via blog.newsok.com Remember if you misbehave at Bedlam Orie Lemon will have you removed.
This year marks the end for a lot of things. It marks the end of the Big 12. Well at least as we know it. It’s the last Bedlam game of the 00’s. God it was way easier to just say nineties. Most importantly of all this year marks the end of the Sooner 7 game win streak. OSU will beat the Sooner in Stillwater on Saturday as a sign of things to come. You Sooners love Barry Switzer so much; I’m here to tell you the man is a prophet, and "It's Coming". I’m going to take a brief look of how Bedlam has played out through the Decade. To say UO has been dominant is an understatement. Other than the sweet sweet icing in 01 and 02, the core is a nasty chocolate cake that was baked because no one knew the dog vomited in the mix. This turned out to be more of a Novel than a post so here is a heads up. This is a pretty long read, but well worth it. CLICK THE JUMP!!
2000
This is the Sooners "Good old days". Sooner families sit around and reminisce about this year around the fire at Christmas time. This year was the year of OU’s rise back to relevance. Somehow someway in just Stoop’s second year as head coach he had a team dominate everyone they played that season, every team that is but one. The Cowboys were 3-8 and pretty much a minor speed bump on OU’s path for the National Championship. Something happened though, and the Sooners were held in check only scoring 12 points (A season low for the Champs). Trailing 12-7 Oklahoma State had 4th in goal on the OU 7 yard line. A monster of a man Marcellus Rivers jumped up for Pogi’s lobbed pass but 5 foot 11 Derrick Straight broke up the pass. Call it a Sooner escape, but this game showed that in Bedlam anything can happen.
2001
Bedlam in 2001 was Oklahoma State’s moment. Cowboy families sit around and reminisce about this win around the fire every year at Christmas time. OSU was under a new head coach, a crazy son of a bitch named Les Miles. He could motivate a man with NO legs into thinking he could win a butt kicking contest, but as for managing a game I put more trust a fan from the stands. Mile’s first year had gone about as bad as expected the Pokes were 3-7 and a 27 point dog. Everyone had dismissed last year as a fluke and this year the game was in Norman were the Sooner boasted a 19-game home winning streak. Oklahoma had recovered from their lone loss to Nebraska and the smell of roses was in the air as the Sooners were projected to go on to play Miami in the Rose Bowl for the National Championship. Then an eire wind blew across Owen field, as both offenses struggled and were scoreless going into the 2nd quarter. An OSU field goal with 5 seconds cut the Sooner lead to 10-6.
The Pokes final possession came with 7 minutes left trailing 13-9. Josh Fields had replaced Pogi earlier and went on to lead the Cowboys on one of their most magical drives. Woods caught a 15 yarder at midfield, then the big one. Terrence Davis-Bryant makes a spectacular grab at the OU 14 yard line. Next came a play that will live in infamy. On first down Fields through a pass to the corner of the End Zone, once again the corner Derrick Straight was there, this time Woods out jumped him to grab the go ahead TD. The ensuing Sooner drive ended with a INT and the Pokes had done the impossible. Right up there with the 88 season this one will live on in the hearts of Cowboys fans forever. Ask any OSU fan what the significance of 16-13 is and he/she will tell you.
2002
This is a year that is really easy to sum up. "Rashaun Woods is still open" This OSU team wasn’t bad, it was the staple of mediocrity but once again a big underdog against the #3 Sooners who had the #9 defense in the nation. Fields and Woods shredded OU and were the first team to beat Bob Stoops without ever trailing. Woods racked up 226 receiving yards and 3 TDs, two came in the form of 41 and 60 yard bombs in which Woods beat Andre Woolfolk like he owed him money. Sooners put up some points, but when it looked like they might wage a comeback OSU put together a 7min drive sealing the win. I’ve seen some dominating performance by OSU receivers (Bowman, Bryant, and Blackmon) but never in my life have I seen a receiver running wild with no defenders even on the camera that many times. Rashaun Woods IS and will always BE "Open".
2003
This Bedlam was the beginning of what Avatar describes as "The Times of Sorrow". OSU was, as Woods described, "A Program on the rise". OSU lost a hard fought contest with a top 25 Nebraska team to open the season, but then went on a 7 game tear. OSU was once again an offensive juggernaut and for the first time since that game in 88 both teams were ranked going into Bedlam. This time everyone didn’t write off OSU and thought they were going to see a battle in what turned out to be a slaughter. This one can be summed up in Miles ill-conceived pregame comment "Let’er Rip". OU goes on to play LSU in the Sugar Bowl but comes up short.
2004
Never forget my freshman year at Oklahoma State. If I had known that this would be the last year OSU would be a top 25 football team and a top 5 basketball powerhouse I would have cherished it more. OSU started the season off on fire and going into Bedlam had only dropped one game on homecoming to A&M. That hail marry tipped pass just before half time will forever haunt me and was used extensively by our Intramural team as the play we always ran before half time. Anyways OU was still smashing everyone and once again undefeated and once again favored in Stillwater. At this point no one really knew what to expect, both teams were good but OU was clearly better. Bedlam was Bedlam and all you could do was sort it out on the field. I sat in the front row of the west end of the North side. At the time only the South side had been finished and the Sooners for some reason were seated next to the Student section in the bleachers that were in the North West corner of the stadium. So quite literally sat on the Front line of the Orange and Crimson spilt in what was an absolute war. Oh and there was a football game as well. Screaming, cursing, taunting, every time a team scored its fan base would politely make sure their opposition knew what had just happened. Back and forward they went, there was lead changes, OU special teams failures, and Adrian Peterson domination that eventually ended with OSU once again having the last possession trailing 35-38.
After a methodical drive I still remember first and 10 at the 40 yard line Woods streaking down field to catch a game winning TD pass and being absolutely tackled by the OU safety. I’m not a Nebraska fan blaming the refs for a loss just remembering how angry I was at the time. In all honesty though, I’m sure the refs didn’t realize this since we still had our safety in at QB at this point, his pass was most likely uncatchable anyway. The drive stalled out and Miles marched out his freshman kicker Jason Ricks for a 49 yard attempt. I had a better chance making this kick. Stoops iced him with what seemed like 8 consecutive timeouts. Seems you can pile these up when your QB isn’t calling them every other play because he doesn’t know what the hell is going on. Finally he steps into the kick and it up and… we are at the opposite side and nobody has any idea what happened. It was so close it looked good, some OSU fans were cheering some Sooners were cursing finally after 10 or 11 seconds go by the crappy speakers finally announce the kick was no good. That was a heart breaker, but we played them tough and it was one of the most fun Bedlam games I’ve ever been to. We did our best to save OU the embarrassment, but they go on to get absolutely rocked by USC in the national championship game.
2005
This was a year to forget. After Mile’s betrayal before the Bowl game in 04 OSU was taking by Mike Gundy. Little was known about how Gundy would pan out as a coach, but in 2005 he all but dismissed any talent on the team and claimed he was cleaning up the program. Our program is better for it, but man 2005 was just absolutely awful to the point you could look past Prentice Elliot beating up a cop. After only beating some team called Montana St 15-10 in which the Pokes trailed at half, the season was just a giant train wreck. I went to every game in my student season ticket pass however if not just to show I could support my team in the good and bad times. These however were the worst of times. Mostly it was just my roommate and I screaming at Donavan Woods for calling timeouts and throwing simple passes to the flats into the dirt. We always chanted for our favorite player Al Pena to come in and got really excited when the teams star player Matt Fodge came on to punt. Somehow OSU won a game they should not win, knocking off a ranked Tech team in Stillwater but then losing to Baylor the next week. I don’t remember that Bedlam game or if I even had the nerve to watch it. OU wins big in Norman goes on to win a nail biter of a Holiday bowl against the Oregon Ducks.
2006
Another fairly poor year for the Pokes another game in Stillwater and another Bedlam Brawl. At this point good old Bobby Reid was Quarter Backing for the Pokes and seemingly deciding every week what games he was going to show up for. To keep this short the Sooners where even more whiny than usually after the refs mucked up the Oregon game and other than not showing up again in Texas were unbeaten. Pokes were continuing their trend of mediocrity at 6-6 and once again went punch for punch with the mighty Sooners. As it is clearly stated in the ruled of Bedlam Oklahoma state must be granted a final drive that will decide any close games. Bobby Reid got hurt and at the time it was seen as upsetting the untested backup Zac Robinson had to come in. Of course like always the Pokes marched to the OU 25 yard line and had time for one single pass. Intended for D’juan Woods in the back of the endzone just a few hundred feet in front of me I watched the pass go just a bit too high and out of the back of the end zone. OSU goes on to beat an Alabama team on the brink of a comeback, and OU goes onto to get upset by some team called Boise St in the greatest bowl game ever played.
2007
2007 was the beginning of the Pokes rise to glory. Though it started with loses it Georgia and Troy, the Nebraska blow out was sprinkled in there along with "The Rant". I actually made it down to Norman for this one. We got the tickets from my Moms work so we were in the OU section. After an elderly couple next to us asked to see our tickets like they were policing Memorial stadium I was really hoping for a good showing. Things just didn’t play out for the Pokes and it wasn’t really ever a game. Adarius Bowman was hurt and Zac had an off game, the one positive was I think this was when we first saw THE Dez Bryant began to come alive. I watched the freshman make a freakish catch and literally carry a pack of SEVEN Sooners for 8 yards. OU wins big goes on to get destroyed by West Virginia in their second consecutive Fiesta Bowl. Pokes dismantle Indiana in the "Something" bowl.
2008
What a year. I’m trying my best to stay off tangents about beating #3 Missouri at their homecoming or playing #1 Texas to the final possession in Austin 2008 was quite a year, and quite a Bedlam. Both offenses were prolific coming into this game and didn’t disappoint. This one featured Dez Bryant’s unbelievable TD grabs, Sam Bradford flipping through the air and Perrish Cox returning a kick back for "90 yards of pure Bedlam" The Pokes just ran out of gas before the Sooners and fell 61-41 to the eventual National Championship losers.
2009
Everyone knows what could have been. Call it bad luck, call it an SI curse, call it Dez Bryant being stupid. 2009 was pretty disappointing. Though it was still a surprisingly a great season for the Pokes who took the words "Press On" on Zac’s eye black to heart. OSU had the better team this year, but this is Bedlam and the best team doesn’t always win. Gundy’s team and his play calling looked down right frightened to be in Norman and the Pokes never had a chance. Zac was hurt and you cant blame Gundy for not knowing he had a potential All American on the bench but you can blame him for his lack luster gutless game plan causing a below average UO team to shut out the Cowboys in Norman. Gundy was "A Man" and gave up the reigns of his offense to a weirder gentleman that I’m pretty sure is legally married to the game of football. Sooners go on to win the "Consolation" bowl, OSU loses the "I still can’t believe they missed that off sides call" Bowl.
Here we are. This year is the closest these teams have been to each other. 2008 featured two great teams, but State still lacked anything that resembled a defense. This year features two great offenses and two fair defenses and should have a lot of scoring. I’m not going to go in depth since we will save that for a later post, but I will say that this is what all of this had been building towards. It’s the final chapter of this era and next year begins a new conference in which a lot of things are going to be different. The LOSING stops on Saturday. As I said earlier this season is the end of the decade, the end of the Big 12, and the end of OU being the best Football team in the state of Oklahoma.