Why Bedlam Football's Return is More Important for Oklahoma Than Oklahoma State

Bedlam isn’t on the football schedule for the foreseeable future, and it might hurt one team much more than the other.

Over the next few seasons, fall in Oklahoma will continue to look much different than it has for the past century. Oklahoma State and Oklahoma’s annual matchup has been put on hold after the Sooners’ move to the SEC, and its renewal doesn’t appear likely anytime soon.

With both teams’ nonconference schedules booked up for the next several years, there is little opportunity for the rivals to match up. Aside from an unlikely postseason matchup or Mike Gundy’s spring game idea coming to life, Bedlam will exist in other sports only.

Of course, the general consequences are simple. Neither team has its biggest rival coming to campus every other year and fans miss out on one of the most special weekends of the year.

However, as both teams look to make their marks in their respective conferences, there are other consequences as well. While Bedlam had been a conference matchup for quite some time, it leaves both teams without one of their premier opponents each season, considering both programs have had immense success in recent history.

For OSU, the lack of Bedlam hurts because it takes away the rivalry, but it doesn’t necessarily take away a premier matchup. The Cowboys are still playing nine conference games and have top-tier opponents such as Oregon or Alabama on the slate moving forward. 

Meanwhile, the Sooners are in a different spot. The Cowboys’ missing out on Bedlam, a game that they often lost, doesn’t hurt their playoff chances. However, the Sooners could use an extra win over a Big 12 opponent in a game with some extra juice to bolster their playoff chances.

After dominating the Big 12 for much of the past decade, the Sooners immediately became a middle-of-the-pack team in the SEC. With so many great teams in the conference, standing out is difficult outside of a 10-plus-win regular season.

Overall, OSU misses Bedlam because of the special event it is each year, but the Sooners will continue to miss the matchup because of the negative impact it can have on their playoff chances.