Total Defense Year One:
Knowles- 97th
Nardo- 120th
Rush Defense Year One:
Knowles- 85th
Nardo- 103rd
Pass Defense Year One:
Knowles- 125th
Nardo- 122nd
So yea……he’s not overall better than a first year Knowles was.
Dunn: I dont disagree. OSU has shown the ability to hire BIGTIME OC’s. He is not one of those guys.
Backfoot is an average QB. I dont disagree. Bowman was this year what he has been. Rangel…I dont agree with this one. How do you know hes better?
I think Nardo is in way over his head. I think Nardo is too early to tell. I actually think he did a decent job with the talent he had.
While we’re on Nardo. Robert is a waste of discussion. Just wants to argue.
I said we’ve sucked for the last three weeks and I thought we would get blown out. The spread was 17. It shouldnt surprise anyone.
This 3-3-5 defense is an absolute joke. We’re not Alabama (as most have vehemently mentioned). So why in the hell are we running a defense we don’t have good enough players to run? If you think Bama runs the 3-3-5 as their base, then you dont know football. At all. His base has always been a 3-4. 3-3-5 is popular in this league due to the success that Iowa St had. Everybody knows its a defense that you can run against, but this league lately hasnt been one that ran the ball enough for it to really matter. You dont want to hear this and likely wont understand it…but OSU has a much better chance at gettin 3-3-5 personel than they do a 3-4.
One team wanted to win a conference title. This is ignorant. OSU overachieved to get to Arlington. They ended up being a victim of their won success. Texas is very good and likely wouldve done something similar to whoever they played Sat.
Let’s just face facts. We were literally the 5th or 6th best team in the conference. In some way, we found ourselves in a CCG. Why is that a negative? I understand complaining about having about having the 6th best roster, but isnt the OSU culture built upon doing less with more? Im not totally against your premise here…but would you have been happier if they finished 6th?
Go hire the UNLV OC. You arent gettin B$$ to come to Stillwater. Hes going to be a BIGTIME hire by someone and that someone will be much bigger than OSU.
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I never said he was better, again that is you making assumptions like you ALWAYS do. But you act like Knowles being ranked 97th, 85th and 125th was some great statement of his future defense. I’d love to see what you wrote about Knowles in his first year. I can hear you now “Why did we hire a DC from Duke, a losing program? I think he’s in over his head.” -bill18. Don’t you think that Knowles switch was easier since the alignment was basically the same? The 3-3-5 is a unique defense and you have no idea what Nardo’s future is positive or negative. You just want to complain. It’s who you are.
well said
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Yes….because when your HC, OC, and OL coach are all in the top 20 highest paid coaches in the country. You should probably expect those results, or somewhere close to it. Being able to barely break out as a top 50 offense while your coaches get top 20 pay would probably rub any fan of any school the wrong way.
Knowles is the highest paid DC in the country. Guess what? His defense is #3 in the country in total defense. The Ohio State DC before him finished 39th in total defense. Eventually Kerry Coombs was fired. This isn’t something new. Eventually when you don’t meet expectations you’ll find yourself unemployed. Dunn should be fortunate he’s found a place where he can get away for the better part of four years getting top 15 pay, while showing the rest of the country he can find ways to not get the job done.
Knowles had the luxury of the Covid guys and NIL still hadnt been what it is now. That defense was grown men. It was a perfect storm
Good point
Did you watch any of OSU’s first three games? Rangel was the ONLY QB to not freak out under pressure. He was the ONLY QB that seemed to know how to operate in the pocket under certain circumstances. He was the ONLY QB that seemed to know the best times to tuck and run (something Bowman can’t do). He was the ONLY QB that had more experience than any of the others over the past two years. He was the ONLY QB that got less playing time than the others. We didn’t hardly get to see him AT ALL. Which is a real shame. Because he’s probably going to hit the transfer portal.
I said I wouldn’t be too hard on the guy considering it’s his first year. I’ll also say being the worst defense in the conference and 10th worst defense overall in the country isn’t what I’d classify as a “decent job”.
I can see some of the other things you’ve pointed out though.
I never said Nardo can’t be good. All I told Robert was at the beginning of the year if he can be 97th or better then maybe he could be on Knowles level. As of right now, it’s not the case.
You said I think Nardo is in way over his head. You said that one day ago. You can’t remember what you typed yesterday, because all you want to do is spew more venom.
Nardo has done a crappy job. Really can’ t expect a youngster with D II experience to do much more. I guess we spent all our money on Coach. I wonder who is responsible for suggesting and hiring a D coordinator? Also, Coach of the Year once again was out coached by his opponent who apparently used Gundy’s comments about how UT always runs the ball to his advantage.
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Facts aren’t spewed venom. Knowles wasn’t a D2 coordinator either. I said at the beginning of the season that I thought Nardo was going to struggle mightily. Robert said he thought our defense would be pretty good. Conclusion: I was right.
I think Nardo can improve, but a lot of this will be predicated on how well he recruits, and how well he does in the portal. Right now, Nardo doesn’t have me convinced he’ll be better or even equal to Knowles. Everyone wants to have an excuse for a person not performing to expectations. I simply just look at the facts as to why a person fails to meet those expectations.
I’ve consistently said I give first year coordinators the benefit of the doubt. I’ve seen Dunn for four seasons now. He’s not the answer on offense, and he never will be. I try to give a three year assessment on a coordinator. Dunn has failed in that assessment, while Nardo is still currently under his.
Hey man, you do you then.
What I’ve found, and often forget, is that sometimes it’s better to take your foot off the throttle. Less is more if you will.
But hey, you do you. You’re making a difference. 
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I don’t know about the OSU defense coaching quality in the game against Texas. I know almost nothing when to comes the technical aspects the sport of football both offense and defense. Watching the game on TV I came away with one conclusion very early in the 1st quarter which was that Texas talent and athleticism was seemingly much better than OSU. Almost like kids playing against grown men.
I do need to question Gundy’s inability to understand the consequences of statements to the media. Of course, I’m a Belicheck fan, and believe less is more, but some people, like Gundy, simply cannot help themselves. Maybe it was giving him the Big 12 Coach of the Year honor that compelled him to basically insult the UT coach and offense. But REALLY, simply shut the $% up and show up on game day and let your coaching and performance do the talking, rather than showing post-game and saying how he was again outcoached, and the other team was better prepared. The real and successful coaches know the importance of words, but I suspect Gundy gets his inspiration from some other prominent former leader who also cannot help himself and is so enamored with the media.
Unfortunately, Gundy will be good enough once again to satisfy most of the fan base that is content with somehow miraculously getting into the Big 12 title game, somehow getting Big 12 coach of the Year (because giving it to a soon to be SEC coach would be wrong), and going to some mediocre bowl game is enough to keep folks coming back next year and keep this redneck Gundy at the helm for another couple of years. Gundy ought to use his bonus money to hire someone other than the teenage Div. II defensive coordinator, but then again, Gundy has no incentive to do anything except be Gundy.
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Oh, and we need to bring Holgorsen back as the O coordinator and get him primed to replace Gundy. OSU offense was strong under Holgorsen and he actually shows emotion about getting blown out by inferior teams (not UT).
It’s really strange how we talk about practicing 4th down defense, and yet for most of the year, have forgotten how to coach tackling and 3rd and long 
.
So Holgy has failed as a HC at two schools now. Not sure I would want someone with that track record being the HC at OSU.
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I cannot believe that name of one “winningest” coaches OSU history and highest paid coaches in college football is not being considered for the Bama position. Shocking! Must be some secret negotiations going on? Or maybe it was the USA loss or inability to win the big games?
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Oh, BTW, Holgorsen is apparently being considered for Big 10 positions.
What are we going to do going forward, as all we needed to do previously was to beat OU to have a successful season?
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