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I recall ND getting similar special treatment (at least at times) during the BCS and 4-team playoff eras.

I would have liked to have played ND in the first round for the variety, but at the same time, I think Bama was the right call...especially after seeing how ND has showed its arse after being "snubbed."

Who is healthy will play a big part for both teams.

Bedlam originated with wrestling, a sport in which both schools are blue bloods, but OSU is historically the best program in the country by far....dozens of NCs, I think.

I don't follow wrestling, but I believe OU (with Mizzou) still wrestles in the BIG 12, so Bedlam lives on as it was meant to be. Good for them.

As for football, Mike Gundy and T Boone made something of their program in the 2000s, and there were plenty of exciting games in the series after that. Oklahoma still won the vast majority, but several came down to wire.

But historically, it just wasn't that important for OU. OSU hated our guts, and we were aware of their existence. That's not to sound superior, but the programs were on very different levels.

Bedlam in any sport besides wrestling was manufactured for TV ratings--and I'm sure to try to build excitement within the fan bases. It always felt artificial to me.

And as mentioned above, when they began scheduling it at the end of the season to replace Nebraska, it felt gross. OU-NU mattered on the national stage for decades. Thanksgiving in Stillwater is not Thanksgiving in Lincoln by a far stretch.

I still hold out hope that Nebraska can get back to where they want to be, and we can bring back the non-conference rivalry every year. Conversely, I don't care if OU plays OSU twice a decade or never again.

What an incredible environment for a nighttime college football game. Huge respect to the Tennessee fans and that program, stadium crew and all involved. It's exactly what makes college football better than any other sport in the world.

That's a reasonable take as well. There are always what-ifs to wonder about.

The way both offenses were performing, we can guess that anything different might have helped. But Hawkins could have also had a turnover party of his own. It's happened before.

I agree that the clock management before the half was idiotic. As well as OU was moving the ball then...just so very stupid.

The spread has flipped to OU -1.5.

Don't know how much of that is Mateer's upgrade to probable or just the late money being different. I'd guess the former, but I'm not a bettor except for the rare small stuff between friends. So it's not much of an educated guess.

Curious to see where it lands at game time.

Helmets look great.

It appears you're right about the coaches. Most of the KSU fans were bitter because those coaches were "distracted" and allegedly working for OU when they should have been preparing for the game...which of course sounds like fan excuses as well. But I couldn't find anything about them not being there.

I wasn't just making it up though. That's what I've been told happened for years (by KSU fans...one in particular has been especially bitchy about OU stealing all the coaches and ruining their NC year), and the way Bob talked about it too, I just assumed it was all true. Evidently not. Stoops wasn't nearly as heartless as they made him out to be, which I'm glad to learn.

But I also wasn't trying to asterisk away your win. I truly have (or had) no preference who won that game. I have no affection or dislike for either school. I just thought it was an interesting story...a bullshite story, it seems, but I fell for it.

Yep. It's the non-P2 schools trying to level the playing field.

Or put another way, trying to commie a big chunk of the Big Ten and SEC's TV money for themselves.

That's awesome! I came along a little too late to take part in the best of craziness on Commerce the night before the game. But man, the stories...

Thousands of drunks from two groups who despised each other congregating in one spot...and getting drunker by the minute. What could possibly go wrong?

Overcrowded hospitals from the brawls that broke out and even the occasional death.

Hundreds of people paying their public intox fines and getting out of jail Saturday morning, just in time to get to the fairgrounds for the game.

Really wish I could have been there. :lol:

Thanks for sharing! I love CFB history and have heard or read many of these stories a lot over the years. But there were a few things that were new to me. Very cool!