Oklahoma State HC Mike Gundy Suggests Playing Bedlam in Spring Game
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Bedlam football is off the schedule, but there is another way to get the two teams on the same field.
On Tuesday, Oklahoma State held its first practice of spring football. After a 3-9 season, the Cowboys’ roster and staff have changed dramatically, and the team can begin to put the pieces together for the 2025 season.
Along with the weeks of spring practice that allow the coaches and players to better understand the team, fans will get a look at the Cowboys in the spring for the first time in a few years. Currently, OSU is scheduled to host its spring finale, which is essentially an open practice and meet and greet for the fans in Boone Pickens Stadium, on April 19. Considering the changing landscape of college football, OSU coach Mike Gundy suggested another option.
Gundy said the Cowboys should entertain a Bedlam spring game. Of course, Oklahoma would have to agree, but the concept is far from insane, as some teams have canceled their spring games, and others have scheduled other teams to join them.
“[We should] play a home and home in the spring against them,” Gundy said. “Charge $25 a head. They can use it for NIL. We’ll use it for NIL. If they don’t want to do two in one spring, we can do one here this year, one there next year and split the gate.”
OSU won the final scheduled Bedlam matchup in 2023 during the Sooners’ final season in the Big 12. With the two no longer being conference rivals, the future of the Bedlam series has found life in almost every sport besides football.
Neither side has been willing to budge on nonconference scheduling, and there seems to be no urgency to get the rivalry back on the field any time in the near future. Those problems that arise with getting a game on the official schedule could be even more reason for both sides to get in on the action in the spring.
Considering how passionate football fans in Oklahoma are about their teams, any taste of Bedlam, even in a spring scrimmage, would be a welcome sight.
Ivan is a sports media student at Oklahoma State University. He has covered OSU athletics since 2022 and also covers the OKC Thunder for Inside The Thunder and Thunderous Intentions.