Carlson: Why OSU defensive line coach Joe Bob Clements is worthy of defensive coordinator job​

Jenni Carlson
Oklahoman

STILLWATER — Joe Bob Clements surveyed the scene from the far end of Oklahoma State’s indoor football facility.

Dressed in khakis and an orange pullover like the rest of the Cowboy coaches, he watched as players posed for the team's annual end-of-season photos. They wore uniforms, posed by height, then went by position.

Clements joined in when it was time for his defensive line, his head high, his shoulders back.

Clements’ obvious pride is understandable — along with fellow defensive line coach Greg Richmond, Clements has built one of the best defensive lines in college football and flipped a position that was once a year-in, year-out struggle for the Cowboys into its greatest strength.


He has recruited and developed, molded and maximized.

Sounds like a guy who’s ready to be the defensive coordinator.

As OSU readies for the Fiesta Bowl against Notre Dame, we don’t yet know who will call plays for the defense there, much less in the future. Jim Knowles is gone after four years leading the defense, and even though Ohio State said he didn’t need to start work in Columbus until after the Fiesta Bowl, Mike Gundy cut Knowles loose early anyway.


Here’s guessing the Cowboy head coach wanted to test drive a defensive play caller in the bowl game.

Gundy has said he won’t decide who that will be until the team is arrives in the desert, but Clements and cornerbacks coach Tim Duffie are likely at the top of the list. Duffie, like Clements, is in his ninth season in Stillwater, so they are the most seasoned, most marinated in the OSU ways. Either would be a solid option.

Still, it’s hard to ignore Clements’ overall body of work.

When he arrived at OSU in 2013 after stints at Kansas State, San Diego State, Kansas, then a return to K-State, the Cowboys’ defensive line was an annual source of consternation. It wasn’t awful, but its success often came down to one or two players. Guys like Jamie Blatnick or Richetti Jones or Calvin Barnett or James Castleman. If they could do something individually spectacular, OSU would get a sack or a quarterback hurry or a tackle for loss.

Those types of plays made by a defensive lineman felt like the exception instead of an expectation.

But Clements changed that.

The trajectory wasn’t always linear. In his first season, for example, the Cowboys’ sack total was stagnant. They got 25 sacks in the first year with Clements, the same number they had the year before.

But every season since, the Cowboys have never had fewer than 28 sacks, and three times, they’ve gone over 39 sacks.

Their high-water mark under Clements came this season. OSU has a whopping 55 sacks, the best in the nation.

Dive into the numbers, and you’ll see how Clements has changed things. The Cowboys have five defensive linemen this season who have three or more sacks. Collin Oliver leads the way with 11.5 sacks, followed by Brock Martin with 7.0. But Tyler Lacy (3.5 sacks), Israel Antwine (3.0) and Brendon Evers (3.0) have gotten to the quarterback, too.




The OSU defensive line now has not only depth but also depth of talent, lots of guys who can make plays.

That has made the Cowboys' defensive transformation possible. Sure, Knowles was a huge part of that, too, but what the defensive line can do has been a game changer. It can occupy blockers so linebackers don't have to work as hard to make tackles. It can hurry passes so the secondary doesn't have to cover as long.

Credit Clements for building the defensive line to this point.

“He’s awesome,” Cowboy defensive end Kody Walterscheid said. “He’s taught me a lot as far as being a defensive lineman. He’s great, and I really appreciate that guy.”

Truth be told, part of the strength of OSU’s defense, and frankly the program as a whole, has been the continuity of coaches. While Clements and Duffie are in their ninth years in Stillwater, safeties coach Dan Hammerschmidt is in his seventh, Richmond in his fifth.

Knowles was actually the short-timer, only in his fourth season with the Cowboys.

“Continuity is important, right?” Gundy said. “I mean, it is for Oklahoma State, let’s put it that way. … When Jim left, they were able to go in the room and divvy up responsibilities and know what to do.”

Cowboy safety Jason Taylor II said, “Other schools, they probably don’t have that, and maybe if they lose a defensive coordinator, they kind of start from scratch.”

The Cowboys won’t be starting from scratch for the Fiesta Bowl, and if Gundy promotes from within and picks an assistant to take over as defensive coordinator, OSU won’t have to start over next season either. It has assistants who know how to run this defense. It has candidates to take over the coordinator duties.

But none has shown more and done more with his position than Clements.

Earlier this month, Gundy outlined what he was looking for in his next defensive coordinator.

“Smart, hardworking and loyal — those three things,” Gundy said.

Joe Bob Clements is all those things, not because someone has said it but because he has shown it.

Tonight I am having 2 oz Sazerac rye, 1 oz Carpana antica, and Bokers bitters.

The football Twitter account has posted pics from bowl practices over the past couple of days and I’ve noticed that #28 (Blaine Green) is on crutches. Sucks if we won’t have him for this game. He was the one Cowboy Back that brought a dynamic element to our passing attack.

Found, thank you!

For sale in section 208?
im looking for 4 more.
thanks

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Why is it always Russians? Makes ya 🤔 unless you just dont like thinking.

It's quite the luxury to claim your school members suffer from disinterest when they lose to the likes of Army and UCF. Feinbaum will spin accordingly.

Lol

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Lionel train set for me.
Any Red Ryder BB gun recipients?
Merry Christmas to all of you Corral members.
Go Pokes!

Any details which team is in trouble with COVid?

piss, the world's about to be on fire:

Visited with a good friend today that is a Norwegian emigrant and still has the accent. Here goes....


Olga comes home all excited and tells Sven "the Beach Boys are coming to town". She says I really love the Beach Boys. Can we go?

Sven says sure and calls the arena ticket office. Tickets are $20 each. Olga says we only have $25 dollars. Sven tells Olga, you can go but bring me home a souvenir . After the concert Olga is so excited she forgets to pick up a souvenir until after leaving the arena. On her way back to the car she gets worried about the souvenir, then passes a tattoo parlor. She goes in and asks... What type of Beach Boys tattoo can I get for $5? The artist says we can put on two B's. Olga says ok and raises her skirt and the artist puts a B on each butt cheek.

Olga goes home and tells Sven the concert was incredible. Sven says I am glad you enjoyed it. Did you find a souvenir? Olga says sure did and let me show you. She raises her skirt and turns her back to Sven.

Sven says.....

Who the hell is BoB?

And the danger they pose.

'A representation of him': How Boone Pickens' granddaughter is making own path at Oklahoma State​

Jacob Unruh
Oklahoman

STILLWATER — Mary Elizabeth Cordia is admittingly pretty bashful.

It’s part of the reason she’s often unnoticed on the baseline at each Oklahoma State men’s basketball game. She sports an orange sweatshirt. She uses multiple cameras.

She captures the action — either in photos or video — blending in with other media.

Fortunately, the attention is not on her.

That’s why the 23-year-old graduate student did not come to OSU right out of high school. The name on the football stadium looms large.

Boone Pickens Stadium, as in T. Boone Pickens, her grandfather.

“I feel like I’m a representation of him when people find out,” Cordia said. “I do put a lot of pressure on myself because I want to put my best foot forward.

“It’s one of those things I don’t want anyone to think that I’m getting something because of who he is.”

Cordia is on her own trajectory.

In her first season as a creative specialist for the Cowboys, she has stepped into a huge role with the athletic department as the visual storyteller for men’s basketball, golf and equestrian. It’s led her to embrace her lineage in a new way.

She is the youngest grandchild of the oilman who transformed OSU with more than $652 million in donations to athletics and academics before his death, yet she aims to leave her own mark in Stillwater.



“I feel like she’s matured here,” Mary Elizabeth’s mom, Liz, said. “I feel like she’s been embraced here. It’s been the right thing for her to do.

“I’m a great believer in God winks. I just think she was meant to come here, even if it was for a brief period.”

Mary Elizabeth only came to OSU last year after competing for the SMU equestrian team and receiving her undergraduate degree. While in Dallas, she grew even closer with Pickens, spending countless hours together at his nearby apartment or ranch.

That time made her stronger. And it ultimately prepared her for OSU.

“It ended up working out the best of the both worlds and I got to go to both schools in the end,” she said.

Not just a grandkid​

Mary Elizabeth was destined for the sports world.

Born and raised in Alexandria, Virginia, she was 10 years younger than her oldest brother, Alexander, and eight years younger than her older brother, Andrew. Both were athletes, which meant plenty of time at a ballfield.

Mary Elizabeth often dreamed of being an OSU cheerleader and one day riding Bullet. She loved the outdoors, primarily hunting and fishing. And to her grandfather’s delight, she understood sports.

“Hell, I never knew the rules of any sport,” Liz said. “I knew it had to go through a goal or this or that. I was one of those mothers that always watched her son, not the game. Mary Elizabeth knew the rules and what was going on.

“He loved that about her and he encouraged it.”

Mary Elizabeth ultimately followed the family all around the East Coast. Andrew was a star lacrosse player on a path to a Yale scholarship.

One day as a child, Mary Elizabeth’s father, Lou, handed her a camera.

“Just to keep me entertained,” she joked.



Still, it was a moment she will never forget. She saw sports in a whole new way.

She fell for football — the sport she often watched as a young child on Pickens’ lap — and chose to compete in equestrian. She began taking pictures at horse shows and her brothers’ games before turning to portrait photography.

It was a summer in Paris with National Geographic’s high school student exploration program that pushed her even more. Mary Elizabeth quickly learned she wanted to tell stories through people.

It’s a big reason why she chose SMU over OSU.

She had an equestrian scholarship to either school. But she felt a burden the size of Boone Pickens Stadium when she visited Stillwater. SMU had an art department she loved and her grandfather was there.

So, Dallas it was.

“I did love campus, but I didn’t really want to be the grandkid,” Mary Elizabeth said. “I wanted to be able to work for it.”

‘He was just a granddad’​

Each Friday was special.

That was Boone Pickens’ lunch date with Mary Elizabeth.

“He was a pretty cool guy,” she said.

They went to Dallas Cowboys games together. They went to OSU football games often.

She lived in his Dallas apartment nearly every weekend or they would go to his ranch.

And they consumed an enormous amount of ice cream.

Oreo McFlurries. Butterfinger Blizzards. Homemade flavors.

“He was just a granddad in those times,” Mary Elizabeth said.

Pickens was still her biggest fan. He often made equestrian meets, not hesitating to remind Mary Elizabeth that she should have chosen OSU. Ironically, Liz said Mary Elizabeth often lost her point to the Cowgirls.

There was no better reminder of that than her first national meet.

Pickens arrived in a bright orange suit. There were no signs of SMU’s red or blue.

He even took a photo with the SMU team afterward — of course, he also took some with the Cowgirls — and it bothered Liz to the point that when they got back in the car she asked what he was thinking.



“Well, what are you thinking?” Pickens replied. “Did you think I was going to change? I came to root for Baby Girl. I didn’t come to root for (SMU).”

Sports is what connected Pickens and Mary Elizabeth. But there was also genuine love.

As Pickens’ health deteriorated, Mary Elizabeth was there when her mom couldn’t be. When Liz was there, Pickens often asked for Baby Girl instead.

“I don’t like watching sports with you,” he’d tell Liz.

“He’d be so tickled when she came,” Liz said.

At that point, Pickens no longer watched sports with the audio on. He hated commercials but he also had better entertainment with his granddaughter.

Mary Elizabeth dictated what was happening.

She was ultimately there until the end, holding Pickens’ hand as he died on Sept. 11, 2019.

“It was special to be there with him,” Mary Elizabeth said. “It was nice to always be there when he needed something. You didn’t know it was the end until it was the end.

“No one can take that away from me.”

‘Best of all worlds’​

Mary Elizabeth thought she had a job with the Dallas Cowboys.

But the COVID-19 pandemic had different plans. The job market dried up as she completed her undergraduate degree in the spring of 2020.

She needed another option.

OSU again emerged, this time with its sports media graduate program. Mary Elizabeth could finally don orange and black like her grandfather dreamed.

“It seemed like the best of all worlds,” she said.

Once accepted, Mary Elizabeth reached out to OSU equestrian coach Larry Sanchez, just so she could be around horses. But she also reached out to Courtney Bay, OSU’s creative director. Mary Elizabeth became her shadow.

She learned the ins and outs of the job. When Bay left for Illinois early in the fall, Mary Elizabeth slid into her role with men’s basketball, golf and equestrian for at least this school year.

And it’s a big job. OSU basketball especially relies on visual storytelling on and off the court. Cowboys coach Mike Boynton also uses it heavily in recruiting.

“She stepped in to fill some big shoes,” Boynton said. “She brings great knowledge of how we operate, which has helped the transition. She also is really talented with photography and video, and is continuing to improve as a storyteller.”

Nowadays, being known as the granddaughter isn’t so bad.

It’s not something Mary Elizabeth boasts about. New assistant director of communications Patrick Osborne had no idea until a golf road trip early in the year.

Instead, Mary Elizabeth carries herself like her grandfather.

And she’s doing it at a place he forever changed.

“This is my dad’s home,” Liz said. “He loved this school. To see his statue in front of that stadium, see his name on that stadium, he would be so proud of her. He would be so proud of her.”

Mary Elizabeth often sees the not-so-subtle reminders of Pickens. She immediately goes back to the moments they had together.

And she pushes forward on her own path.

“Everyone has kind of heard some of his Boone-isms,” she said. “His voice is kind of just always in my head now, especially when I hit tough roads. He always taught us to be the first one in, last one out. Be the one to turn the lights on, turn the lights off. Always be there to help.

Are they practicing on their own? Can they be back for Saturday? No mention of who they are.

Even CNN now admits masks don't work- not that they are experts or tell the truth but they are the epitome of fake news.

Masks are not even considered primary PPE-
Stopping mosquitos with chainlink.

Have I said y'all been duped? Walking around triple masked not only do you lose your man card- you look like fools.

Mowing the yard keeps some particles out understandable- Wearing them bc bureaucrats and big Pharma wanting your money tells you to you're just pathetic

Why is it shot lovers that when a new scariant comes out....no one tests positive (with the PCR tests that Can't differentiate between the flu, Covid and The common cold And are 90
Percent false positives) for the old
Scariants?

Of Course we know that there are ZERO tests that tell one scariant for the other. Ask your doctors next visit how it Is they Tell the difference between each scariant 🤔

'He's a culture guy': Kody Walterscheid following a familiar path at Oklahoma State​

Scott Wright
Oklahoman

STILLWATER — If history hadn’t already told the tale before, the journey of Kody Walterscheid from a tiny Texas town to major college football would be a little more attention-grabbing.

But the Walterscheid story is well-known to those connected to Oklahoma State football.

Walterscheid is a redshirt sophomore and regularly used reserve on the OSU defense, which is preparing for its final test of the season against fifth-ranked Notre Dame in the Fiesta Bowl at noon Saturday in Glendale, Arizona.

Walterscheid came from a Class 2A football program in Muenster, Texas, and he arrived in Stillwater as a lightly recruited defensive end who was underweight for playing that position in the Big 12 — and that’s where the familiarity of the story hits.

Walterscheid’s older brother, Cole, played at OSU from 2014-18, and walked the same path his younger brother has followed.

Cole Walterscheid was 6-foot-6 and 210 pounds in high school, and only had a half-dozen scholarship offers, but OSU defensive line coach Joe Bob Clements saw something he liked. Cole added 50 pounds and became a reliable and important player on the defensive line.

In his final OSU season, Cole received the team’s Barry Sanders Award for the most contribution with the least recognition.

“It was cool coming to watch him play,” Kody Walterscheid said of his brother, who was a senior while Kody was being recruited. “I love Stillwater, the town, the coaches. It was awesome. Whenever I came here, my brother loved it, because he gets to come to games and hang out in Stillwater for another five years.”

Kody Walterscheid was 6-foot-6 and 225 pounds in his senior year at Muenster, and has bulked up to 275 now in his third season at OSU.


“(Cole) gave me a few tips and pointers coming in about what to expect,” Kody said. “I knew what I was coming into.

“Coach (strength and conditioning coordinator Rob) Glass did a good job putting weight on me. I’ve put on about 50 pounds. I’ve gotten a lot stronger and it’s helped me a lot.”

Backing up starting defensive end Tyler Lacy, Kody has 18 tackles and a sack this season, his first in the primary rotation. Like his brother did, Kody has an understated and simple approach to the game.

“I listen to the coaches, I run to the ball, do my assignment, and just work hard,” Walterscheid said.

Cole Walterscheid wasn’t a flashy recruit, but he was a player who fit in well with the Cowboy program, and had a productive career. Once again, Kody seems to be following that same path.

“He’s a culture guy,” OSU coach Mike Gundy said. “Been here forever, developed his body, put on 50 pounds and works hard. You don’t hear a lot about him. He’s an unselfish, humble guy that just likes to play football. He shows up and he’s a good football player.”

Tramel: Why Epstein family loyalty is split for the Fiesta Bowl between Oklahoma State and Notre Dame​

Berry Tramel
Oklahoman

Essy Epstein’s home in Long Beach, Indiana, about 30 miles across Lake Michigan from downtown Chicago, is a virtual Notre Dame football museum.

The bleacher seats from Notre Dame Stadium that she and her late husband, Frank, sat in for more than 30 years. Pictures. Letters. Memorabilia.

And memories. The memories most of all.

Essy Epstein was born and raised in South Bend, so she was a Notre Dame football fan long before she met and married Frank, who played for the Fighting Irish under legendary coach Frank Leahy and who holds two distinctions in Notre Dame lore.

Frank Epstein was one of the few Jewish players for the citadel of American Catholicism. And he played with three Heisman Trophy winners: Leon Hart (1949), Johnny Lattner (1953), Paul Hornung (1956).

But when Notre Dame plays OSU in the Fiesta Bowl on New Year’s Day, Essy Epstein’s loyalties will be torn.

She’s a Cowboy fan, too. Her grandson, Evan Epstein, was an OSU center from 2009-12 who was on the 2011 Cowboy squad that won the Big 12, won the Fiesta Bowl and finished No. 3 in the nation.

Essy has been to many a game in Stillwater. Even been to Eskimo Joe’s.

“I love when they come out” of the tunnel, she said, “and the cheerleaders and the whole shebang.”

Essy is 87 and still going strong. Still watches the Fighting Irish and follows OSU and even planned to be at the Fiesta Bowl, though Covid’s omicron variant has her rethinking.

Evan Epstein is from McKinney, Texas. His father, Buckeye, sent Essy a custom-made jersey, half Notre Dame, half OSU.

Who is she rooting for?

"My heart belongs to Notre Dame, it truly does,” Essy said. “I’ve known Notre Dame since I was a little girl. And I truly love that.


“Evan isn’t playing on Oklahoma State anymore, but I owe some alliance to them, too. So I’ll do a little of both.”

Essy grew up in South Bend during the golden age of golden-dome football. Leahy coached from 1941-43 and 1946-53; his Notre Dame teams were 87-11-9.

Frank Epstein grew up in Chicago and came to Notre Dame in 1949. After two seasons, he joined the military during the Korean War, then returned to South Bend after his service.

Upon his return in 1954, some girls spotted Frank at the downtown Philadelphia Café. They told their friend, Essy, that they had just seen “that Jewish player” back in town.

Essy always had spunk. She called Notre Dame’s switchboard, asked for Frank Epstein’s room, got his dorm hall phone and soon enough she picked him up for a date in her Lincoln convertible. Two years later, they were married.

They went to Notre Dame dances, populated with the girls from neighboring St. Mary’s. Essy tells the story that Frank once dated a St. Mary’s girl. A nun came along.

“That was the end of that,” Essy said.

Jim Epstein, their son, said his dad cried two times in his life: “When Coach Leahy died. Second time when they let girls in Notre Dame.”

One of the Epsteins’ sons, Buckeye, raised his family in Greater Dallas, and Evan Epstein grew up a huge Notre Dame fan.

“Only place I wanted to play,” Evan said. “Notre Dame posters on my wall. We went up there as often as we could. Massive Notre Dame fan.”

Evan turned into one of the nation’s better high school centers at Bishop Lynch High School in Dallas. He was recruited by Notre Dame but in the end didn’t receive a scholarship offer.

“Charlie Weis actually came to recruit me,” Epstein said of the then-Notre Dame head coach. “I kind of held a grudge. Got to pay him back when he went to Kansas.”

Epstein signed with Air Force but spent only a year at the Academy. He transferred to OSU in 2009, without a scholarship, because Cowboy line coach Joe Wickline had recruited him out of high school.

Epstein played behind star center Grant Garner but became the OSU starter in 2012. Epstein even made a deep connection with benefactor Boone Pickens and, after Epstein’s playing days, became a regular lunch partner with the late Pickens down in Dallas.

And Epstein’s family became Cowboy-crazy. Include Essy.

“She’s a big OK State fan, for sure,” Evan Epstein said. “She loved going to the games when I was playing.”

These days, he runs a couple of Dallas-area companies owned by his dad and uncle, and he keeps up with the Cowboys. He was at Bedlam with former teammate Levy Adcock and former Sooner Bronson Irwin.

Now comes an even bigger game to the Epsteins. OSU-Notre Dame.

For the occasion, Buckeye Epstein got his mom that half Irish/half Cowboy jersey, with a white “6” on the Irish blue and an orange “0” on the Cowboy white.

“Give credit,” Evan Epstein said of his dad. “On short notice, with a supply chain crisis, he pulls an OSU-Notre Dame jersey out of his ass.”

And that No. 60? That was Frank Epstein’s jersey number at Notre Dame.

When Epstein got to OSU, he was given No. 58. Brady Bond wore No. 60. But Bond was a senior in 2009, and the next year, Epstein quickly claimed No. 60.

“Changed as fast as I could,” said the Cowboy with Notre Dame roots, whose grandmother is split in the Fiesta Bowl, despite the deepest of Fighting Irish ties.

According to Fox News, who is always spot on.
https://www.foxnews.com/sports/tamu-forced-out-of-gator-bowl-thanks-to-ridiculous-covid-rule

TAMU forced out of Gator Bowl thanks to ridiculous COVID rule​

According to reports, the Aggies do not have enough players to play in the game​

Texas A&M is unable to play in the upcoming Gator Bowl against Wake Forest on Dec. 31 due to a COVID outbreak.

Sports Illustrated’s Ross Dellenger reports that the Aggies do not have enough players to play in the game. Gator is now searching for a replacement bowl team but would need another bowl game impacted by COVID to successfully find a replacement team.

If a bowl is not played, teams do not receive the payout. Nick Carparelli told SI that there are no possibilities of a replacement like last season. The Gator Bowl payout is $5.35M.

As Bills wide receiver Cole Beasley puts it, COVID is not keeping players out of games. The COVID rules are.