Bedlam Series
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Oklahoma Sooners
Oklahoma State Cowboys
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First meeting | 1900 (track and field) 1904 (football) |
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The Bedlam Series is the name given to the Oklahoma–Oklahoma State rivalry.[1][2] It refers to the athletics rivalry between Oklahoma State University Cowboys and Cowgirls and the University of Oklahoma Sooners of the Big 12 Conference. Both schools were also members of the Big Eight Conference before the formation of the Big 12 Conference in 1996, and both were divisional rivals in the Big 12 South Division prior to 2011.
The Bedlam Series is, like most other intrastate rivalries, a rivalry that goes beyond one or two sports. Both schools also have rivalries with other schools, though most of those rivalries are limited to one or two sports at the most. The rivalry is all the more intense since their games often decide the conference championship.
While the football and basketball games stand today as the marquee events in the Bedlam Series, the term "Bedlam" actually began with the rivalry between the schools' prestigious wrestling programs,[3] more particularly the raucous crowds that attended the matches held at Oklahoma State's Gallagher-Iba Arena.[4]
Football[]
Oklahoma State Cowboys
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First meeting | November 6, 1904 Oklahoma, 75–0 |
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Latest meeting | November 27, 2021 Oklahoma State, 37–33 |
Next meeting | November 19, 2022 |
Statistics | |
Meetings total | 116 |
All-time series | Oklahoma leads, 90–19–7[5] |
Largest victory | Oklahoma, 75–0 (1904) |
Longest win streak | Oklahoma, 19 (1946–1964) |
Current win streak | Oklahoma State, 1 (2021–present) |
The first Bedlam football game was held at Island Park, now known as Mineral Wells Park, in Guthrie, Oklahoma. It was a cold and very windy day, with temperatures well below the freezing mark. At one point during the game when the Oklahoma A&M Aggies were punting, the wind carried the ball backwards behind the kicker. If the Oklahoma A&M squad recovered the ball it would be a touchback, but if the University of Oklahoma squad recovered it, it would be a touchdown. The ball rolled down a hill into the half-frozen creek. Since a touchdown was at stake, members of both teams dove into the icy waters to recover the ball. A member of the OU team came out with the ball and downed it for a touchdown. OU won the game, 75–0.[6] The rivalry has been now been played without interruption since 1910.
In 2007, author Steve Budin, whose father was a New York bookie, publicized a claim that the 1954 Bedlam Game was fixed by mobsters in his book Bets, Drugs, and Rock & Roll (ISBN 1-60239-099-1).[7] Allegedly, the mobsters threatened and paid off a cook to slip laxatives into a soup consumed by many OU Sooner starting players, causing them to fall violently ill in the days leading up to the game. OU was victorious in the end, but the 14–0 win did not cover the 20-point spread in OU’s favor. However, many people involved in the 1954 contest do not recall any incident like the one purported by Budin to have occurred.[8] Nor do any pregame and postgame newspaper articles mention any such condition. One possible reason for the Sooners' lackluster performance, according to one coach, was that the players were "beat up" from the previous game against Nebraska.[9]
Game results[]
Oklahoma victories | Oklahoma State victories | Tie games |
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Men's basketball[]
Oklahoma owns the all-time series record in men's basketball, 140–102, and have won 22 of the last 36 meetings. The Sooners swept the Cowboys in 2018–2019, giving Oklahoma its seventh Bedlam sweep since 2006, including 2013–14, 2014–15 and 2015–16 regular season Bedlam series. Oklahoma State has swept twice, in the 2016–2017 season and the 2020—2021 season.[10]
Wrestling[]
Oklahoma State holds a lopsided advantage in the schools' wrestling rivalry, the original "Bedlam Series."[3][4] The Cowboys wrestling program currently holds a 146–27–10 record against the Sooners, which is all the more remarkable considering that both schools have long been national powers in wrestling. Oklahoma has won seven team national championships in its history, while Oklahoma State's wrestling program has a record thirty-four team national titles.[11] Oklahoma State has earned 143 individual NCAA titles and 473 All-American honors compared to Oklahoma’s 67 individual championships and 277 All-Americans.
See also[]
- List of NCAA college football rivalry games
- List of most-played college football series in NCAA Division I
References[]
- ^ World, Tulsa. "The Bedlam Series". Tulsa World. Retrieved October 13, 2018.
- ^ "Nobody really knows why OU-OSU is called 'Bedlam'". November 3, 2017. Retrieved October 13, 2018.
- ^ a b "Postscript: The Historic Field House" (PDF). Sooner Magazine. Summer 2011. p. 32.
- ^ a b "Facilities: Gallagher-Iba Arena (Oklahoma State Official Athletic Site)". Retrieved November 14, 2011.
- ^ a b "Winsipedia - Oklahoma Sooners vs. Oklahoma State Cowboys football series history". Winsipedia.
- ^ Long, Charles F. (September 1965). "With Optimism For the Morrow: A History of The University of Oklahoma". Sooner Magazine.
- ^ Budin, Steve with Schaller, Bob (2007). Bets, Drugs, and Rock & Roll: The Rise and Fall of the World's First Offshore Sports Gambling Empire. Skyhorse Publishing. ISBN 978-1-60239-099-7.CS1 maint: uses authors parameter (link)
- ^ "Book claims '54 Bedlam Game was fixed by mob". ESPN. September 30, 2007. Archived from the original on October 18, 2007. Retrieved October 2, 2007.
- ^ Meece, Volney (November 28, 1954). "Both Dressing Rooms Quiet After Sooners Edge Aggies". The Daily Oklahoman. p. D7.
- ^ "Okstate - Oklahoma Sooners vs. Oklahoma State Cowboys basketball series history". Okstate.
- ^ "History – Past Champions". NCAA. Archived from the original on November 17, 2006. Retrieved December 11, 2006.
External links[]
- Bedlam Series at OKState.com
- Bedlam Series at SoonerSports.com
- Voices of Oklahoma interview with Bob Barry Sr. First person interview conducted on March 31, 2011, with Bob Barry Sr. Original audio and transcript archived with Voices of Oklahoma oral history project.
- College sports rivalries in the United States
- College football rivalries in the United States
- Oklahoma Sooners
- Oklahoma State Cowboys and Cowgirls
- 1900 establishments in Oklahoma Territory