Mike Gundy: ‘The Future of Bedlam Has a Year or Two Left’
With the Oklahoma Sooners set to leave the Big 12 for the SEC by 2025, the future of Bedlam has been a question around the state of Oklahoma.
At Big 12 Media Days on Wednesday, Oklahoma State head coach Mike Gundy gave a fairly assertive answer to the question of what the future of the Bedlam match up is going to be after OU leaves the league.
Gundy said from the podium, “The future of Bedlam is it has a year or two left. That’s the future of Bedlam, based on somebody else’s decision.”
That “somebody else” is clearly a shot at the Oklahoma Sooners, implying their decision to leave for the SEC, and blindside the Big 12 and Oklahoma State in the process, meant they effectively ended the game for the foreseeable future.
The question is whether or not Oklahoma and Texas will stay in the Big 12 until 2025. All the public comments have indicated that they will stay until the end of the deal, however it’s well known the two programs would like to get out earlier. And interestingly enough, new Big 12 commissioner Brett Yormark said on Wednesday in his first press conference in his new role, that he is “not against” Texas and Oklahoma leaving early, if it’s beneficial to the Big 12 Conference.
For Bedlam itself, Oklahoma has dominated the rivalry, with a 90-19-7 advantage. The two programs first met in football in 1904 and have played each other 116 times. The Cowboys won last season’s match up and advanced to the Big 12 Championship Game, which they lost to Baylor. The longest winning streak in the rivalry is 19 from Oklahoma from 1946 to 1964.
The two teams will meet this season on November 22nd in Norman.
