When the Oklahoma Sooners departed the Big 12 Conference for the SEC, they left their longtime rivals, the Oklahoma State Cowboys, behind. The Bedlam matchup between the two football programs was no more, a casualty of conference realignment.
Though Bedlam is still being played in other sports, the two schools have been unable to see eye to eye on when it can get back on the football schedule. However, with the changing landscape in college football, Oklahoma State head coach Mike Gundy, of all people, has an idea that just might bring Bedlam back, though not in the way many had hoped.
With college football’s new world of name, image, and likeness, revenue sharing, the transfer portal, and the expanded College Football Playoff, many teams began canceling their spring games. Oklahoma was one of those teams, choosing to roll out the “Crimson Combine” on April 12th instead. It’s an event that won’t be televised and will allow fans to see players doing drills similar to those at the NFL Scouting Combine.
Many programs, including Nebraska, USC, Ohio State, and Texas, have also canceled spring games. Nebraska head coach Matt Rhule is one of the strongest voices against spring games in this new era. He and other coaches believe it’s only an opportunity for their players to get poached by other schools or injured.
On the other hand, coaches like South Carolina’s Shane Beamer have been outspoken in favor of continuing the tradition, or even implementing some form of a preseason. Colorado’s Deion Sanders has said he’d like to scrimmage another team, with Syracuse and Fran Brown quickly volunteering.
Of course anything of that sort would require a rule change by the NCAA, and as of now, teams have the choice of an spring game the old-fashioned way, or no spring game at all. Sanders and Brown are currently seeking permission from the NCAA to hold joint practices, like the NFL does in the preseason, and a spring scrimmage.
But Sanders’ idea is where Gundy comes in. Gundy would be in favor of a home-and-home spring scrimmage with the Sooners in lieu of canceled or traditional spring games.
“Honestly for us, we should do a home-and-home with OU in the spring,” Gundy said. “They should come here on the 19th, and we should go down there and play a home-and-home in the spring with them. Charge 25 bucks a head. They can use it for NIL. We can use it for NIL. If they don’t want to do two in one year, we can do it here this year, do it there next year, and split the gate.”
Gundy is known for his off-the-rails press conferences, and this idea likely does not have much steam, but it’s certainly something that would give the football-starved people of Oklahoma something to look forward to in the long offseason months.
“We get tired of practicing against each other,” Gundy said. “It’s not gonna be a live game. I don’t know what Brent Venables would say, but I would be concerned with making it live because of injury. But nobody really has live scrimmages anymore, so you make it a full thud like we’re doing and practice against them, like they do in the NFL.”
Gundy also noted that he hasn’t reached out to Venables yet, but clearly, he’s not thinking about a full-speed scrimmage. He suggested some individual work, 7-on-7, drills for linemen, and a 30-minute period of team scrimmaging as part of the event. OSU has not had a spring game since 2022 due to stadium renovations, and the format has been altered in years past in Stillwater to make it more of a practice-style event.
“All of us as coaches are in fear of the portal,” Gundy said. “They fear potential tampering. They fear putting it on TV. They fear making a depth chart and their players getting upset and leaving. And then injury. So it makes sense to go down and scrimmage them. You would get a more competitive atmosphere. I would like to see our guys compete against them in the spring to see where we’re at.”
It sounds like Gundy’s proposal hasn’t made it to Norman yet and wouldn’t even be that much of a departure from the “Crimson Combine”. However, the thought of a small scrimmage is better than no game at all, and if Bedlam isn’t returning on the football field any time soon, Gundy’s idea may be the best we’ll get in that department, at least for a while.
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