Oklahoma Sooners athletic director Roger Denny signals a potential revival for the historic rivalry with Oklahoma State, provided a larger playoff field rewards the Sooners for tackling a demanding non-conference schedule
DESTIN, Fla. - University of Oklahoma athletics director Roger Denny has hinted at the return of Bedlam on one condition. At SEC Meetings on Wednesday, Denny said it is much more possible to happen if the College Football Playoff expands.
"It's huge for our state and our fans," said Denny, who took over as OU's AD on Feb. 15. "We've said pretty openly that's something we think is important to Oklahoma -- the state, not just the institution. So if we have a way to [play Oklahoma State] in a way that doesn't limit our opportunities [in the playoff], certainly that's something we'd want to look into."
The Bedlam Series came to an end in football in 2023, after the Sooners departed for the SEC. Then Oklahoma State head football coach Mike Gundy was not interested in keeping the series going while the two were in separate leagues.
When new Oklahoma State football head coach Eric Morris took over in Stillwater, one of the first things he expressed was an interest in renewing the rivalry.
There are a few complications that come with bringing back Bedlam, the biggest being scheduling. Both Oklahoma and Oklahoma now only play three non-conference games a year, and have a lot of their games scheduled out years in advance with hefty buyouts.
The other factor is how much it can benefit or hurt a team’s playoff chances to play a marquee non-conference game.
Ask Texas and they will tell you whether it is true or not, they believe that the only reason that they missed the CFP last year was because they played too tough of a schedule, suffering a week one loss to Ohio State.
Texas head coach Steve Sarkisian is on record saying many times that had the Longhorns played a cupcake team and went 10-2, instead of 9-3 with a loss to Ohio State, that they would’ve have made the College Football Playoff.
Now Denny did not endorse going to 16 or 24 teams, but did say that expanding the playoff where you wouldn’t be punished for playing tough non-conference games would be the path forward to bring Bedlam back.
"What we're seeing right now is a lot of difficulty in comparing strength of schedule, strength of record, things like that between the conferences," Denny said. "So for us to take one thing to lead to another, which is scheduling more difficult opponents, we've got to have trust that that's going to be reflected in the selection process. I think the CFP and that group are working really hard to make sure that they can build that trust, but that's got to be part of it, and so I wouldn't commit to it either way. We've got to know that that will be rewarded for doing that."
Denny added that as of right now, there are not any ongoing discussions between Oklahoma and Oklahoma State about bringing back Bedlam at this point in time.
SEC commissioner Greg Sankey is the only leader among the Power 4 conferences that wants the CFP to go to 16 teams, while Big 12 commissioner Brett Yormark recently endorsed going to a 16 team field.
The Sooners and Cowboys first began meeting in 1904, playing 118 matchups. Oklahoma has the better record by a wide margin in the football series, 91–20–7.
