There is finality in the 2023 college football season, an end to classic rivalries like the Bedlam matchup pitting Oklahoma State and Oklahoma.
Cowboys coach Mike Gundy isn’t taking the blame for the curtain falling on the traditional date with the Sooners, who are exiting the conference along with Texas following the 2023 season.
“I’m very traditionalist when it comes to conference rivalry games and such,” Gundy said at Big 12 media days Wednesday, noting the last OSU-OU game was this season. “The Bedlam game is over because Oklahoma chose to leave the Big 12, period. It’s got nothing to do with Oklahoma State. Do I like that? No. Do I like that conferences have broken up in the past? No, I don’t.”
Oklahoma State went 7-6 last season and 4-5 in conference play. The rival Sooners were 6-7 with a 3-6 Big 12 record.
Gundy shot down questions angled at Oklahoma State renewing the annual game with Oklahoma down the road.
“Oklahoma State is not going to change what we do because Oklahoma chose to go to the SEC. They need to change what they do because they’re the ones that made their mind up to go to the SEC,” he said. “So with all the talk from administration and people saying that Oklahoma State needs to do this and that, all Oklahoma had to do was not go to the SEC. So it is what it is. We can cut right to the chase.”
Neither Oklahoma-based program is picked to win the conference in the preseason media poll topped by Texas, a standing not necessarily endorsed by the ever-opinionated Gundy.
“It depends what we’re basing that on. Are we basing that on history? Are we basing that on the last five years? Are we basing that on the last 50 years?” Gundy asked rhetorically. “I’m not sure how anybody really comes up with who’s a favorite right now. I’m going to go back to what I said earlier. I think one of the fun things about the Big 12 is we don’t really know who’s going to win based on what’s happening in the last few years.”
–Field Level Media