Ask the Editor

We have a great question for Susan T. in Norman.

Q – Bedlam…How long will it take for OU and OSU to schedule Bedlam again and should it be played in a neutral location? If so, where?

Hunter Sheppard

If anything, they will get OU and OSU in a bowl game if possible, possibly a New Year’s 6 bowl. Now if they play the game home and home they could possibly play on a neutral field like AT&T Stadium, but home and home is a better environment.

Brad Heath

There is too much money on the table not to get these two teams together. The driving force is the money. Not tradition, not rankings, not what’s best for the fans. It’s money. Looking at it from a fan’s perspective they do make a solid non-conference opponent for each other, but who has more to lose scheduling a rival game at the beginning of the season? You can still do a home-and-home situation, but a neutral field would be interesting and I’m sure Uncle Jerry would not have a problem hosting.

Payton Moody

After all the hype this year of it being the “Last Bedlam Ever” and OU moving to the SEC next year, I feel like it will be years before they schedule another matchup. As an Oklahoma Sooner, I don’t think it should be played in a neutral location. That’s the best part of the so-called “rivalry.” Though it may not have worked out in OU’s favor this year, it’s always fun going to Boone Pickens and leaving Stillwater as winners.

Chris Cox

I’m not sure when Bedlam will be played again but I think we know when the next game will be within five years. With realignment, unfortunately rivalries go dormant. Texas and A&M haven’t played since 2011. KU-Mizzou haven’t played the Border War since 2011. OU and Nebraska went 11 years without playing. Rivalries never die but they definitely pause. But with fewer major conferences, and an emphasis on playing other Power Five schools, it just makes sense for this rivalry to resume. It might take new leadership to get Bedlam going again but I think we know the next dates for Bedlam by the end of 2028.

As far as the location, you must keep it on campus. It’s too unique of an environment to not play it in Norman or Stillwater. Also, if you want a neutral site, where are you going? OKC doesn’t have a logical place to play it. Neither does Tulsa. This game must stay on campus for the environment but also because there aren’t really any options for a neutral site.

Bill Huddleston

I’ll begin this by saying that I proudly wear “America’s Brightest Orange” as I cheer for the Cowboys. However, I’ll always be on the Sooners sideline whenever they play anyone else other than the Cowboys.

Despite what some may claim…this is a series and not a rivalry…then explain why whenever one team or the other loses, social media boils over with opinions from the fans of the team who came up short on the scoreboard. And, while ticket sales apparently don’t matter to either school, it’s my opinion that the BEDLAM RIVALRY should be continued on a yearly basis. With the new conference realignments, OU and OSU will have opportunity for non-conference games…why not make it an annual matchup that draws the interest of every major college football fan in Oklahoma. To think that future matchups between OSU and OU would rest on the rare opportunity of a bowl game matchup, is in my opinion a mistake.  Stop the ego trips…and yes, I know there are two sides of this coin as to which school, or both don’t believe that they need such a rivalry matchup so they can beat their chests with self-pride, I ask why not? Are the Cowboys or Sooners fearful that a loss to their in-state opponent would hurt their position in the national rankings? Pish-posh…revenues should bolster the need to keep this matchup as a yearly battle. I know all about the series records…who cares when the Cowboys and Sooners collide on the gridiron…my gosh, there are families (such as mine) where it’s a house divided atmosphere. Sooner fans feel they’re superior to Cowboy fans, while Pokes fans will say bring it on…in football as well as any other sport.

And there’s absolutely no need for a neutral site since there’s no other facility in Oklahoma that can field such a big crowd, and I for one don’t want to take revenues out of Norman and Stillwater just to go to somewhere like Jerry’s World to maintain the rivalry/series matchup.

To quote the line from the movie “Bad News Bears”…LET THEM PLAY, LET THEM PLAY…every year no matter what conference the Cowboys and Sooners are aligned.

And given that OSU, for now, WON the last Bedlam Rivalry matchup, wouldn’t OU fans prefer to strip OSU of that claim?

GO POKES! Good Luck Sooners as you move into the SEC. If we can’t make it work every year, then I hope to see the Cowboys and Sooners play next year in a bowl game because there probably won’t be a rematch this year in the Big XII championship.

Aaron Kauk

The question of the next regular season Bedlam game is one that can be tricky if the schools allow it to be, but as we saw with scheduling during Covid, it’s not as hard as the AD’s had us all believing pre2020. If the schools want it to go on, it will. I don’t believe there’s much of an appetite on either side for it to continue right now. I think both schools are excited about blazing a new trail without the other being right alongside. They both have their non-conference schedules full through the mid 2030s. Neither can be completely sure about how things look going forward until they get a decade or so to experience the new conferences. The expansion of the playoff from 4 to 12 makes the game a lot more feasible to play in the future. I’ll guess the next time we see a regular season Bedlam game will be 2039 in Stillwater followed by the return trip to Norman in 2040. Home and home is the only way to go with these two Bedlam foes. Here’s hoping we get a handful of Bedlam playoff games in between. Can you imagine the atmosphere in Stillwater or Norman for a home Bedlam playoff game? How about a Bedlam semifinal in Jerry World? Hopefully we get a preview of the latter in the final Big 12 Title game with both teams in this conference on December 2nd.