Oklahoma State football coach Mike Gundy knows how significant the program’s annual matchup with Oklahoma in the Bedlam Series really is.
However, the popular college football rivalry that dates back more than century is coming to an end, at least on the football front. And for Gundy, he is ready to face the reality involving the future of the matchup.
“Bedlam is history,” Gundy told reporters on Tuesday. “We all know that. We’ve known that, because OU chose to follow Texas and the money to the SEC.”
Oklahoma and Texas are set to join the Southeastern Conference by at least July 2025. In doing so, Oklahoma’s athletic director Joe Castiglione and Oklahoma State’s Chad Weiberg both told Action News Network on Tuesday that the iconic series will end when the Sooners make the conference switch.
While fans will likely relish the last couple of meetings between the two programs, Gundy is ready to move forward from what he feels are “childish” conversations about the future of the rivalry that are not going to change.
“…We're having what I think are childish discussions, in my opinion, over something that's done,” Gundy said, per ESPN. “And I would like to make this the last statement that I have because I have no hard feelings.
“But what’s going on now is almost a situation with a husband and a wife, or a girlfriend and a boyfriend when you know you’re dead wrong and you try to turn the table and make them think they're wrong, when Oklahoma State has no part in this.”
Oklahoma and Oklahoma State have played in 116 meetings that date back to 1904. The two teams will face off in Norman this season on Nov. 19.
Instead of harping over the series ending, Gundy said he’s ready to focus on the game being played on the field. “Everybody needs to get over it and move on,” Gundy said, per ESPN. “Let’s quit talking about it. Let’s talk about football.”
