that coaches can identify flaws in our schemes and attack us,” Gundy responded. “We need to find some answers for that as we move forward. Bryan has to do the samething for himself for our concept and schemes. I have that for these guys. The coaches will be out recruiting some, but for all the young coaches and analysts will work on exactly what you brought up, We have a couple of weeks to try and correct some of the flaws.”
The Cowboys will get in 11-12 practices for the bowl game and one of those will be a run thru practice, so there is the urgency to be prepared to get the most out of the time on the field.
“We’re trying to get good quaility reps in with our base, base offense, base defense, and special teams,” Gundy said of the description of bowl practices becoming spring practice prelude. “We need to improve in those areas and now is the time we can get good quality reps in those areas.
“Younger players in our program can get a number of reps in that period of time and start to develop them for the off season,” Gundy continued. “The guys that have played 13 games, they will get some reps and some game planning but we don't need to wear them out and do as much with them as we would have done. I think it is more important to develop young guys and get those guys ready to go for spring ball.”
Lots to get done with the overall philosophy of getting better and getting ready to beat Texas A&M.
