All Sooners

Mike Gundy Says Bedlam Rivalry is Diminished, But OU's Isaiah Coe Says 'I Do Not Like Them'

Gundy says his rivalry with Brian Bosworth could potentially become ugly in the offseason, but the Sooners' defensive tackle says players today aren't exactly buddies.
John E. Hoover|
Mike Gundy Says Bedlam Rivalry is Diminished, But OU's Isaiah Coe Says 'I Do Not Like Them'
Mike Gundy Says Bedlam Rivalry is Diminished, But OU's Isaiah Coe Says 'I Do Not Like Them'

In this story:

Oklahoma Sooners

NORMAN — So what if the quarterbacks sometimes hang out nowadays?

So what if the players meet up for shared commercial endorsements?

Does that diminish the intensity of the Bedlam football rivalry?

Oklahoma State coach Mike Gundy, whose Cowboys host No. 10-ranked Oklahoma this Saturday in Stillwater, certainly believes so.

Gundy on Monday recounted another story of his days playing for the Cowboys in the late 1980s against famed Sooners linebacker Brian Bosworth.

“It was a rivalry then,” Gundy said. “Now, it’s not as much any more unfortunately because of the way it is. But it’s a very important game. I don’t want to push past that.”

Gundy’s perspective that the rivalry somehow isn’t as intense as it was “back in the day” doesn’t fly with everyone, though.

“I do not like them,” said OU defensive tackle Isaiah Coe. “Last time we played them obviously was at home. They were the quote-unquote ‘better team’ and we all know how that went (OU led 28-0 in the first quarter last year and won 28-13). Last time I played them two years ago, we were up by like eight, 12? Somewhere around that range, and came back and lost (37-33).”

The Cowboys (6-2, 4-1 Big 12) and Sooners (7-1, 4-1) meet at 2:30 p.m. Saturday inside Boone Pickens Stadium. Argue about the definition of the word “rivalry” all you want — OU has dominated the all-time series 91-19-7, so it’s been more lopsided than any other in-state rivalry in college football history — but it’s always entertaining, and it’s always intense.

Gundy said the Bedlam series has become more for the fans than it is for the players. There have been recent examples of players hanging out together — Baker Mayfield and Mason Rudolph, for example — or doing commercial endorsements together — Drake Stoops and Kendal Daniels, Jalen Redmond and Brock Martin — but when the players meet on the field, there stakes are high.

And they may be higher than ever this year.

“Obviously this being the last one and all that, it’s good for the fans,” Coe said, “but I’m trying to win this game. I don’t like them. I’m pretty sure they don’t like us. But I’m just trying to win this game. It’s pretty much simple.”

Gundy said hating Oklahoma (and being hated by the Sooners) in the ‘80s “didn’t bother me because we didn’t have phones and we didn’t have social media. But it was a rivalry then. Like, Bosworth spit in my face. I spit in his face. It was actually a rivalry.

“Like, the summer before my sophomore year, I would go to parties in Oklahoma City, and they would say, like, ‘Well, Bosworth and (Paul) Migliazzo and some of those guys were here.’ And so I had to make a decision there whether — were we gonna have confrontation there? And who was with me?

“Because I’m not gonna, you know, those guys, I can kick ‘em in the shin and run like hell, but I’m not dumb. So we had to make those decisions. Because what kind of frame of mind was Brian gonna be in at that point? I don’t know. Had he taken a vitamin C and had a few drinks? Well, he might not be a guy you want to talk to at that point. You know, he’d get real red across his face.”

Published
John E. Hoover
JOHN E. HOOVER

John is an award-winning journalist whose work spans five decades in Oklahoma, with multiple state, regional and national awards as a sportswriter at various newspapers. During his newspaper career, John covered the Dallas Cowboys, the Kansas City Chiefs, the Oklahoma Sooners, the Oklahoma State Cowboys, the Arkansas Razorbacks and much more. In 2016, John changed careers, migrating into radio and launching a YouTube channel, and has built a successful independent media company, DanCam Media. From there, John has written under the banners of Sporting News, Sports Illustrated, Fan Nation and a handful of local and national magazines while hosting daily sports talk radio shows in Oklahoma City, Tulsa and statewide. John has also spoken on Capitol Hill in Oklahoma City in a successful effort to put more certified athletic trainers in Oklahoma public high schools. Among the dozens of awards he has won, John most cherishes his national "Beat Writer of the Year" from the Associated Press Sports Editors, Oklahoma's "Best Sports Column" from the Society of Professional Journalists, and Two "Excellence in Sports Medicine Reporting" Awards from the National Athletic Trainers Association. John holds a bachelor's degree in Mass Communications from East Central University in Ada, OK. Born and raised in North Pole, Alaska, John played football and wrote for the school paper at Ada High School in Ada, OK. He enjoys books, movies and travel, and lives in Broken Arrow, OK, with his wife and two kids.

Share on XFollow johnehoover
Home/Football