Friday, October 4, 2024
The ‘Boys From Oklahoma’ are back
Long-awaited reunion, concerts to
BY KENNEDY THOMASON I EDITOR-IN-CHIEF
Twenty-four years ago, Josh Crutchmer made a last-minute decision to ditch an OSU football game for a Cross Canadian Ragweed concert.
It turned out to be one of the catalysts for his love of Red Dirt music.
Now a planning editor for The New York Times, Crutcher then was
a sports editor for The O’Colly. Instead of traveling to Austin, Texas, to see the Cowboys face the University of Texas, Crutchmer decided he’d still make the trip. But it would be to watch Ragweed perform alongside country music artists Stoney LaRue and Jason Boland.
“And so I was a very, very, very early insider to Red Dirt music,” he said.
On Tuesday, Ragweed announced
Mental Break crashes onto Stillwater scene
Nichole and Nathen Lewis found themselves wanting more fun in Stillwater.
The couple and their daughter had just moved from Canton, Texas. Once settled, they looked around Stillwater and found less than they hoped.
“We wanted something to do in the town,” Nichole said. “There’s not a lot, y’know. There’s food, there’s drink and there’s shopping, but not entertainment.”
So they got to work. After acquiring a small building on South Westpark Court, Nathen grabbed a hammer and wood and manually separated a portion of it into two destruction rooms and a paint room.
After only about a year of living in Stillwater, they had their ribbon cutting July 11 and a grand opening July 13 with a special incentive to get folks to come check them out.
“Cowboy Towing here in town donated a car,” Nathen said. “They were like, ‘We have a Pontiac G6 out here that we can drop off.’”
After fitting the car into one of their destruction rooms, they let the public take a swing. By the end, the car was a mangled frame. The role of retail entrepreneurs is new to the couple, but a way to blow off stress was a wonderful idea to Nathen, who said he is ex-military and has dealt with anger issues before.
See MENTAL on page 6A
I @_KENNEDYPAGE
it will play its first concerts in 14 years — in the town where the band cut its teeth. On April 11 and 12, the band will co-headline with Turnpike Troubadours, another Oklahoma-born country band.
Other country music heavy-hitters, The Great Divide, Jason Boland and The Stragglers and Stoney LaRue, are also set to play. All flourished alongside Ragweed in Stillwater’s bar scene before making bigger
names for themselves. The concert will be the first in Boone Pickens Stadium.
The announcement was something Crutchmer expected. But not for another 10-15 years, when Ragweed members Cody Canada, Grady Cross, Randy Ragsdale and Jeremy Plato would retire and finally have their kids out of the house.
OSU alumnus Garth Brooks accused of sexual assault, battery
Brooks previously denied the claims and tried to block Roe from publicly repeating them.
OSU alumnus and country music artist Garth Brooks has been accused of sexual assault and battery by a former hairstylist and makeup artist.
“Jane Roe” filed a complaint in a California court Thursday, which states the alleged incidents occurred in 2019, as reported by CNN. The alleged instances include a rape; repeatedly exposing his buttocks and genitals; sharing sexual fantasies with Roe; changing his clothes in front of her; and sending sexually explicit text messages.
Roe worked for Brooks starting in 2017 but was first hired to work for Trisha Yearwood, Brooks’ wife, in 1999.
In the suit, aquired by CNN, Roe alleges Brooks groped her and forced her hands onto his genitals. Roe alleges there were several instances of misconduct during the period she worked for him.
Brooks last performed at OSU in April 2023. His song, “Friends in Low Places,” is played between the third and fourth quarter of every home football game.
Courtesy of Monty Peliti
Cross Canadian Ragweed held a benefit concert at the Wormy Dog Saloon for the OSU plane crash victims in February 2001.
Jace Bormann
Reporter Isaac Terry hits a glass bottle, sending shards of glass across the room.
File Photo OSU alumnus Garth Brooks was accused of sexual assault and battery in a California lawsuit Thursday. Brooks last performed at OSU in April 2023.
ISAAC TERRY STAFF REPORTER
Vice Presidential debate recap: A return to traditional politics, civil discussion
RAYNEE HOWELL
ASSISTANT NEWS & LIFESTYLE EDITOR
@RAYNEEHOWELL
CBS News hosted the first and only scheduled Vice Presidential debate between Republican Sen. J.D. Vance of Ohio and Democratic Gov. Tim Walz of Minnesota on Tuesday.
Moderators Norah O’Donnell and Margaret Brennan enforced rules both parties agreed to before the debate. The rules allowed each candidate two minutes to answer and two minutes for rebuttal. Additional minutes were given at moderator discretion.
CBS News reserved the right to mute mics if needed, which happened only once. Walz and Vance were civil, even directly agreeing with each other at times; a sight Americans did not see during the first presidential debate between Vice President and Democratic nominee Kamala Harris and Former President and Republican nominee Donald Trump.
Toward the beginning of the debate, it was not clear if the debate would be a string of insults from each candidate or a productive conversation. The first question directed to Walz related to Iran launching an airstrike missile on Israel hours before the debate. Walz said he supported Israel and then immediately began criticizing Trump’s foreign policy, stating his former national security advisers said it’s dangerous for him to be in charge.
Vance responded by praising Trump for instilling fear in other countries during his time in office. He said he would support Israel as one of the U.S. allies.
On the topic of foreign
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affairs, the most heated moment of the debate was when a question arose on immigration policies and issues surrounding the U.S.-Mexico border.
The question was first directed at Vance, asking if he would be willing to separate immigrants from their U.S.-born children. Vance said other policies under the Biden-Harris administration already cause child separation. He pointed to Homeland Security losing children to sex and drug trafficking.
He then talked about fentanyl coming into the country, blaming Mexican cartels and Harris reversing Trump’s border policies.
Walz responded to Vance’s claims saying there was a bill in the works to help solve the border crisis, involving an increase in border patrol agents. He claimed Trump encouraged the legislature to vote against it to give him a campaign issue. He called it a “talking point” of the TrumpVance campaign.
Walz also spoke about the recent comments made by Vance and Trump on Haitian immigrants allegedly eating people’s pets. He said an entire population was demonized over baseless claims. Vance dismissed his comment, stating he is more concerned about the American citizens having to “compete” for housing and jobs.
“The people that I’m most worried about in Springfield, Ohio, are the American citizens who have had their lives destroyed by Kamala Harris’ open border,” Vance said.
Moderator Brennan factchecked Vance on the debate stage, stating a large number of Haitian immigrants are in the U.S. legally. Vance and Walz began debating the legal processes at the border before their mics were muted and
the debate moved on to the economy.
Vance then continuously made the point that Harris has been in office for 3.5 years and has not made the changes she now talks about. Vance promised Donald Trump will bring “common sense” into the economy.
Walz focused on his shared middle-class background with his running mate Harris and how they plan to ask the wealthy to pay their fair share. He posed a question to the audience, asking how it’s fair that Trump was able to avoid income taxes for years, which was outlined in a report from the New York Times in 2022.
He said Trump does not have the answers he believes he does when it comes to the economy.
“My pro-tip is this: if you need heart surgery, listen to the people at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota, not Donald Trump,” Walz said.
Abortion was another main topic of the evening, and one the parties often have disagreements on. Walz told the stories of multiple women who experienced misfortune after the overturning of Roe v. Wade in 2022. He said abortion is a basic human right, stating he trusts women and doctors.
Vance agreed the women
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Walz mentioned should still be alive, and he said for the most part, it could be avoided if women are given more options. He said he is “profamily,” and he wants to put out a “public policy front” to provide infertility treatments, affordable housing, betterpaying jobs and other solutions meant to provide better support for women starting a family.
Gun control was another issue both candidates found some common ground on. Vance and Walz both want to prioritize protecting children, but also the second amendment. They disagreed on how to protect both.
Vance said increased security in schools and locking up gun offenders is the solution. Although Walz does not think “fortifying” schools is the answer; he believes more laws and background checks are needed for gun ownership.
In the 90-minute debate, healthcare, childcare, the last presidential election and many other issues were also brought to the forefront. Despite any disagreements, both candidates agreed elections need to end with the shake of a hand, not with political violence or hate.
Ask the Pokes
What is your favorite spooky movie?
“My favorite Halloween movie is probably ‘Spooky Buddies’ from Disney. It has dogs, and it’s all about adventure and fun and mystery.”
- Kareem Sawan
“My favorite Halloween movie is ‘Hotel Transylvania.’ It’s just a childhood staple.”
- Rylee Cohen
“My favorite scary movie is actually more of a psychological thirller, ‘Midsommer.’ It’s a really disturbing A24 film.”
- Avree Sweazea news.ed@ocolly.com
News & Lifestyle
reporters:
Milo Cantrell
Bella Casey
Luisa Clausen
Jocelyne Perez
Maddie Swain
Issac Terry
Alli Themer
Addie Wagner
Ava Whistler
Sports reporters: Photographers & Designers:
Daniel Allen Allyssa Brandon
Baylor Bryant
Tessa Dorrell
Gina Foster
Kenzie Kraich
Calif Poncy
Garrett Queen
Weston Wertzberger
Jace Bormann
Jose Brito
Delainey Cops
Mykalyn Daidone
Andon Freitas
Connor Fuxa
Riley Harness
Kaytlyn Hays
Ethan Hilbert
Johnathan Jackson
Isaac Terry Bryson Thadhani
(left) and
Stillwater Regional Airport breaks ground on new terminal
Joyce said.
symbiotic relationship.
German culture highlighted at annual OSU Poketoberfest
Freshman Garrett Buxton had all the confidence in the world mounting the mechanical bull at Poketoberfest.
For the first five seconds.
“I did not stay on very long,” Buxton said. “I got up there feeling very confident, got on the bull and all of a sudden felt very… not confident. About 15 seconds in, my leg cramped up, and it was over and I fell off.”
homa who are interested in German, and you would just never know,” Steinhäusler said. “And then they see the (German club) sign, and they come up, and they’re like ‘Oh my God, my grandfather’s German’ or ‘My dad was born on a German base.’”
Steinhäusler said the events at Poketoberfest give students a tiny taste of one of the biggest celebrations in Germany, minus the alcohol. The German Club station had a Steinholding competition, a new addition to the event, and conversation for those interested in German culture.
Construction is underway on a new terminal at the Stillwater Regional Airport.
Community leaders, local officials and aviation community members broke ground on the new terminal during a ceremony on Tuesday.
The 31,375-square-foot terminal is the latest of several city projects aimed at modernizing Stillwater. The new terminal will include a concession space and two gates for commercial passenger flights. Phase I of the project consists of the terminal, a four-lane drop-off and a new parking lot.
Phase II will focus on renovating and relocating the airport industrial service road to create a more accessible route to the airport.
The Stillwater Regional Airport is one of four airports in the state offering commercial passenger flights.
The ceremony featured a flyover from members of the OSU Flying Aggies and a visit from Pistol Pete. Several community and aviation leaders took to the podium to commemorate the new terminal.
Stillwater Mayor Will Joyce spoke at the groundbreaking ceremony and said the new terminal will expand the city’s business opportunities and encourage travel to Stillwater.
“This new terminal allows us to increase flight operations, expand commercial air service amenities and continue to grow the area where people are coming to fly,”
Stillwater Regional Airport Director Kellie Reed said the new terminal will have two nursing rooms, a service animal relief area, safer pedestrian access, historical displays and children’s discovery spaces.
“We have many spaces that are inclusively designed throughout the terminal to allow access to all levels of accessibility,” Reed said.
The Federal Aviation Administration; the Oklahoma Department of Aerospace and Aeronautics; and the City of Stillwater are funding the $27-million project.
ODAA Director Grayson Ardies said aviation is Oklahoma’s secondlargest industry and projects like the Stillwater Regional Airport terminal are key to propelling aviation to the state’s primary industry.
“It’s projects like this, air transportation like we’re talking about today, that we believe is going to be the key to unlocking success in communities all across the state of Oklahoma,” Ardies said.
The Stillwater Regional Airport supports the community and the university. OSU Athletics utilizes the airport to fly athletes in and out. Congressman Frank Lucas said the airport provides access to multiple areas, not just athletics.
“We’re going to maintain a Division I comprehensive university, not just access to the world that the athletic department needs,” Lucas said. “It’s access to the world that our research community needs. It’s the ability of people to come to Stillwater easily, conveniently and quickly.”
The OSU aviation program and the Stillwater Regional Airport have a
Students fly in and out of the airport daily.
OSU Senior Vice President of System Affairs Kyle Wray said OSU’s aviation program is growing rapidly, and the Stillwater Regional Airport is pivotal to it.
“We fly roughly 100 flights a day,” Wray said. “So if you’re in Stillwater, you see planes in the air all the time. It’s critical for accessibility for OSU and… prospective students.”
Ardies said the opportunities for students and graduates are limitless.
“I’d be really excited if I was a young person growing up in this industry, in this state because your future is not just the sky,” Ardies said. “The sky is not just the limit; we can go beyond.”
Multiple groups are working on the new terminal, including McFarland Architects, which was chosen to design the terminal in 2015; Mead & Hunt, Inc.; Parkhill Engineering, and more.
“The Terminal was beautifully and mindfully designed with both aviation and local Stillwater cultural influences,” Reed said.
The new terminal promises to build on the Stillwater Regional Aiport’s history and tradition while opening the city, university and community to new ideas and exposing new travelers to Stillwater.
“(This) is going to be a very big win over the next couple of years, and we’re looking forward to the new Stillwater Regional Airport Terminal,” Joyce said.
Construction on the Stillwater Regional Terminal is set to be completed by August 2026.
Buxton attends every Student Union Activities Board event he can fit into his schedule, and Wednesday’s Poketoberfest, an OSU version of Oktoberfest, was no exception. This event felt perfect for Buxton to attend, as he just started German language lessons and said he loves bratwursts.
The bull was just a bonus.
“‘Might as well… you only live once,’” Buxton said.
The bull was traditionally at the Poketoberfest event, but it has not made an appearance the last few years.
“We had it a few years ago, and people really loved it,” SUAB graduate assistant Evalynn Vierheller said. “The only reason we quote-unquote got rid of it was because it’s so individual, but it’s such a hit that we brought it back.”
Not only was the bull a hit, but also Poketoberfest as a whole was a hit among the student body. Vierheller said the event is one of SUAB’s largest in terms of attendance, and this year it was no different. Before the event started, a line surrounded the Student Union Plaza as students waited to check in.
Students attending the event could earn multiple prizes, eat German snacks and participate in games and activities.
The dining staff handed out bratwursts, pretzels and cheese, root beer and redbull. Each snack had German origins, with the exception of root beer taking the place of traditional German beer. SUAB worked closely with the OSU German Club to ensure it was honoring German culture.
German Club treasurer Sylvie Steinhäusler said Poketoberfest is an opportunity for more people to learn about a community that’s outside of the U.S.
“There’s so many people in Okla-
Steinhäusler said the club having aux during the event was also a new addition. All of the music played was in German.
Vierheller said it was really important for SUAB to include the German club for the second year in a row. She said they try to give the club the option to try new things, even though the main events roll over each year.
“We usually just set up a meeting with them, ask them what they think they want to do for their table,” Vierheller said. “And we think it’s really important to give them their own space because there’s no one that can promote them like they can promote themselves.”
Outside of the German club booth, there were several other activities. A few SUAB members manned different booths including a face painting station and a wood-burning coaster station. If attendees visited each station, they had a chance to win a German snack box as a prize.
Vierheller said people get excited to win event-themed prizes, which is why being in charge of prizes is her favorite part of planning events.
“One of my favorite parts is probably picking the prizes,” Vierheller said. “Everyone that enters gets tickets, and then everyone who goes to each thing can earn additional tickets, and they can enter to win.”
Many OSU students look forward to SUAB events for the prizes, but also for many other reasons. Buxton said it’s always worth it to attend.
“All the SUAB events are amazing,” Buxton said. “I personally don’t like pickles, but I went to Pickle Fest and had an amazing time. I just think if it’s on the calendar, and they’re making it, just do it.”
Maya Blanks
Poketoberfest offered face painting, bouncy houses, free food, a mechanical bull and more.
Hayden Alexander
A groundbreaking ceremony Tuesday commemorated the start of construction on Stillwater Regional Airport’s new terminal.
RAYNEE HOWELL
spooky movies to watch this fall
HAYDEN ALEXANDER
& LIFESTYLE EDITOR
It is officially spooky season in Stillwater. Sadly, the weather missed the memo.
The heat is stubborn, but that does not mean we can’t pretend fall is in the air. The pumpkin patches might be toasty, but a night in with a spooky movie is the perfect way to protest the heat.
There are hundreds of spooky movies, but I will stick with recommendations for not-so-scary movies in the spirit of Halloween.
So grab your blankets and pumpkin-spice lattes, toss those little Pillsbury Halloween cookies in the oven and settle in. Here are five Halloween movies to watch if blood and guts are not your forte.
‘Hocus Pocus’ (1993)
This is my go-to for Halloween. It’s perfect ‘90s cheese and way too quotable. My roommate and I often run “Amok! Amok! Amok!” quoting the Sanderson sisters and laughing ourselves silly.
Winnifred, Sarah and Mary are three witches in Salem, but after Max Dennison lights the fabled black flame candle, the witches return to life. It’s up to Max, Danni Dennison, Allison and a cursed Thackery Binx to save the day.
The film captures the fun and more wholesome side of Halloween while also providing a good laugh. For the nostalgics in the audience, the witches get to explore Halloween in the ‘90s.
“It’s the Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown” (1966)
Did you know that the Great Pumpkin rises out of the pumpkin patch every Halloween night and picks the most sincere pumpkin patch? If you didn’t know, it is time for the holiday classic “It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown.”
The 25-minute short is a delightful watch. It follows everyone’s favorite Peanuts as they navigate Halloween night. As the gang hits the doorsteps, Linus tends to his pumpkin patch, hoping the great pumpkin will visit.
“It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown” is not long, but you can definitely learn a thing or two about curating the most sincere pumpkin patch.
‘Halloweentown’ (1998)
Disney nailed the Halloween movie formula in the 1990s. The first is “Hocus Pocus,” and the next is this Disney Channel original movie.
Marnie Piper is — tell me if you’ve heard this one before — unlike other girls. On her 13th Halloween, she discovers she is a witch and finds herself in a town called Halloweentown. Marnie must save the day after discovering an evil force plotting to take over the town.
The ‘90s and early 2000s Disney Channel Original Films are cinematic masterpieces, and as a film fanatic, I will defend that statement with my Disney Channel wand. “Halloweentown” is one of the best Disney Channel Originals so I highly recommend giving it a watch.
‘The Addams Family’(1991) It’s not Halloween until the Hans
Gruber falls off… wait… sorry, wrong holiday. It’s not Halloween until Wednesday Addams thinks of a truly dismal plan to prank her brother in a new macabre way.
Based on the 1964 TV show “The Addams Family,” the film follows the terrifyingly charming husbandand-wife duo Gomez and Morticia Addams and their two children, Wednesday and Pugsley. The family is overjoyed when long-lost Uncle Fester appears on their doorstep, but something is amiss.
I highly recommend watching this film and the 1964 show before binge-watching Netflix’s “Wednesday” show again.
‘Ghostbusters’ (1984) If there is something strange in the neighborhood, turn on this 1984 comedy film for all the information you need on capturing specters, ghouls and ghosts.
“Ghostbusters” follows a group of scientists who discover paranormal occurrences in New York City. To combat the ghostly takeover, these men of science capture and fend off the ghostly pests.
If the giant marshmallow man and the catchy song don’t pique your interest, “Ghostbusters” is a hilariously good time and spooky enough to count as horror, but ‘80s enough to be considered a classic.
news.ed@ocolly.com
Katy Perry’s newest album falls short
JOCELYNE PEREZ STAFF REPORTER
Katy Perry released her seventh studio album, “143,” on Sept. 20.
Although fans were excited for the singer to make her pop comeback after not releasing an album for four years—and no music at all for two years — the album fell short.
Perry opened the album’s new era with the first single, “WOMEN’S WORLD.” Perry sings about women dominating in the world and how lucky it is to be living in a “woman’s world.” Critics were quick to call out the song as feeling artificial.
“‘WOMAN’S WORLD,’ a hollow anthem predicated on self-empowerment platitudes that anyone would pick up in Feminism 101,” Variety critic Steven J. Horowitz said. Adding on to the hollowness of the song, Perry is receiving backlash for working with music producer Łukasz Sebastian Gottwald, also known as Dr. Luke. The music producer is facing sexual assault allegations from pop star Kesha, adding a layer of hypocrisy to Perry’s song that Dr. Luke helped produce. Dr. Luke and Perry also have a past. The two worked on her first No.1 hit, “I Kissed a Girl.”
“143” is filled with the loud overstimulating production Perry and Dr. Luke successfully commercialized in Perry’s early discography, but Rolling Stone sees it as failure to rekindle Perry’s glory days.
“The maximalist productions she used to lord over feel as dated as Vine,” Rolling Stone critic Maura Johnston said.
Perry took the pop world by storm with her 2010 album “Teenage Dream,” tying Micheal Jackson’s “Bad” for the album with the most No. 1 hits on the Billboard Hot 100. But listening to “143” feels like listening to the world’s most unfilled DJ set.
The sounds in “143” lean far away from the true 2000s pop sound Perry wanted to recreate, and instead the album has DJ house beats leading the sound on songs like, “LIFETIMES.”
Not only is Perry’s album not being received well by critics, but her stage presence is taking a hit. At the 2024 MTV Video Music Awards, Perry gave a passionate but vulgar acceptance speech. Other musicians, including Taylor Swift, were shocked at the use of uncensored language.
As “143” continues to tank, hopefully Perry can refigure out the formula to find her pop dominance again.
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Tulsa Doggy Day Out program rewarding for dogs and humans
It truly is amazing what a day out of the kennel can do for a dog.
The Doggy Day Out program, a shelter program that allows dogs to be taken on field trips, has been proven to be beneficial. After dogs participate in the program, “trembling, barking and repetitive behaviors such as jumping, walking in circles and barking were significantly reduced,” according to a study by Maddie’s Fund. Additionally, getting dogs out in public exposes them to people who might not typically visit a shelter, increasing adoption opportunities. For me, the process started with looking up which shelters participate in the Doggy Day Out program and seeing that the closest one was in Tulsa. After a quick call on Wednesday, I was directed to the application page, where I answered a few questions about my experience with dogs and what I planned to do. Then we emailed back and forth, and I made the hourlong drive to the Tulsa Humane Society to pick up Ziggy.
As soon as I met Ziggy, a blue heeler mix wearing an “adopt me” vest, his excitement and bright energy was hard to miss. He was practically bouncing off the dimly-lit walls. The shelter provided a day bag with all the essentials: water, a collapsible bowl and plenty of treats. After a short walk around the parking lot to to calm down, we hopped into the car.
Once we hit the road, Ziggy got comfortable and napped until we arrived at the Gathering Place, a large park about 10 minutes south of downtown Tulsa. As soon as we got out of the car, Ziggy was eager to explore.
It became clear he wasn’t leash-trained; he definitely thought he was the one walking me. After a bit of wandering, I found a place for us to sit and calm down. I gave him some treats and spoke to him in a calm voice. After another 30 minutes of walking, Ziggy was doing a little better, but he still stopped to sniff every single bush and plant along the way.
We then drove to R Bar & Grill, a dog-friendly restaurant with plenty of outdoor seating. Ziggy was visibly stressed by the large crowd and loud noises. The waitress quickly brought him a big water bowl, and after a few minutes, he settled down on the patio.
While he mostly stayed under the table, he occasionally wandered over to the surrounding diners to soak up some attention. Seeing he wasn’t completely relaxed, I quickly finished my meal, paid the bill and we left.
Back in the car, Ziggy climbed into my lap for a middrive snuggle as we explored more of Tulsa. We found a quiet park with lake access, and Ziggy seemed to enjoy it as we walked and listened to music.
Our next stop was downtown, where we did a short walk, and Ziggy started walking closer to me, clearly more relaxed. We ended up at the Center of the Universe, a unique spot in downtown Tulsa that creates an echo. I tried to get Ziggy to experience it, but he hasn’t quite mastered the “speak” command yet.
By 3 p.m., it was time to take Ziggy back to the shelter. That’s when the staff told me about the optional sleepover part of the program. Without hesitation, Ziggy and I both agreed this was the best idea.
After filling out some additional paperwork, I made the drive back to Stillwater. Halfway through, I realized I didn’t have any food for him, so we stopped at Petco. Once home, I fed him, and he quickly devoured his dinner.
After a potty break, we
had some fun wrestling and play-fighting on the couch before settling in to watch the night slate of college football. We both dozed off during the Georgia-Alabama game. After the game, it was bath time. Ziggy wasn’t thrilled about getting in the tub but tolerated it like a champ. He didn’t have any accidents, which was a pleasant surprise. Once he was dried off, he climbed into bed with me and cuddled close as we fell asleep.
At 7:30 a.m., Ziggy woke me up, gently pawing at my arm. I got up, put on his leash and took him outside for a potty
break before we both went back to sleep for another hour. By 9 a.m., we were up for the day, and it was time to take him back to Tulsa. On the way, we made a quick stop at Starbucks for a coffee and a pup cup. Ziggy slept on my lap the entire ride back.
Saying goodbye was tough, but I left knowing that I had provided the shelter with valuable information about how Ziggy behaves in different environments, which I hope will help him find his forever home soon.
Bryson Thadhani Ziggy, a blue-heeler mix, on his doggy day out.
Walt Disney Pictures
From left, Kathy Najimyin, Bette Midler and Sarah Jessica Parker in the sequel to the original “Hocus Pocus.”
Harvest Moon Festival celebrates Asian culture
MILO CANTRELL STAFF REPORTER
On Saturday, the Asian American Student Association held OSU’s 23rd annual Harvest Moon Festival at the International Mall.
Students could watch song and dance performances, eat traditional foods such as mooncakes or beef with peanut sauce, play games and do crafts at tables hosted by different student organizations.
AASA Officer James Lee emceed the event and explained the festival’s significance to East Asian cultures.
“(The Harvest Moon Festival) is a way that people gather,” Lee said. “It’s kind of like Asian Thanksgiving where people reunite with their families. They celebrate the Harvest Moon, they celebrate a good harvest…Harvest Moon showcases many different countries, (and their) fashions; we have people from all different Asian countries represent themselves in performances as well.”
A wide variety of performances were given at the festival. This included a reenactment of the story of Chang’e and Hou Yi with modern pop culture references; múa nón, a Vietnamese dance centered around the nón lá hat; LYT, a K-pop dance group based in Oklahoma City; a traditional fashion show featuring clothing from several Asian cultures and Laotian singing and dance.
Many different clubs and student organizations tabled at the festival, offering activities such as trivia, snacks and various crafts.
“I love being able to help out around here and be around (new) cultures, even if it doesn’t completely match my culture,” said Madie Samson, who was volunteering for AASA’s paper lantern decorating table. “I love learning about (other) ethnicities and their traditions… It’s really important to me to be aware and learn to appreciate others.”
Haya Monawwar and Rahman Modhesh represented the Muslim Student Association and hosted trivia. They expressed enjoyment for the diverse and welcoming atmosphere at the Harvest Moon Festival, noting that while a wide variety of different cultures were represented at the festival, they shared some core beliefs.
“We share the same notions of good luck and good fortune and always wishing everyone the best,” Monawwar said. “The word Islam means peace; that’s what we wish to everyone. What brings good fortune better than peace?”
Ike Imerbthama and Alison Samson were present; they are this year’s Mr. and Miss Asian OSU, also called Mr. and Miss Apida. Imerbthama gave a speech about the importance of supporting small businesses and engaging with one’s community, encouraging students to visit shops and get involved with student organizations to help Stillwater grow.
“(The Mr. and Miss Apida Scholarship Pageant) is a really big growing experience. You learn a lot about yourself, you learn about time management, you learn a lot of professional skills,” Samson said. “(It) helped me grow as a person in ways I didn’t expect… I’ve learned just how diverse Oklahoma State is and how many people come here from different backgrounds.”
The event concluded with a lion dance by the Hưng Việt Dragon and Lion Dance Association from Oklahoma City. Dancers brought three lions to life, occasionally tossing oranges to the audience and walking off the stage to interact with people while drummers backed their movements. The dance is said to scare away evil spirits and bring all who view it good luck.
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Boys
Continued from 1
The famous band with Stillwater origins was a hot-ticket item back in the day. Playing at The Wormy Dog Saloon and other bars up and down The Strip, Ragweed developed its fan base — one that has stayed loyal throughout the 14 years Ragweed was disbanded.
“They broke up before Red Dirt became something that people realized was really, really, really good music on a national scale, and the venues started getting bigger and bigger, so they had this big gap,” Crutchmer said. “And it’s impossible to say where they would be right now if they had never broken up, but my educated guess is they would be alongside Turnpike (Troubadours), playing in arenas, and that was just something that was so unfathomable during their heyday that… I never thought it was even a thing to consider. And I think the band would tell you the same thing.”
Crutchmer continued to follow the band as his career progressed. Although many of his jobs did not allow for much time to write about music, Crutchmer kept in touch and listened when he could.
Ragweed and Crutchmer were there for OSU’s difficult times, too. Crutchmer, who had quit pursuing an opportunity to travel with the men’s basketball team — the plane that would crash and kill 10 passengers — was watching the band play as reports of the crash flashed across TV screens.
At the time, Crutchmer said the band’s strained relationships were obvious to anyone paying attention.
“Cody (Canada) reminded me this week when we talked, he said, ‘If you’re together in a tour bus for any longer than two weeks, that’s when you start, you know, fighting over who left the cap off the water bottle,’ and that was what was happening,” Crutchmer said.
The breakup took 14 years to heal.
In a video posted to Facebook, Canada said each of the four members are excited to be reunited on the stage.
“Yes, it is the full lineup. Grady (Cross), Randy (Ragsdale), Jeremy (Plato), myself. Yes, it is gonna be a good time. Yes, we’re all in good
to throw empty beer jugs on the stage, taking baseball bats to the jugs as they hit them back into the audience.
Above all, Smith wants to get tickets to share the experience with her 18-year-old niece, who grew up listening to the Red Dirt legends.
“But I’d love to see the guys again, just even if I don’t get to talk to them, but whatever it takes to get my niece there and maybe just a hug and a picture of somebody, and it would be the greatest day of her life to this point,” Smith said. “And I think people that don’t really understand the motivation of music wouldn’t understand her feeling for that. But some people get it, some people don’t.”
In April, Ragweed will play for a stadium that seats about 50,000 people. OSU will be one of few universities that have held events, other than football games, in its stadium.
6 Artists we want to see play Boone pickens stadium: - Zach Bryan - Wyatt Flores - Carrie Underwood - Reba McEntire - Blake Shelton - The All-American Rejects
graces,” Canada said. “We are all getting older in this life. Not one of us isn’t. And it was time to do it.”
In June, Texas A&M hosted George Strait for a concert, claiming the record of largest-attended ticketed concert with about 110,000 attendees and about $3.9 million in net revenue for Texas A&M Athletics.
Kindra Fry, assistant athletics director for special events services at Texas A&M, said the concert helped generate revenue for the university and the College Station community.
“So all in all, it was great, and I think it’s going to be the same for Stillwater,” Fry said.
The band quit playing as everyone watched in shock, standing in The Wormy Dog Saloon. That night, Canada wrote “On A Cloud” as a tribute. On Monday after Saturday’s tragedy, Canada called Crutchmer up and invited him on a trip to Texas the next weekend. It gave everyone the space they needed from the heaviness of Stillwater.
Ragweed’s breakup in October 2010 was not amicable. Canada, along with bass guitarist Plato, continued their careers, forming The Departed.
Guitarist Cross and drummer Randy Ragsdale started making music together again in 2019, forming Cross Rags & Young.
Ragweed teased its reunion for weeks on social media, switching profile photos again and again, leaving its fanbase hankering for answers.
Stillwater resident Jessica Smith didn’t believe it when her husband shared the rumors.
After he sent her Tuesday’s announcement, all Smith could think about was getting her hands on tickets so she could relive the days of jamming out at a Ragweed show.
“It’s a whole other electric energy when they’re in Stillwater,” Smith said. “And it brings out multiple generations.”
Her first show was at Calf Fry in 2009, where she saw Canada get concussed from a liquor bottle that was thrown on the stage. The band frequently encouraged its crowds
The nostalgic memories of Ragweed’s live shows is part of the magic that branded them as “the coolest band in the room,” which is why fans’ reactions have been so strong, Crutchmer said.
“If you were there when Ragweed would play the Wormy Dog (Saloon) for 150 people for (a) $3 cover, you never forgot that. To this day, it’s going to be one of the five best shows you ever saw,” Crutchmer said.
Crutchmer is releasing his second book on Red Dirt in December. The book will feature interviews with Ragweed’s four members about reuniting, along with how the music genre has expanded over the past four years.
Pre-sale for concert tickets will go live Monday, and public on-sale will be available Oct. 11 on OSU’s websites. The show benefits OSU’s name, image and likeness efforts.
Courtesy of Monty Peliti
From left, Grady Cross, Randy Ragsdale and Cody Canada of Cross Canadian Ragweed are joined onstage by Stoney LaRue during a concert at The Wormy Dog Saloon in Stillwater in 2001.
Milo Cantrell
OSU’s Harvest Moon Festival featured speakers, traditional dances and snacks for students to enjoy.
Courtesy of Monty Peliti
Stoney LaRue (left) and Cody Canada of Cross Canadian Ragweed perform during a Ragweed concert at The Wormy Dog Saloon in Stillwater.
OSU Formula SAE team brings freshmen together, gain experience
JOCELYNE PEREZ STAFF REPORTER
A few freshmen engineering majors said they decided to pursue their degree at OSU to become a part of the Formula SAE, Society of Automotive Engineers, team called Bullet Racing.
their chipped margarita glasses and more.
“There’s lots of people that go through stuff on a daily basis that you never see or know,” Nathen said. “A lot of them don’t want to go through therapy or anything else because it’s, one, too expensive, and people don’t believe in therapy sometimes… Here, y’know, you can express your own and do your own. Same with the paint, you’re not so much angry as much as creative in your own way.“
The destruction rooms include a smaller room, which can hold one to three people, and a larger room that can hold up to eight people, with the minimum age to break things also being 8.
Each room hosted a barrage of weapons, from baseball bats to crowbars, and crutches to croquet mallets. Customers can go all out on the breakables and not have to sweat too much about breaking the tools.
One girl who had just gone through a breakup broke a wooden baseball bat during her time in the break rooms. Nathen and Nichole let her paint the splintered bat in the Splatter room and take it home as a memento.
The paint room, or Splatter Room, has a blacklight and several bottles of neon-colored tempera paints. It comes with a canvas to coat that the person gets to take home with them.
The walls of the room glow with the messages and designs that people spray onto the walls, window and doorway.
Then come the breakables. Each room comes with boxes of bottles, plates, mugs, electronics and other smashable items. They also offer multiple sizes of items, from small radios to medium-sized computer monitors and desktop PCs, to large televisions and aquariums.
They have a wide array of sources for their breakables, but a large amount are from donations.
The Salty Bronc Saloon donates its old bottles. Mental Break has partnered with a winery in Oklahoma City to get the old wine bottles, local businesses and bartenders donate
Businesses aren’t the only sources. Estate sales, garage sales and people renovating houses donate, too. Many people donate the things they would be charged to throw away — something the Lewises happily accept.
“We have the ability to come pick stuff up from you, especially if you’re local and in town,” Nichole said. “Just call and let me know what you have.”
The only thing the Lewises don’t accept are old tube TVs, which explode when their glass is shattered.
The couple has gone to many break rooms before and kept finding bits and pieces they wanted to improve.
“They were all lacking in some stuff,” Nathen said. “It didn’t matter if I went and you went right after, they would throw everything away even if it was like a computer monitor that was hit once. I was like, ‘Why not just leave it and let people hit it as a bonus?’”
Nichole said the couple has had many unique people and groups come to Mental Break to release stress, including divorcees, breakups, corporate parties, people going through drama and many other groups.
For October, Nathen and Nichole are putting together several events including a PaintN-Sip, which would include a less-destructive pumpkin painting session with refreshments. They’re also hoping to do a more destructive pumpkinsmashing session soon.
The couple is also putting together a deal where if you bring in smashable things to donate, they would give you a discount on your visit. As it is, there is already a BYOB (bring your own breakables) deal, which lets you have access to all the weapons and breaking area for $20.
“We’re gonna see how this one does and see how it grows,” Nathen said. “If it’s popular and keeps growing, then we’ll probably open a couple more.”
To see more information on how to book an appointment, walk-in hours and pricing, visit Mental Break’s website at www. mental-break.com.
Formula SAE is an engineering competition where college students are challenged to design, build and race a formula-style car. OSU’s Bullet Racing team will travel to Michigan during May to compete against a few different schools, including the University of Washington and Cornell University.
Kali Coleman, Ryan Alexander and Gitashri Gopalakrishnan, freshmen, said the Bullet Racing team played a major role in their decision to come to OSU.
Alexander said he discovered the club through the OSU Instagram page and saw that the recent post was about the Bullet Racing team.
“I started going through (the Bullet Racing instagram), and I just thought it was super interesting,”
Alexander said.
With his interest in cars, having worked for a NASCAR team and worked in a pit for three years, Andrew feels like he fits right in with the club’s purpose.
Bullet Racing offers engineering majors hands-on experience they wouldn’t get until later on in their college careers.
“My lead, Andrew, has taught me more about like aerospace than I think I would have learned until my junior year,” Alexander said.
“I get to see how (the) wind tunnels work, how actual aerodynamics affect something.”
Coleman hopes to work for a Formula 1 engineering team in the future and believes the experience from Bullet Racing will set her apart from other applicants for internships.
Coleman’s excitement about the organization comes from being able to pick apart the car and make it better.
“Being able to make those small, minor changes to the car, later knowing how to manipulate those materials to do that would be awesome,” said Coleman.
Gopalakrishnan doesn’t
share the same interest in motorsports as Coleman or Andrew, but she became interested in Bullet Racing after seeing the club’s booth at OSU’s engineering day in her junior year of highschool.
“I was like ‘Wow… this is something I’m really interested in,’” Gopalakrishnan said. “Students get to be hands-on. They get to build their own car, and race it with other students across the United States.”
With career goals of working for the Navy and then Lockheed Martin, an aerospace and defense company, Gopalakrishnan is thrilled to get hands-on experience from Bullet Racing.
The organization gives members the opportunity to gain insight on working in an engineering enterprise.
“I feel like it can help me see what the industry is like,” Gopalakrishnan said.
Team building is another asset for members of the Bullet Racing team.
“I think Bullet Racing will help me learn how to work with the team… and how everything comes together just like they do in (a Formula 1) garage,” Coleman said.
APPLICATIONS INVITED FOR SPRING SEMESTER 2025
EDITOR-IN-CHIEF THE O’COLLY
Applications for Spring Semester 2025 Editor-in-Chief of The O’Colly will be accepted from now until 12 p.m. (noon) Monday, October 7, 2024.
Applications are now available in the Paul Miller Journalism and Broadcasting Building, room 106. Applicants must return their completed applications to room 106 no later than 12:00 p.m. (noon) Monday, October 7, 2024.
To be eligible for Editor-In-Chief, the applicant must be a student on the Stillwater campus of Oklahoma State University, be in good academic standing (i.e., not on academic probation), have a grade point average of not less than 2.5, and have completed at least 60 hours toward a degree.
Applicant must show evidence of having worked one semester in an editor position on The O’Colly. Students serving as an Editor-in-Chiefmay take up to 6 credit hours of independent study in consultation and approval of their major advisor.
An internship on a newspaper in a newsroom capacity may be substituted for one semester of service on The O’Colly. The internship must meet the requirements of the School of Media and Strategic Communications’ current internship course.
Jace Bormann Nathen (left) and Nichole Lewis own Mental Break in Stillwater.
to bring back OKC BOB route
KENNEDY THOMASON EDITOR-IN-CHIEF @_KENNEDYPAGE
After two years as a student at OSU, Keandra Wiggins attended her first in-person class in August.
Wiggins, who lives in Edmond, took as many online classes as she could to delay the about-45-minute commute. Now, she makes the journey to Stillwater twice a week to attend class.
“If I didn’t have the connections I have right now, it would be really hard for me to just attend school for my degree program,” Wiggins said.
The aerospace operations and administration student doesn’t drive. After a car accident in October 2023, Wiggins said she has too much anxiety to do so. Instead, she catches a ride from her mom or sister.
That’s why she started a petition to reinstate the Oklahoma City Big Orange Bus, or BOB, route. The southwest-bound bus has not run since about 2006 or 2007. For Wiggins, who pays about $110 in gas each week and car insurance, having the route could relieve some financial strain.
The petition has 329 signatures as of Thursday.
bus and transportation (to) get there?” Wilson said. “I would say that this means a lot to students that just want to pursue their dreams, and if you can help them with that, then I think it’s worth every cost.”
However, cost is one of the main reasons the route was discontinued.
Director of Parking and Transportation Services Steve Spradling said when he took his position in 2008, he inherited a large financial issue.
“I spent the last five years digging out of a big hole that we were in from that system running to Oklahoma City,” Spradling said. “It was very not sustainable, and we were left with a huge deficit to climb out of.”
Each motor coach, which is the vehicle used in transit to and from Tulsa, costs about $700,000. For an Oklahoma City route, it would cost $2.1 million with an additional $1 million in labor maintenance and fuel, Spradling said.
The department has also struggled to keep drivers among its ranks. Along with a nation-wide bus driver shortage, the pandemic also created challenges with finding drivers.
The Oklahoma State Symphony Orchestra sure knows how to throw a proper party.
On Sept. 26, OSUSO had its season opener, performing composer Anton Bruckner’s “Symphony in D minor.” The piece was chosen, in part, to celebrate Bruckner turning 200 years old.
In his living age, Bruckner struggled with success in a time of fierce critical opposition. However, since he has passed, his intricate symphonies have been performed across the globe. Bruckner’s work is known to be advanced, especially long and full of action.
OSUSO continued to reach new heights as it performed a neverheard-before rendition of Bruckner’s symphony, coined as “Nullte.” Thomas Dickey, Oklahoma State’s music director and lead conductor, expressed his excitement for the opportunity to perform this piece before the big show night. Dickey spent all summer manually transcribing the symphony into a performable format so he could bring it to the first rehearsal.
“Not only will this be the first time a Bruckner symphony has been played at OSU in Stillwater, but it will be the first time that this newest edition will have ever been performed,” Dickey said.
It’s not every day you get to see such festivities for a dead guy. Adults, parents, alumni, students and wellwishers from all over Stillwater came to fill the McKnight Center.
First-chair violinist Corianna Hong
said there’s “weeks of analyzing and critiquing the music in practice” until performance day arrives. Then her entire goal is to “have fun.”
“The best part of being in the symphony is the opportunity to play challenging music on the violin, make music with others and share the music to an audience,” Hong said.
Just sharing music is an understatement. Sitting in the concert hall, one is blown away with the skill and gracefulness these students perform with. Their music is living art and even the most apprehensive listener gets swept away in the symphony’s ebbs and flows.
“It’s a very palpable energy (that) you really only experience with student orchestras,” Dickey said.
The performance was just the beginning for the OSU Orchestra. Bruckner was quite the bang to start out with, but Dickey assures they have a schedule chock full of exciting masterpieces. The orchestra has five more performances this season, including famous compositions from Tchaikovsky and Beethoven, as well as a special memorial tribute to the 30-year anniversary of the tragic Oklahoma City bombing.
“Orchestra can be a portal where history can be expressed and experienced in the present moment,” Hong said.
It is a musician’s wise words. There is so much to be discovered at the Oklahoma State Symphony Orchestra. But there is a simple bottom line, if you ever are an audience member of the symphony, Hong says you only have one job,
“Just come and enjoy!”
Bringing the route back could also reduce the number of cars on campus, potentially creating a safer environment for pedestrians and opening up more parking, Wiggins said. It could also help students who can’t afford the cost of living in Stillwater, she said.
“So the reasoning for shutting it down doesn’t really apply now, because there’s inflation now, the cost of gas has gone up, the cost of living has gone up,” Wiggins said.
This isn’t the first time students have expressed interest in having an Oklahoma City route available again.
During the spring semester, Student Government Association Senator Joshua Wilson co-authored a bill that called for the route to run once a month for OSU’s international students. With the varying religions found among international students, some require specific foods that are not available in Stillwater.
The bill passed unanimously and was sent to OSU’s administration, which has the final say.
Wilson said international students, as well as the rest of the student body, would benefit from the added route.
“Should the price of education be so high that we don’t allow students to come to our school when we have the way to do it by providing people a
But a 2021 change in federal law that required drivers to go through a certified training program created the biggest barrier. The only place near Stillwater to receive the two-week training was in Drumright. The program, which was offered during the school year, meant student employees were almost out of the question.
“We literally did not have any people,” Spradling said. “All of our drivers were working their regular shift, plus overtime every week. All of them (were) working the limit, and... we just couldn’t find any more people.”
Now, Meridian Technology Center offers the course, which is helping to bolster the driver workforce, Spradling said.
Although he doesn’t think an Oklahoma City route would support itself right now, Spradling did not rule out the possibility of the route being reinstated.
Wiggins, who has been in contact with the transportation department, said she hopes the petition can show student need for the route. Even if the change can’t be made before she graduates in May, Wiggins said she hopes her efforts could help other students who find themselves in her position.
“We’re not living in the same U.S. as it was in 2006,” Wiggins said.
SURPLUS AUCTION
Kaytlyn Hayes
OSUSO violinist performs during the opening act of the season, “Happy Birthday, Aaron Bruckner!”
MEGAN ROY STAFF REPORTER
Top 5 cozy, spooky fall shows to watch
RAYNEE
HOWELL ASSISTANT NEWS & LIFESTYLE EDITOR
During the fall season, new TV shows just don’t hit the same.
The nostalgia of the end of summer and the transition to the end of the year makes fall the perfect time to binge old TV shows — some you may have seen a million times before or new ones you can become overly invested in. If you’re looking for a new (old) show to watch, you’re at the right place. Grab your flannelprinted blanket, light that pumpkin-scented candle and press play.
‘Pretty Little Liars’
This is one of those perfect dramas that causes you to keep clicking “continue watching,” even when you have a 9 a.m. class the next day. The story has endless twists, mainly following a stalker who calls themself “A.”
Even after watching this show multiple times, I can’t follow the plot without Reddit pulled up on my phone. It can get confusing and some may call it bad writing, but I like to call it fun. And it keeps you on your toes.
From a high school teacher dating a student to the five teenage girls blowing up a shed and blinding another teenage girl, there is never a dull moment.
The story begins with Alison Dilaurentis disappearing on Labor Day, which sets the main drama of the story right at the beginning of the fall season. Cozy up and drink a pumpkin spice latte while you watch four teenage girls lie to their
parents and the police.
OK, fine. If the fall-background murder mystery isn’t enough to sell you, each season has a Halloween episode. I think we can all agree that life was so much more simple when shows had holidaythemed episodes.
‘One Tree Hill’
When I was 13, you couldn’t pry the tablet out of my hands if this show was playing. And for this reason, it’s on the list of nostalgic fall shows.
The story follows the tale of two half-brothers; one who is raised by their father, who is a rich and famous-in-a-smalltown man and another who is raised by a single mother. Both play basketball, one for the varsity team and one at the park, YMCA-style.
The first season starts with the boys’ uncle trying to get the less-fortunate son on the varsity team. When the rich, privileged son hears about it, he challenges the other one to a one-on-one game. The bet not only threatens his place on the team but also his relationship with his girlfriend.
Spoiler alert: he loses the game and his girlfriend is not happy she was the cost of the bet.
I know what you’re thinking. This is so 2003. But to be fair, the show premiered 21 years ago.
The characters are shallow at first, but the character growth will have you so invested. I still cry when… can I say a spoiler about a show that’s 21 years old? Look away if you haven’t seen it, but I still cry when Uncle Keith dies.
The small-town feel of this show makes it so nostalgic and so fall. I can’t explain it; just add it to the list.
‘Gilmore Girls’
Is this show not entirely filmed in the fall? I honestly have never seen any clips that do not have Rory in a scarf, holding a latte, with orange leaves in the background. There’s even pumpkins in the background of the scene I’m imagining.
This show, similar to “One Tree Hill,” is focused on smalltown dysfunction, specifically between a mother-daughter duo. Lorelai Gilmore and her daughter Rory Gilmore navigate life and learn lessons together while drinking copious amounts of coffee. It won’t take much brain power to follow this plot, especially if you’ve ever been a teenage girl. If you want to feel festive for the fall but don’t feel like having nightmares about being stalked or watching two teenage boys bond over an abusive father, maybe this one’s for you.
‘The Vampire Diaries’ Come for the vampires and stay for Damon Salvatore. This show starts following Elena Gilbert, a teenage girl
4:00-6:00pm
who lost both her parents in a car crash. She meets Stefan Salvatore, a 171-year-old vampire stuck in a 17-year-old body, and they become romantically involved.
Stefan is the typical angsty teen despite being almost 200 years old. He’s afraid he’s going to hurt Elena, so he sabotages their relationship constantly. But his brother, Damon Salvatore, who resents Stefan for turning him into a vampire, decides to ruin their relationship for revenge. Over the next eight seasons, a love triangle ensues.
Damon adds the sarcastic, comedic relief to the overall drama of the show, but it’s so much more than a romantic drama once you get past season 1. There’s actually a fun supernatural aspect that is giving Halloween, spooky and fun. Plus, Elena’s best friend is a witch.
I will admit the spin-off “The Originals” is a much better show, which is surprising as it’s a spin-off, but it is not a cozy fall show in the way “The Vampire Diaries” is. Wrap up in a blanket, push aside the love
triangle and get invested in the supernatural storyline.
‘Gravity Falls’
This one’s for those who do not love teenage dramas as much as me. “Gravity Falls” is a Disney Channel cartoon following two twins who are sent to spend the summer with their great uncle, “Grunkle” Stan.
Grunkle Stan owns a gift shop called the “Mystery Shack.” Soos, one of the main characters, works for the shop and is involved in many adventures the twins Mabel and Dipper go on. Soos is the Patrick-from-Spongebob type; the show wouldn’t be the same without him.
Although the story is set in the summer, the woods full of mystery remind me of the spooky season. The town of “Gravity Falls” has a mysterious vibe, and when the twins find a journal full of tales of the town, they uncover all its secrets.
Courtesy Creative Commons
Dipper (left) and Mabel from “Gravity Falls” on one of their many adventures.
‘It
takes a lot to tear down a Bowman’ Those closest to OSU QB praise his mental toughness
Olejnik hoping to build OSU’s Cowgirl Wrestling Club into a scholarship program as coach
nationwide.
He didn’t hesitate to accept.
On Sept. 27, Olejnik was officially announced as the club’s inaugural head coach.
Five months was all it took to push Izzak Olejnik to enter the coaching realm.
What would that entail?
In March, the moment his graduate season of college wrestling at Oklahoma State concluded at nationals, he hadn’t a clue. But spending nearly a half a year wrestling under former OSU head coach John Smith had convinced him to pursue a longtime dream –becoming a head coach.
“Just being able to wrestle for him for a whole year, I learned a whole bunch of stuff,” Olejnik told The O’Colly. “And just kind of the style he coaches in, you can’t really replicate it.
“He was just as good of a coach as he was a wrestler. And he was obviously the greatest wrestler of all time.”
Which is why Olejnik couldn’t pass up the opportunity to follow in his former head coach’s footsteps.
In early September, Olejnik was offered a spot as the head coach of the three-year-old OSU Cowgirl Wrestling Club, a non-scholarship team that competes against other clubs
“When they announced it, it was kind of like, ‘OK, now it’s official,’” Olejnik said.
“Now, let’s get to work. Let’s grow this thing. Let’s make this thing official. Like, officially official.”
Cadence Dare, the club’s president, started it in late 2022. Dare rallied wrestlers and garnered support from the Cowboy Wrestling Club and the Oklahoma Regional Training Center, swiftly establishing women’s wrestling as an official sports club at OSU. She received coaching support from the center, attended clinics, started fundraising and recruited high school athletes.
Now, it’s Olejnik’s turn to lead things. And Olejnik is no stranger to success on the mat.
He logged a 30-7 overall record during the 2023-24 season at OSU, which included a 17-7 record against ranked opponents. Olejnik finished as a runner-up at 165 pounds in the Big 12 Championships and posted a sixth-place finish at nationals.
The Boone Pickens Stadium crowd had reached its breaking point.
Midway through the third quarter of Oklahoma State’s Week 4 contest against Utah — an eventual 22-19 loss for the Cowboys — OSU fans erupted in a frenzy of boos.
But the cries of disdain weren’t generalized. They were targeted at quarterback Alan Bowman.
By halftime, Bowman had completed just 8-of22 passing. As his incompletion total rose, the home crowd grew wearier.
Such is the life of a Division I college quarterback. Reaping rewards after success. Yet, suffering through the embellished anguish in failure.
Bowman was benched in favor of backup Garret Rangel. Cheers followed.
Shortly after, Bowman was brought back in after spotty play from Rangel. Cheers followed.
“Everybody loves the next guy up until he doesn’t do very good, then they want the other guy back,” Cowboy head coach Mike Gundy said.
Bowman, who finished 16-for-33 passing with two touchdowns and as many interceptions, took an abundance of social media criticism.
And it didn’t lighten the following week.
Bowman went 26 of 50 in another multiinterception game — one touchdown to two picks — during a 42-20 road loss to Kansas State. The scrutiny resurfaced, and Bowman was in the spot-
light again for the wrong reason.
Bowman, according to his teammates, handled such criticism as a college football veteran would be expected to.
“I mean, he does what he’s told, right?” offensive lineman Cole Birmingham said. “He takes it in stride. He was told that Garret (Rangel) was coming in, and he was supportive. He picked up Garrett. Then when he was told to go back in, he went back in. The same goes with the social media stuff — he knows it’s part of the job.
“...He’s a team player. He’s not gonna – and never will – throw a fit when he’s told something like that.”
But fan disdain isn’t a cause for concern for Bowman. Those closest to him say it’s hard to tear him down.
Being the dad of a QB
Kirk Bowman said he feels like he’s “been through hell” with his son Alan.
One moment, Alan was a first-year prospect in 2018, lighting up the college football world with video game numbers at Texas Tech under thenhead coach and renowned air raid savant, Kliff Kingsbury. Later that season, two defensive linemen sandwiched him in a loss to West Virginia, resulting in a 55% collapsed lung.
Another moment that same year, he guided the Red Raiders to a 31-28 halftime lead against Kyler Murray, Lincoln Riley and the seventh-ranked Oklahoma Sooners. The next, tragedy struck again.
See BOWMAN on page 2B
BY CALIF PONCY I STAFF REPORTER
Three years ago, Grace Gordon was verbally committed to Kentucky.
After spending four seasons at Drexel and Seton Hall, she was ready to play Power Five soccer and give herself a real shot at playing professionally — a dream she had been chasing since she was a child.
As fans of Oklahoma State soccer know, she didn’t end up at Kentucky.
Gordon has been essential for one of the NCAA’s elite defenses, ranking sixth nationally in shutouts and making a bevy of leaping, diving and body-contorting saves. She has led the Cowgirls to a surprisingly strong start to the season despite being nowhere near the radar of national pundits before the season.
But more than five years before becoming one of the best goalkeepers in the Big 12 Conference, she couldn’t even get a Division I scholarship offer.
Working her way up
Gordon met all the surface qualifications of a prospect bound for a major conference. She was four-time all-conference and two-time allSoutheastern Pennsylvania in high school. She was a two-time team MVP and played in three Friends League championship games.
Even with a wildly successful high school and club career, colleges didn’t think Gordon was up to task – at least at first.
After her senior season passed with zero D-I offers, Gordon decided to walk-on at Drexel. She was happy to be playing at the college level but knew she was destined for more than a backup role with the Dragons.
“I walked on, and I was like, ‘OK, this isn’t where I envisioned myself, but I’m just happy to be playing Division I soccer.’ But I was like, ‘I want more than this,’” Gordon said. “I transferred for the first time, did all three and a half years at Seton Hall, graduated from there and saw a lot of shots.”
Gordon moved up a level, going from the CAA to the Big East and securing a starting spot in her first season with the Pirates. At Seton Hall, Gordon proved to herself and the country that she belonged at the D-I level. In a shortened 2020 season, Gordon was second in the Big East in saves, averaging a whopping 5.64 saves. In her second season, she showed even more improvement, racking up 93 saves.
As a kid, Gordon may not have dreamt of working her tail off to save tons of shots on a bad team, but it was preparing her for the next step – one she was going to have to take if she wanted to play at the next level.
“When I was there, it was probably an insane amount (of shots),” Gordon said. “But it got me to where I am now, so I thank God that it happened; thank God I was in that program and got to experience that.”
File Photo
Izzak Olejnik wants to build the Cowgirl Wrestling Club into a scholarship program as the team’s first head coach.
File Photo
Being the starting quarterback means scrutiny may come, and those closest to OSU’s Alan Bowman said he’s dealt with it well.
Jose Brito
Grace Gordon smiling heading into halftime in the Cowgirls match against Texas A&M - Commerce in Stillwater at Neal Patterson Stadium on Sept. 15, 2024.
OSU goes 6-4 against West Virginia in 10 EA Sports College Football 25 simulations
ASHTON SLAUGHTER SPORTS EDITOR @ASHTON_SLOT
of 64.5 went under, as the game total average was 63.
Cowboy statistics
Another collapsed lung. And this time, Alan was shut down for the rest of the season. The Red Raiders, who were 5-3 at the time, lost that night, and in the ensuing three games. They didn’t make a bowl game.
After his days in Lubbock, Texas, had concluded, Alan spent two seasons riding the bench at Michigan while the Wolverines made two consecutive College Football Playoff appearances.
“So, trust me when I say boos from the fans don’t deeply affect Alan,” Kirk told The O’Colly. “I think there’s one thing that he’s always had — even in high school. He’s got the ability to just say, ‘Hey, whatever happened, has happened. It’s in the past.’”
Kirk knows Alan heard the cries of despair from OSU fans. “But he also heard the cheers,” Kirk joked.
Kirk said he and his wife, Nancy, are in attendance for every OSU home game.
Until this year.
OSU’s game against Utah became the first exception. A case of COVID-19 tarnished the streak.
But Kirk, through the pixels on his television screen, witnessed his son’s benching. And he heard about the booing through Alan’s two sisters, Tori and Emily, who were in attendance.
“It is what it is, you know,” Kirk said. “Fans have the right to express their frustrations, I guess. It’s just part of the game.”
It’s a reminder he said he gave Nancy. And one that he admittedly had to give himself.
At the dawn of the 2023 season, shortly after the era of OSU’s infamous three-quarterback system, Kirk sported a No. 7 jersey prior to OSU’s Week 6 home game against Kansas State. Before he entered the stadium, nearby hecklers made their presence known.
“Bowman sucks!”
“Can he get a job?”
“The man can’t throw!”
Kirk’s response? Stone cold silence.
Was it difficult? A resounding “Hell yes.”
“We always wear his jerseys – I don’t care if he’s sitting on the bench or not; he’s my kid,” Kirk said. “If he gets booed out of the stadium on Saturday and booed out of the stadium the next week, I’m gonna wear his jersey. I don’t care.”
Through it all, Kirk maintains the same mindset each time.
“As a parent, you have to be thick-skinned,” Kirk said. “And being a quarterback is no different.”
‘It just goes with the role’
Now, in his 20th season as the head coach of his alma mater, Gundy has been around the sport for nearly half a century.
Alan isn’t the first OSU quarterback to be booed during Gundy’s tenure. Fan perception has been fickle in Stillwater for far longer than just this year.
The same happened with Spencer Sanders less than two years prior. Before that, with Taylor Cornelius. And before that, with Mason Rudolph during his early days.
But all ended up successful quarterbacks, tethered to OSU football lore. The same could happen with Alan should another mid-season offensive surge parallel to that of a year ago transpire.
Not every game is perfect. Even the best college quarterbacks have poor outings. But they’re ready for the fan chaos that is likely to ensue.
Gundy said he thinks Alan has handled the momentary scrutiny well and remained confident that better days lie ahead for his starting quarterback.
Having that mental toughness, Gundy said, is a telltale sign of a good quarterback — statistical efficiency aside. So far, in Gundy’s mind, Alan has fit that mold.
“It’s part of the role, and I think he accepts it and knows it,” Kirk said. “Any quarterback just accepts it and knows it. You get more of the credit, when the team does great or really good than you should. And you get more of the blame when the team doesn’t do well when sometimes maybe you should, and sometimes maybe you shouldn’t. It just goes with the role, really.
“It takes a lot to tear down a Bowman.”
According to EA Sports College Football 25, West Virginia may give Oklahoma State a tough time Saturday at Boone Pickens Stadium. I simulated the Cowboys’ home matchup against the Mountaineers 10 times, and I used clear weather, a 3:30 p.m. kickoff time (the closest to 3 I could get) and 15-minute quarters. Below are the results in The O’Colly’s weekly OSU game simulation.
Average result, score OSU went 6-4 against WVU, as the Mountaineers won three of the last four sims. The average score was OSU 33.8-WVU 29.2. The 4.6-point margin of victory meant EA Sports projected the Cowboys to cover the 3-point spread.
The over/under game total
On average, OSU had 434.9 yards of total offense. WVU, on the other hand, had 409.5 yards of total offense.
Cowboy quarterback Alan Bowman completed 48.3% of his passes and threw for 151.4 passing yards per game (11.7% lower completion percentage and 103.9 fewer passing yards than last week’s 10 sims) with 1.9 touchdowns and 0.4 interceptions on average.
Running back Ollie Gordon II averaged 147 rushing yards and 0.7 rushing touchdowns per game. Gordon still hasn’t fumbled in any sim this season.
Since Bowman had a down week in the sims, so did his wide receivers.
Brennan Presley averaged 3.2 receptions, 68.6 receiving yards and 0.8 receiving touchdowns; Rashod Owens averaged 1.9 receptions, 34 receiving yards and 0.6 receiving touchdowns; and
De’Zhaun Stribling averaged 1.4 receptions, 23.4 receiving yards and 0.3. receiving touchdowns.
On the defensive side of the ball, Nick Martin led OSU in tackles five times and tied twice (both times with Lyrik Rawls), Rawls led twice (and tied with Martin once) and Ty Williams and Trey Rucker led once. Finally, kicker Logan Ward, went 12-of-16 kicking field goals and 42-of-42 kicking PATs.
More results
Bowman’s poor play was already outlined, but he had anywhere from a 304 to 64yard passing outing. In the 304-yard outing, OSU lost 38-35 and in the 64-yard outing, OSU lost 34-31. Well, expect OSU to win a somewhat-high-scoring game that both teams might call a “must win.” It’s not going to be easy, though, because it never is with the Cowboys.
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Little
Alan Bowman is the most recent OSU quarterback who has
OSU softball fall ball roundtable Takeaways, thoughts thus far
Three games into its fall ball season, Oklahoma State softball has outscored opponents 42-1.
The Cowgirls defeated Seminole State 14-0 Wednesday night and don’t play again until a doubleheader on Oct. 12 against Arkansas and Tulsa at the Collins Family Softball Complex (TU’s stadium).
Here are some takeaways from Wednesday and some overall fall ball thoughts from The O’Colly softball beat writers Ashton Slaughter and Parker Gerl.
The Cowgirl pitchers look elite Slaughter: On Wednesday, we got to see two innings each from RyLee Crandall (former Baylor pitcher) and Ruby Meylan (former Washington pitcher). Both looked dang good.
OSU head coach Kenny Gajewski has already said Meylan has the potential to be the best arm the Cowgirls have had. He also called Crandall a “big game pitcher.”
Now, Wednesday was no big game, but Crandall looked good — four strikeouts and one hit allowed. Although Meylan will get most of the buzz — and rightfully so; she’s an All-American for a reason — Crandall can be Robin to Meylan’s Batman. And Crandall is a leading-womancaliber pitcher who’s willing to be a sidekick for a trip to the Women’s College World Series.
Gerl: The Meylan and Cran-
dall duo can become the force that drives OSU’s 2025 season. They are the Cowgirls’ top two arms and have pitched in highleverage moments. But they’ve got help, too. Returnees Kyra Aycock and Katie Kutz each pitched two innings and combined for six strikeouts Wednesday night.
Gajewski said Aycock is “making some big adjustments with her mechanics” to help manage arm pain and that Kutz is throwing “68 and up,” which is an increase compared to her speed a year ago.
Catcher position battle
Slaughter: Last season, Gajewski was high on then-redshirt sophomore Audrey Schneidmiller at catcher. But Liberty University transfer Caroline Wang came in and spoiled Schneidmiller’s chances of a breakout year. And it was the right move — Wang came in and became one of the Cowgirls’ best home-run hitters ever.
Now, Schneidmiller is looking for an increased role, and she went 3 of 3 Wednesday night.
Gajewski said she just needs to keep improving her behind-theplate skills.
Gerl: The Cowgirls have options at catcher that make Gajewski say, “I think we’re the best we’ve ever been” at the position.
OSU picked up Amanda Hasler from North Carolina State to pair with Schneidmiller, who appeared in 23 games last season for the Cowgirls and hit .257 with seven RBIs. Hasler launched 18 home runs and recorded 45 RBIs in 2024.
Hasler and Schneidmiller give Gajewski a pick-your-poison
combo that makes him confident about where the Cowgirls are at catcher. OSU’s 10th-year head coach said they’ll both play and contribute.
Gajewski thinks it’s his ‘best team’ Slaughter: There have been great Cowgirl teams in Gajewski’s 10 years. That’s how you make five straight WCWS appearances.
But this one, so far, is the best. Gajewski isn’t one to oversell or undersell his team, so his feelings about this year’s roster seem genuine. He knows the weight that “best team” carries — because Samantha Show, Sydney Pennington, Kiley Naomi, Chyenne Factor and Lexi Kilfoyl, among many others, have graced the field in an OSU uniform in recent memory.
Gerl: The entire starting infield from last season’s WCWS team is back. The Cowgirls bolstered their pitching by adding Meylan and Crandall. Sophomore leaps by 2024 Freshman All-Americans Rosie Davis and Karli Godwin feel inevitable. Megan Bloodworth might be the best defensive shortstop in the country. Juniors Claire Timm, Tallen Edwards and Micaela Wark are back, too.
Everywhere you look, it’s easy to see why Gajewski is so high on the 2025 team.
“It looks like it’s our best team,” Gajewski said. “Now we have to go out and play like that. You can say it’s your best team, but now you got to play like that.”
sports.ed@ocolly.com
TRUST THE LORD! (Part #1)
“Do not let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God; trust also in me.” (Jn.14:1 NIV)
Jesus had just told his disciples of his betrayal. He also told to them of his leaving and they could not go with him. I am sure that it seemed to the disciples that everything was “caving in, falling apart.” The future seemed so uncertain. Then Jesus speaks these words; DON’T BE TROUBLED; TRUST ME!
Jesus tells them that he is going to the Father (God) and in his house there is plenty of room. He tells them that he is going to make a place for them all and he will return to take them there. As we look around us there is much uncertainty about this planet that we live on; safety is a premium, and what about when death comes? What is going to happen to you and me? Many are betting on losing consciousness and never
awakening. They live on that assumption. However, Jesus tells us all are going to experience a resurrection from the dead; some to everlasting life and others to be condemned . (Jn.5:28-29, Dan.12:2)
Again, the Lord Jesus makes things clear to his followers: “I am going to my Father’s house to prepare a place for you. I will return to get you and take you to be with me.” when asked about the way to this wonderful place, Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” (Jn.14:6) No wonder he declares plainly; don’t be troubled. Trust in God, trust also in me. Jesus has prepared a place and is the way to God’s wonderful place. Let’s trust and follow him, and lay up treasure there. It is a sure place promised by the Lord Jesus himself. He will not fail us; so shall we ever be with the Lord! (1 Thess.4:17-18)
building up this program, adding girls to the team and just getting (our) numbers up.”
Continued from 1
Before his career at OSU, Olejnik spent five seasons — one being a redshirt year — at Northern Illinois. There, he compiled a 92-27 record, earning All-American honors as a redshirt junior with the Huskies during the 2022-23 season.
Of course, the initial weeks at the helm have been “somewhat” challenging, Olejnik said. Reeling in retired high school wrestlers on short notice to compete against seasoned club teams is a tall task. But Olejnik has found solace in the productivity — all things considered — from the girls.
The hope, at some point, Olejnik said, is to elevate the club to a scholarship sport. Several obstacles barricade the probability of that happening — funding, scholarship rules, etc. But that won’t stop Olejnik and Co. from trying.
North Carolina, Michigan, Harvard, Cornell, Columbia and a multitude of other schools with prominent men’s programs have scholarship women’s teams. Why can’t OSU?
“The goal is to be able to build this thing up to where (OSU) sees it as a beneficial sport, and they can’t help but make this a Division I scholarship sport,” Olejnik said. “Right now, my main focus is building this thing up,
That starts with winning. And Olejnik doesn’t have to look far when searching for a blueprint on how to lead a wrestling program.
Less than a year ago, he wrestled for Smith, who spent 33 years as OSU’s head coach, winning four national championships and producing a plethora of All-Americans along the way – with Olejnik being one – before retiring after last season.
Olejnik had expressed interest in coaching post-wrestling career. Smith got word and didn’t hesitate to back Olejnik. “Izzak’s gonna do what he’s gonna do,” Smith told The O’Colly in March. “And whatever that might be – coaching, training, whatever – he’s gonna be successful at it. I know he will.”
Now, the moment has come full circle for Olejnik. Wherever his coaching odyssey takes him from here, he said he doesn’t care. He’s just happy it started at his alma mater.
“I saw what it was like for a coach to really care about his athletes and want success from them, but also a lot more than just success,” Olejnik said. “And so, that’s kind of something that I’m going to take with me. And hopefully, I’ll leave that same mark on whoever I coach, starting with these girls.”
sports.ed@ocolly.com
Catherine Dzanski
OSU head coach Kenny Gajewski said transfer pitcher Ruby Meylan has the potential to be the best pitcher OSU has had.
Payton Little
Former OSU wrestling head coach John Smith said he could see Izzak Olejnik being successful in anything, including coaching.
Gundy’s 20th
How OSU football teams have finished after 3-2 starts
finishing the season 10-4 after appearing in the Big 12 Championship Game and winning the Texas Bowl, but the Cowboys more often than not having to face things “the hard way” seems legitimate.
Editor’s note: This is a story from “Gundy’s 20th,” The O’Colly’s weekly series to commemorate OSU football head coach Mike Gundy’s 20th season as the leading man. This week, we talk about how Gundy’s teams have fared after starting 3-2.
Heading into Oklahoma State’s matchup against Kansas State, Cowboy quarterback Alan Bowman said the rest of the 2024 season was going to play out exactly how OSU wanted it to — successful but not without its challenges. Something that has become synonymous with the Cowboys under head coach Mike Gundy, who’s in his 20th season with the program.
“We still have everything in front of us,” Bowman said. “We can still win the Big 12. Realistically, we wouldn’t want it any other way at Oklahoma State — the hard way; that’s how we do it around here. As last year showed.
Maybe it’s recency bias from last season — when OSU started 2-2 before
Now, after a 42-20 loss to Kansas State, Bowman’s hopes of running the table are dead. But are the Cowboys’ hopes for a historic season? Here’s a look at the six prior times under Gundy that OSU has started out 3-2 and where the teams ended up.
2005: Started 3-2, finished 4-7
Other than 2024 now, the 2005 season — Gundy’s first — is the only time the Cowboys started 0-2 in Big 12 Conference play.
The Cowboys lost their first five conference games before defeating No. 13 Texas Tech at home. If the Cowboys started 0-5 this season, they’d play Arizona State in the Homecoming game to keep away from overthrowing the 2005 team for the worst Big 12 start under Gundy.
2006: Started 3-2, finished 7-6
The 2006 season had a lot of positives for Gundy — his first bowl appearance, a big win over No. 20 Nebraska — but the expectations and the Cowboys’ talent
level compared from then to now are widely different. Through five games, OSU won its first three before dropping its next two road games against Houston (then a Conference USA team) and K-State. From there, the Cowboys finished 7-6 and defeated Alabama in the Independence Bowl.
2007: Started 3-2, finished 7-6
Similarly to the 2006 season, 2007 had some good moments, but ultimately, the Cowboys’ record didn’t change.
OSU started 3-2 with losses to Georgia and Troy but defeated Texas Tech in its Big 12 opener. Through an infamous quarterback change from Bobby Reid to Zac Robinson, the Cowboys finished 7-6 and won the Insight Bowl over Indiana.
2012: Started 3-2, finished 8-5
Gundy took a few years off from rocky starts after his first three years until 2012.
OSU started 3-2 with losses to (thenPac-12 school) Arizona and (then-Big 12-school) No. 12 Texas but eventually finished with an 8-5 record — the best under Gundy to this point after a 3-2 start. The Cowboys defeated Purude in the Heart of Dallas Bowl.
2016: Started 3-2, finished 10-3
The 2016 team is what OSU fans should hope this year’s team ends up looking like.
In 2016, the Cowboys started off ranked, but losses to Central Michigan and No. 16 Baylor brought them to a 3-2, 1-1 Big 12 record. They won eight of their last nine, though, including a win over No. 10 West Virginia and an Alamo Bowl victory over No. 11 Colorado. With at least one presumably ranked matchup on the schedule this season (No. 17 BYU), this is the best sign yet for OSU fans.
2023: Started 3-2, finished 10-4 And, of course, last year. The team Bowman referenced.
Unlike last season, when the Cowboys started 3-2 because they needed to figure out who to play and what their offensive identity was, most fans assumed that those struggles from last year’s Big 12 runner-up were past them. But five games in, and OSU fans are unsure of who should be playing and what their team’s offensive identity is. That doesn’t mean a turnaround isn’t possible, though; ask Bowman and the 2023 10-4 Cowboys.
sports.ed@ocolly.com
‘We understand what we need to do’ Cowboys
chasing turnaround after 0-2 conference start
PARKER
It may sound premature to call a Week 6 game a must-win, but given Oklahoma State’s fortune, history says it needs to win Saturday against West Virginia.
The Cowboys’ road to the Big 12 Championship Game looks bleak, as they sit 0-2 in conference. Only one team since 2017 — Oklahoma — has advanced to the title game after a 0-2 conference start. No team since then has started 0-3 and played for the league title, either.
Nonetheless, OSU isn’t treating its game against the Mountaineers differently. The Cowboys know they’ll have to scrape and claw over their next seven games and probably need help from the rest of the conference. They know they can’t dwell while trying to salvage the season.
“Every game is a must-win,” OSU offensive lineman Cole Birmingham said. “…The only goal is to win. To say it’s a must-win, it just seems dumb to me. Every game is a must-win. We’ve put ourselves in a hole at this point. But we’re not down on each other. We’re not blaming anybody.
“(We) just have to have a short mindset… You can’t change the past. We got
to focus on what’s happened. We got to focus on this game.”
Aside from having to deal with feisty WVU this weekend, the Cowboys still have to travel to Utah for a meeting with No. 17 BYU and play at Baylor, TCU and Colorado.
The Cougars are 4-0 and throttled Kansas State 38-9. The Horned Frogs boast the third-ranked scoring offense in the Big 12. And Deion Sanders and the Buffaloes’ star-studded duo of his son, Shedeur, at quarterback and the do-it-all Travis Hunter is capable of willing CU to a win.
As the Cowboys prepare to host the Mountaineers and try to kickstart a bounce-back, OSU head coach Mike Gundy said his team has what it needs to regroup.
“There needs to be a culture where we look and (say), ‘No matter what, what can we do to improve — even if we win — for the next game?’” Gundy said.
“And I think that’s what we have here, and that’s what we accept here. And for that reason, I think they’re fine.”
Since 2017, four teams finished among the top five in the Big 12 after starting 0-2 in conference play. There’s still time for OSU to turn things around, but it has to start sooner rather than later.
“We understand what we need to do,” Cowboy linebacker Jeff Roberson said.
Greene’s versatility to challenge OSU defense
CAYDEN COX STAFF REPORTER
Dual-threat quarterbacks have presented Oklahoma State’s defense with some troubles this year. It gets another one this weekend in West Virginia’s Garrett Greene.
The OSU defense has to keep Greene in the pocket and take away his running lanes. Through WVU’s four games this year, Greene has shown an ability to use his legs, rushing for 209 yards. Greene’s playing style is similar to Kansas State’s Avery Johnson who ran for 60 yards on five carries against the Cowboy defense a week ago.
“Yeah, he’s mobile, just like Avery was for sure,” defensive lineman Iman Oates said. “So keeping him contained and not letting him get out of the pocket and be dangerous with his legs is going to be a big focus for sure. So just making sure we get pressure on him, keeping our leverage on him and keeping him in the pocket will be a big focus this week for sure.”
Getting to Greene early and putting pressure on him will be key for the Cowboys defense to control his rushing.
“If you get a running quarterback, obviously, you need to contain the dude,” linebacker Jeff Roberson said. “You don’t want him out there running around. You want to be able to stop him, keep him in the pocket, make him pass. You stop that, you stop the head of the snake.”
Having faced mobile quarterbacks before, however, gives the defense some experience.
“You’ve just faced this team. Avery Johnson, who we just played, is a runner. When you continue to face those teams, you continue to get better at what you do.” Robertson said.
Facing a physical offensive line similar to K-State’s allows Oates and the defensive line to know what they need
to do in order to win in the trenches.
“Yeah, I mean, that’s the thing, we just got to match the physically,” Oates said.
“The offensive line is gonna be mean nasty. We gotta be mean and nastier.” It won’t come easy for OSU, as Greene is a fifth year senior who has been in the West Virginia system for all five, and has the trust of his coaches.
“His experience has helped him, and I’m guessing the relationship he has with his playcallers and his position coach helps him. They are further along now just with the experience,” Gundy said. “The quarterback that’s there, he’s been there for I don’t know how many years. I think he played against (Mason) Rudolph. Been forever, still there.”
Courtesy of West Virginia Athletics Garrett Greene’s running ability could pose challanges for a struggling OSU run defense.
Gordon
The jump from walk-on backup at Drexel to threeyear starter at Seton Hall is a massive one — but it wasn’t even close to the one she was about to take next.
One of the nation’s best Gordon’s high save rate had not only turned her into one of the best goalkeepers in the Big East, but it got her on the map of coaches at bigger programs, namely OSU’s Colin Carmichael.
“I actually found Grace and watched the video,” Carmichael said. “I thought, ‘Here’s what she does well, and here’s things to work on.’ I reached out to Grace and she was pretty far along in her process, but I basically said, ‘Slow down a minute, let’s talk.’ And so we did. I sent her a bunch of info; we chatted, and thankfully she ended up committing to us because she’s been great for two years.”
From a walk-on at Drexel to the starting goalkeeper on one of the most storied programs in the Big 12. Gordon had reached the level of soccer she had always wanted to play. Before dreams of being a professional player, all Gordon had wanted was to be like her heroes, most of whom were women’s college soccer players.
“I thought women’s college soccer players were the coolest people in the world,” Gordon said. “I was like, ‘Oh my gosh, they made it there.’ Sometimes you don’t really give yourself credit for getting to where your 13-year-old-self’s dreams were.”
Thirteen-year-old Grace Gordon certainly would have looked up to her modern-day self.
In 19 starts for the Cowgirls, Gordon posted a 0.83 goals against average and a .815 save percentage, both good for second in the Big 12.
This season, Gordon led the Cowgirls to an NCAAbest nine-match clean-sheet streak to start the season, firmly planting herself atop the Big 12. Gordon was named Big 12 Goalkeeper of the Week two consecutive times to start the season and had a national-best 1.000 save percentage up until Big 12 play started. She allowed her first goal of the season against Colorado.
Next steps
Despite her success at the college level, Gordon’s goal of playing professionally has always stayed at the forefront of her mind, regardless of where she was playing.
“I really wanted an experience where I was going to love the environment I was in and I was gonna be at a highly competitive school getting looks at people that are gonna play professionally in the future because that’s my goal,” Gordon said. “OSU set me up best for that.”
With six regular season matches remaining in her college career, Gordon has the same mindset that she did when she moved from Seton Hall to Oklahoma State — constantly improving. After all, it was just five years ago when she became a walk-on.
“I’m pretty sure she didn’t even think she was going to be able to come to a Big 12 team from what I remember because she was on smaller teams,” senior defender Mollie Breiner said. “This is her last year, so she’s dedicated. I’ve heard her wanting to do extra work just to focus on those little things she needs help on.”
With a postseason berth within reach and personal accolades a realistic possibility, Gordon has taken advantage of every opportunity that has come her way. Even through a recent cold spell, her work in goal has kept OSU within striking distance of a good finish in the Big 12 standings. After opening the season 8-0-1, the Cowgirls have fallen to 8-2-3 after a rocky start to conference play. But if Gordon has proven anything so far, it’s that she doesn’t mind having her back against the wall.
“There’s definitely been times where I was burned out, and it was kind of hard,” Gordon said. “And, you know, there’s so much else I could be doing but soccer right now. And then when you take a step back, there’s not really much else you want to be doing other than soccer.”
Hoyt talks retooled Cowgirl basketball roster, adjustments leading into 2024-25 season
KENZIE KRAICH STAFF REPORTER @KRIACH20
Oklahoma State women’s basketball implemented a new roster, system and scheduling approach this offseason. All were points of focus for head coach Jacie Hoyt.
With the first official practice Monday, Hoyt shared her expectations for the upcoming season:
New players, new system
Hoyt wasn’t happy with how last season finished, with a 14-16 record and ended with a two-point loss in the Big 12 Tournament in March.
But now, her roster has been retooled.
“We were really intentional in the offseason about getting the right kids, and I felt like we really knocked it out of the park when it comes to that,” Hoyt said. “..I’ve got to credit my staff, because they did an amazing job of assembling a roster that makes sense for what we do and how we do things.”
OSU picked up players such as freshman Jadyn Wooten and transfer sophomore Macey Huard. Wooten — a state tournament MVP, Class 6A Player of the Year, twotime Eastern Kansas League MVP and 2024 Kansas Gatorade Player of the Year — has already provided needed relief for the Cowgirls, as she’s assumed the point guard position immediately.
“We’ve got one of the best freshman point guards in the country in (Wooten),” Hoyt said. “To be not just a point guard, but a point guard in the Big 12 as a freshman is a lot, but we’re ready to walk that walk with her.”
Guard Anna Gret Asi is coming off an impressive junior season, averaging 12.7 points, 4.6 assists and 3.4 rebounds. Despite last year’s success for the senior, Hoyt said no one is more excited for Wooten’s arrival than Asi. Last season, Asi was the go-to point guard for the Cowgirls and controlled the offense for most possesions, but with Wooten’s ability to run an offense, OSU will be able to move Asi off the ball, allowing her to play to her strengths at the wing spot.
Stailee Heard, another standout from last season, is also said to benefit from the arrival of strong players who share her competitive drive. The sophomore is coming off a stellar freshman season with
averages of 12.9 points and 6.3 rebounds while shooting 50% from the field.
“Who (Heard) is as a person, she feels more comfortable in her skin because she’s surrounded with likeminded people,” Hoyt said.
Alongside Wooten, Huard has already made a lasting impact on the team’s culture. Huard comes from a family of athletes, as her mom (basketball) and dad (football) played at the University of Washington. Her dad, Brock, continued on to play in the NFL for the Seattle Seahawks and Indianapolis Colts.
“(Huard) has made… probably the biggest impact of anyone on our culture,” Hoyt said. “She understands what it takes to be successful at the highest level, so it’s been fun having her take our standard and raise the mark.”
Huard has backed up that talk with an astounding feat. According to the most recent report from OSU’s shot-tracking service, Huard has made more shots than anyone at a program that uses the same service. Hoyt said this has inspired Huard’s teammates to follow suit, taking the team’s progression to the next level.
With new additions and returning stars, the Cowgirls are looking to be a force in the Big 12 as long as they can stay healthy.
Preparing for Hoyt’s absence
With a baby due in mid-December, Hoyt has prepared for her absence in the middle of the season.
“Of course, I’ve got a due date, but if things stay according to that, I really shouldn’t have to miss that much,” Hoyt said. “I think I would just miss one game right before Christmas break and then have Christmas to kind of settle in and get back at it.”
Having confidence in her staff and her players to lead her team, Hoyt is using the pieces of her program to lean on through this process. She credits her staffers for taking on roles they aren’t used to and instilling confidence in one another as they prepare for her temporary leave.
“I’ve worked really hard to give them as much confidence as I can in themselves and put them in positions where they can prepare to lead in my absence,” Hoyt said.
Behind the Cowgirls’ strong coaching staff are players who, in Hoyt’s eyes, carry leadership, determination and accountability
that will allow them to thrive with or without her on the sidelines.
“Our team is a player-led team,” Hoyt said. “There are going to be times when (they) all have to step up as a team and as players to take the load off of (others).”
The turn of the season will be a defining time for the Cowgirls as they will transition into Big 12 Conference play, possibly without their head coach on the sidelines, but it’s obvious Hoyt will be doing anything to get back to her team as quickly as possible.
Scheduling adjustment
In the 2023-24 season, the Cowgirls played seven teams ranked in the top 25.
Despite all but two of those teams being Big 12 matchups, nonconference play for OSU was not easy as it faced teams like Colorado and Ohio State.
The Cowgirls found themselves on the losing side of all but one of their matchups against ranked teams, making scheduling a point of emphasis for the coaching staff in the offseason.
“We scheduled way too hard last year,” Hoyt said. “So that was a big lesson for us, and we didn’t want to make the same mistake this season.”
Early on last season, OSU found itself in a difficult position, fighting injuries and player eligibility. The teams it was facing had the depth and physicality to respond in the third and fourth quarters, but the Cowgirls were not able to match the same versatility, making their pace of play take a backseat.
“We love to play fast and get up and down, and we simply couldn’t do that from lack of numbers last year,” Hoyt said. “So that’s where this step is going to help us get back to who we are, play at that high clip and get after teams a lot more defensively as well.”
Hoyt is excited to build on the crowd attendance leading up to conference play as the Cowgirls are slated to host all but two of their games until the new year. Not only will this act as a benefit to the players to draw in a home crowd, but it will also allow Hoyt to stay home to take care of personal needs regarding her pregnancy.
The Cowgirls begin their season against Southern Nazarene on Oct. 29 in Gallagher-Iba Arena.
sports.ed@ocolly.com
Daisy Gower
Grace Gordon led OSU to a nine-match clean-sheet streak to begin the season, which was an NCAA-best mark.
Jacie Hoyt said her coaching staff was “really intentional” in adding players who would fit the culture of Cowgirl basketball.
Oklahoma State has many weaknesses, but its run defense is near the top of that list.
The last two running backs the Cowboys have gone up against have topped 180 rushing yards, and Donaldson is in position to be next in line. Donaldson has averaged more than five yards per carry this season. Unlike Utah running back Micah Bernard and Kansas State running back DJ Giddens, Donaldson gets his yards almost exclusively by running into and over the opposing defense.
Game Day Preview
Players to Watch
No. 4, CJ Donaldson Jr., RB No. 40, Josiah Trotter, LB
3 Storylines
Can the Cowboys stop WVU’s rushing attack?
The Mountaineers have offensive warts. Garrett Greene is prone to throwing interceptions, no wide receiver has truly staked his claim to be the go-to guy and the offensive line has allowed nine sacks through four games.
That being said, WVU has consistently shown the ability to do one thing well – run the ball. CJ Donaldson Jr. and Jahiem White are one of the most dangerous backfields in the Big 12, with each bringing their own flavor to the running game. Donaldson is the big, powerful back and White is the undersized lightning bolt who can explode for a big play at any time.
Fortunately for WVU, it is going up against a team who hasn’t been able to stop a Power Four rushing attack yet this season. OSU has allowed career days for three running backs already this season, and if WVU finds the same success, the Cowboys will be in real danger of falling to 0-3 in conference play.
Can OSU’s offense find a pulse?
Just a year after having the best running back in the nation go wild for 115+ yards in nine games, the Cowboy offense looks like a shell of itself. Gordon has not surpassed 100 yards since Week 1 against South Dakota State, Alan Bowman has played poorly since conference play began and De’Zhaun Stribling has been the only wide receiver who has performed above expectations. It goes without saying, but if OSU cannot figure out how to improve on the offensive end, it’s going to be a long season. WVU is 98th in opponent yards per game and 102nd in opponent points per game, so it is now or never for an OSU team that hasn’t put together more than five good minutes of offensive football against a Power Four opponent since early September.
Will OSU finally establish Ollie Gordon II?
After a rough patch, it seemed all was right during the first quarter of the OSU-K-State game. Gordon was hurdling and stiff-arming defenders and looking explosive in open space for the first time since OSU played South Dakota State.
Quickly thereafter, it all crashed down. Gordon had negative rushing yards in the second quarter and was essentially phased out of the game plan due to the game being out of reach after that.
Last year, OSU could survive poor play from Bowman and a defense that allowed big plays because Gordon always seemed to be there for a big play when needed. This year, through no fault of his own, Gordon has been completely neutralized, and until the Cowboys can figure out how to get him going, the offense will continue to be a major issue.
There is no reason to believe WVU won’t follow in OSU’s past opponents’ footsteps and stack the box against Ollie Gordon II, and if it does, expect to hear Trotter’s name early and often.
Trotter, the son of former NFL linebacker Jeremiah Trotter and the brother of current NFL linebacker Jeremiah Trotter Jr., appears to be the latest in his bloodline to be a star on the gridiron. He’s a freshman because of a seasonending injury he suffered in spring practice before last season, is second on WVU in tackles, and has also gotten to the quarterback for half a sack this season. If the Mountaineers want to come into Stillwater and leave with an upset victory, they will have to bottle up Gordon, just like Utah and K-State did. If WVU is to do that, Trotter will be right at the center of it.
Neal Brown, WVU looking to turn this season around
West Virginia football underwent a resurgence in 2023.
After four consecutive seasons of winning six or fewer games, the Mountaineers posted a 9-4 record last season. It appeared WVU had found a quarterback in Garrett Greene and a solid offense along with him.
Prior to WVU’s 2023 breakout, head coach Neal Brown was sitting on one of the hottest seats in the sport. Since taking over for Dana Holgorsen, Brown had struggled to recreate Holgorsen’s success, who coached the Mountaineers to an Orange Bowl victory in 2011.
Despite his struggles, Brown appeared to have righted the ship and earned some long-term security after last season. However, another average start that includes an improbable loss to Pittsburgh and being on the receiving end of a drubbing by Penn State has many wondering how safe Brown really is.
WVU is outside the top 100 in multiple key defensive categories this season and is averaging only 26 points per game on the offensive end. That figure puts the Mountaineers at 68th in points per game at the FBS level.
This season’s struggles
are surprising on multiple fronts. On one hand, the Big 12 appears to be down this season, with the three preseason favorites, Utah, Kansas State and Oklahoma State, all suffering at least one conference loss already. The Mountaineers also returned Greene along with an impressive running back stable of CJ Donaldson Jr. and Jahiem White. A wide receiver room comprised of multiple returning contributors and former OSU receiver Jaden Bray was expected to be productive this season, but only Hudson Clement has gotten off to the start that was expected. Overall, WVU is disappointing offseason projections on multiple levels, and whether it’s fair or not, Brown is at the center of it. Only time will tell if Brown can turn it around and replicate last season, but as of now his Mountaineers have what is undisputedly one of the worst defenses in the Big 12 and are getting ready to start a four-game stretch against four of the best the conference has to offer.
Brown’s seat may have cooled following his first time finding success last season, but it may heat up again if WVU doesn’t figure out some way to turn around this underwhelming start.
Kelsie LeRose / WVSN
Courtesy West Virginia Athletics
Payton Little
Payton Little
Courtesy West Virginia Athletics
sports
The O’colly sports picks
Pick Leaderboard:
Kenny Gajewski 10-9-1, Week 5
Nicole Auerbach ???, Week 6
Point / Counterpoint
talented young passer like Zane Flores to the wolves would be unwise. The OSU running game has been nonexistent so far this season and I think putting a redshirt freshman in a position where he is at the helm of a one-dimensional offense is a surefire way to kill his confidence. Alan Bowman has shown enough this season to maintain his starting job for now and he deserves a chance to get right against an abysmal WVU pass defense.
OSU should make a quarterback change — and quickly. Alan Bowman, when facing good defenses has faltered. And a Mike Gundy offense thrives off complementary quarterback play. If the Cowboys fall to 3-3 overall and 0-3 in Big 12 Conference play for the first time under Gundy, what more will they have to lose? Gundy should at least consider starting redshirt freshman Zane Flores moving forward. He’s likely OSU’s starter in 2025. Why not give him early reps in preparation for next season?
Nicole Auerbach
Snapshots from Osu-kansas state
Kansas State defeated Oklahoma State 42-20 this past Saturday. Here are some of our staff’s best photos:
ROW 1 LEFT: Quarterback Alan Bowman handing the ball off to running back Sesi Vailahi.
ROW 1 RIGHT: Wide receiver Brennan Presley about to take the field for a punt return.
ROW 2 LEFT: Kicker Logan Ward looking dissapointed on the sideline.
ROW 2 RIGHT: Both teams getting ready to face off at the line of scrimmage.
ROW 3 LEFT: Wide receiver De’Zhaun Stribling on his way to the end zone.
ROW 3 RIGHT: Wide receiver Talyn Shettron brining a ball.
ROW 4 LEFT: Head coach Mike Gundy talking through the headset.
ROW 4 RIGHT: Tight end Josh Ford leaving the field dissapointed.
Payton Little
Payton Little
Payton Little
Payton Little
Jose Brito
Jose Brito
Jose Brito
Jose Brito