One thing that I have come to appreciate since moving to Oklahoma is the intensity of the football rivalry between the Oklahoma State Cowboys and the Oklahoma Sooners. The intensity of the rivalry actually surprised me a little. Even though I had been reared by a dyedin-the-wool Sooner fan (my Dad), I was not familiar with the term Bedlam. I knew that OU vs. Texas was a big game played every year in the Cotton Bowl--that was the game my Dad marked on the calendar. I knew that he really wanted OU to beat their in-state rival, but then he wanted the Sooners to win over every one they played.

So when I became an Oklahoman, I started to become familiarized with what is at stake each year when teams representing the two schools meet on the gridiron. I have close friends on each side of the equation and I can see the fun they have in bantering back and forth with supporters of the other team. For some it isn’t really fun. It is serious stuff.

Anyway, after experiencing a bit of this banter recently, I had the urge to familiarize myself even more with the rivalry. What is its history and what are some of the most memorable moments that have taken place during that history?

One of the first things I noted of interest is that the term “Bedlam” was first applied to the raucous crowds that attended wrestling competitions between the two schools. The Cowboys have dominated the wrestling scene in Oklahoma in recent years, but there was a time when OU was almost the equal of its intrastate rival. Wrestling indeed is a sport that, while not unique to Oklahoma, certainly has a lot of history here.

After the term “Bedlam” was applied to the wrestling events, it quickly spread to the other sporting competitions. Anytime OU and OSU do battle now, regardless of the sport, the term is applicable.

Concentrating on the history of the football matchup, I see that the first game between the two schools was played on Nov. 6, 1904, in of all places, Guthrie. I guess it was thought that Guthrie would be relatively midway between Norman and Stillwater. The Sooners won that game 75-0, which still today is the largest score margin in Bedlam history and the highest total of points either team has scored in a game. The Cowboy-Sooner rivalry is the fourth longest continuously played rivalry between Football Bowl Subdivision teams. The two teams have played every year since 1910.

An interesting tidbit from the game in Guthrie--It was played in what is known today as Mineral Wells Park on a cold and very windy day. At one point during the game, when the Aggies were punting, the wind carried the ball backwards behind the kicker. If the Sooners recovered the ball, it would be a touchdown, but if A&M recovered, it would be a touchback. There was lots at stake on the play and the ball rolled down a hill into a half-frozen creek. Players from both sides dived into the water to try to get the ball, and an OU player came up with it giving his side a touchdown.

The first year was the only time the game was not played at either school, except for five years between 1915 and 1919, when it was played in Oklahoma City. Oklahoma dominated the early games winning the first 11 and 15 of the first 16. Oklahoma A&M did not score in the first eight games and had only 35 points total in the first 16 games.

Overall, the Sooners have won 90 of the 114 games that the two schools have played. There have been some long streaks in the series. Under Coach Bud Wilkinson there was a streak of 19 consecutive games OU won. Barry Switzer’s Sooner teams won 15 in a row. OU has won 16 of the last 20 games.

The games I remember my Dad listening to on our dining room radio up in Kansas were during the Wilkinson era. So I can see maybe why he didn’t regard Oklahoma A&M (as OSU was known back then) as an intense rival. Another reason may have been that the two were in different conferences then. The Cowboys were part of the Missouri Valley Conference, which included schools like Tulsa, Wichita, Drake and Houston, while the Sooners participated in the Big 7 Conference with the two Kansas schools, Missouri, Colorado, Iowa State and Nebraska. The Bedlam game outcome didn’t have any effect on the conference races.

I do remember a couple of games back in my childhood where Dad was sweating out the outcome. Referring to the history of the game, I see that the 1954 contest was played in Stillwater and won by OU 14-0. That would have been about the time of my recollection. When the Sooners were losing, my Dad would pace the floor and I remember lots of walking on what must have been that occasion. The rest of the scores in that stretch of time (1950s) were mostly like 53-7, 50-0, etc.

In a listing someone had put together of notable Bedlam games, most have come since 2000, equivalent to the years I have been in the state.

The first year I was here, OSU won 16-13. The Cowboys were 3-7 coming into the game and OU, the reigning national champion, was 10-1. Les Miles was the Cowboy coach and Josh Fields, a freshman from Stillwater, was the OSU quarterback. With 1:36 to play in the game and trailing 13-9, Fields threw a pass to Rashaun Woods, who hauled it in for the game winning score. Woods, by the way, is the current Enid High School coach.

The 2017 game was a scoring frenzy. The Sooners eventually won 62-52. The two quarterbacks, Mason Rudolph of OSU and Baker Mayfield of OU would go on to be NFL starters. Mayfield finished with 598 passing yards and Rudolph had 448. Oklahoma’s Marquise Brown caught nine passes for a school record 265 yards. I remember that the game went on forever, and what I read recently confirms that memory--the elapsed time was 4 hours and 16 minutes.

Another that I remember was the 2014 game that OSU won 38-35. The Sooners led by a touchdown with 70 seconds left to play. On fourth and long, the Sooners punted to Tyreek Hill who called for a fair catch at his own 15-yard line. But OSU was penalized for running into the punter and penalized five yards. OU punted again to Hill, who didn’t signal for a fair catch, taking the ball at the eight and running 92 yards for a game tying touchdown. In overtime, the Cowboys kicked a field goal to win. That ending was true Bedlam.

I’ve heard folks talk about the 1985 “Ice Bowl” when the field in Stillwater was covered by ice and the game was played in subzero wind chill. The person telling me about this game was in the stands, or at least claimed to be. It was an especially long day for my friend as OU won 13-0. The Sooners went on to win the national championship that year.

In 1969, I was living in Illinois, but watched the game on TV, or at least saw a clip from the game on sports news, but Oklahoma won that game 28-27. Steve Owens had a big day carrying the ball 55 times for 261 yards. But the game came down to a late two-point conversion try by OSU that went awry giving Oklahoma a 28-27 victory. OU’s Albert Quall’s sacked OSU quarterback Bob Cuthburt on the nervy two-point try to give his team the win.

There have been other memorable games, especially in the last 20 years. But regardless of the outcome, I have come to learn that Bedlam football is a big deal in this state.