The Cardiac Cowboys have taken their toll on me!

I’m having open heart surgery tomorrow - yeah, right in the middle of football season 🤷‍♂️ - and would appreciate y’all’s prayers if you do that kinda thing.

It’ll keep me out of commission for about a month. Hopefully, we won’t have any games that taxes my ticker!

...that even some of the pro-Israel people hate Jews. You can't make this shit up! 😅😅

How will Oklahoma State football defense fare in Bryan Nardo's second year?​

Scott Wright
The Oklahoman

STILLWATER — The question that hung over Bryan Nardo’s first year as Oklahoma State’s defensive coordinator was whether he could viably make the jump from Division II to Big 12 football.

The results of his first year were mixed. The overall numbers weren’t great, but the defense made significant improvements in areas that helped the Cowboys win 10 games.

But the true test of Nardo’s staying power in major college football will come this year, with returning starters at nearly every position and an offseason to adjust to how Big 12 offenses attacked his 3-3-5 scheme.

With an established, talented offense already in place, the Cowboys’ ultimate level of success in pursuit of a Big 12 title and a playoff berth in 2024 rides heavily on Nardo’s defensive improvement.

“This was an unusual defense last year,” head coach Mike Gundy said. “There were times that they won games for us, and then there were times that we gave up too many yards, we dropped coverage and the first three games we didn’t tackle very well.

“The good news is we have identified what the issues were and now the coaches have to work to fix those issues and find a plan to get the players to understand why that happened and how we can get better.”



According to those who have seen him in action through the offseason and early part of preseason camp, Nardo looks more settled than a year ago. He never seemed overwhelmed with the jump to power conference football, but it was a learning experience that benefited him.

“Just like us, Coach Nardo has shown improvement and growth,” edge rusher Collin Oliver said. “He was able to learn from last year and apply a new mindset to this year.”

Nardo added a new assistant, with veteran defensive line coach Paul Randolph replacing Greg Richmond. Randolph will be charged with the duty of improving the Cowboys’ pass rush.

The most important development from the offseason is Nardo’s work to mold the defensive scheme in a way that better fits the talents of his players.


Oliver, who played primarily as a linebacker last season, will be used more frequently as a pass rusher, and Kendal Daniels, last year’s starting middle safety, will often be used as a linebacker.

Yet both players can slide back to their original positions, too, giving the defense an amount of versatility that can’t be undervalued.



“We have a very athletic defense in my opinion,” Gundy said. “We can run and get to the ball. We've made a few adjustments scheme-wise, not a lot.

“I think our players will have a better feel for our system and will allow us to play faster and get to the ball.”

The defense’s back seven lost just one regular rotation player in starting linebacker Xavier Benson, so the knowledge base should be much stronger, allowing Nardo to polish the fine points of the scheme instead of teaching it.

“We gotta take a look in the mirror and see what it is for what it is — we didn’t reach our potential last year,” linebacker Nick Martin said. “We showed flashes of it, but we ultimately did not live up to my expectations or the coaches’ expectations. I think we’ve got a lot of room to grow, and I think we have.

“What we can do in terms of reaching our potential, the sky’s the limit for us.”

Nardo is at the heart of the improvement and growing confidence of his players.

“He’s the same guy, but everything that makes a coach and a man great, he’s taken up a notch,” Martin said. “I expect great things from our defense because we have such a great leader. How he’s grown in less than a year is insane.”

-would probably get him cheap
-this conference isn’t playing an defense anyway
-knows the area

1. I don’t believe in omens usually, but I wonder what impact Ollie’s DUI may had on team morale and chemistry. Perhaps he should have been held for
A game or two. Now we’ve lost Oliver, Springfield, and Wright. Have we lost Martin?

2. KState replaced four starters on the oline. We had everyone back. They are playing worse than last year by far. Not one player is better than Lane Taylor was as a freshman.

3. Our dline is almost as bad as the oline. Clay is average, and Kirkland is a bust. But Robert thinks he’s King Kong.

4. The RPO game is handicapped without a dual QB. Avery Johnson is a good runner and passer.

5. Our schedule is looking to be much tougher.

6. Coaches are now coaching for their jobs. Let’s see if they can earn a job on next years staff.

The two I remember we had interest in were

David Reese at UAB
Vince Kehres at Toledo

How have they faired statistically since we hired Nardo?

A lot of dawgs with get away from the cops speed

I thought played pretty well. I realize that is like being the tallest midget but a number of his tackles prevented touches.

If you have the stomach to watch any more CFB today, the Knights lead in Ames near the end of the 3rd Q.

TCU plays @ Utah tonight at 9:30. 😴

They are exactly who we thought they were.

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It sucks watching good defensive teams in sec and knowing we have nothing close to the athletes or competitiveness you watch in these games compared to ours it's nowhere close

Is he hurt?

Nm

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While I have no doubt if Jimmy Carter were not in a vegetative state he would vote for whoever the Democrat Candidate is, the point is he is in a vegetative state. No disrespect to Jimmy Carter, other than he was a terrible President but how did a person living in a vegetative state cast his ballot?

As fine as I can recall by an OSU qb

So sorry about the injury, but not knowing how/when to slide that's on coaches

Hopefully he's healed up by bowl game...

He showed more potential in 2 quarters than Bowman has in his entire career here.

Up 14-0 in Norman

Looks like at the end of the day we will have last place all to our lonesome. Quite an accomplishment.

Hope he's ok

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Is now 0-4. Quite the return on investment huh?

14-0 Buffs

This is the most assinine, beta philosophy I can think of. Straight-up loser mentality. The opposite of what a coach or CEO should be doing in any endeavor. I remember when a decade ago our OC position was one of the most coveted assistant gigs in all of college football with the the previous three OCs (Fedora, Holgy and Monken) getting head coaching gigs from OSU. The only rational explanation I can think of as to why Gundy has employed this loser philosophy is that he is lazy and doesn’t want to put forth the effort to network and interview great up-and-comers.

Here are his words from 2019 in paragraph 7 and 8. I’d argue that hiring Lego over Lincoln Riley in 2013 cost us a Big 12 title.

Turn on the sports animal