No. 9 Oklahoma State will host No. 13 Oklahoma in Stillwater on Saturday for the 116th time in what is an enormous game not only for the Big 12 Championship Game race, but the College Football Playoff. Savor it, because the rivalry known as “Bedlam” might not be an annual game moving forward.
Oklahoma is officially set to join the SEC in 2025, but it’s possible (if not likely) that start date will be moved up, perhaps as soon as next year. Oklahoma and Oklahoma State would then be in two different conferences, and Cowboys coach Mike Gundy doesn’t think that the rivalry will continue once the Sooners head southeast.
“I don’t think it will (continue),” Gundy said, per the Tulsa World. “I just don’t think there’s a business side of it. I don’t make that decision. I guess [school president] Dr. [Kayse] Shrum and [athletic director] Chad Weiberg — they can do whatever they wanted. Or the board. I don’t know who’s involved in this.
“I don’t think it’s a realistic thing that’s going to happen based on the business side of Power 5 conference football,” said Gundy. “That’s just my opinion.”
There is still a glimmer of hope, though. The SEC has an eight-game conference schedule and a requirement that every school play a Power Five nonconference opponent every season. Four schools — South Carolina, Florida, Georgia and Kentucky — have nonconference games built into their schedules with in-state rivals from the ACC.
It’s unclear how the SEC and Big 12 will structure their schedule requirements once all of the realignment dominoes have fallen.
In the meantime, the Sooners and Cowboys will meet on Saturday as one-loss teams that are hanging around the periphery of the playoff race. If Oklahoma wins, the two teams will meet next week in the Big 12 title game in Arlington, Texas. If Oklahoma loses to Oklahoma State and Baylor falls to Texas Tech, it will also force a Bedlam rematch in Arlington.
