Oklahoma football: Beware of being big favorite in Bedlam

Oklahoma football fans may like it best when the Las Vegas oddsmakers weigh heavily in their favor, history reveals that isn’t always a good omen, especially when it comes to rivalry games.

The Sooners have dominated the Bedlam Series rivalry with Oklahoma State (87 wins, 18 losses and 7 ties), and the wins have often come with an abundance of wide-open scoring and scoring margins favoring the Crimson and Cream. Oklahoma has won 14 of the 18 games played since 2000 between these two longtime in-state rivals, and over one stretch (1946-1964) won 19 consecutive times.

Las Vegas has the Sooners as a 17 1/2-point home favorite on Saturday in the 113th renewal of Bedlam football matching Oklahoma and Oklahoma State. While such a point spread would seem to indicate a statistical mismatch, it  also can serve as added motivation for a disgruntled and hungry underdog.

Oklahoma City Oklahoman sports columnist Berry Tramel points out that the Sooners have been at least 17-point favorites in this game four other times this century, but came out on top just twice in those games and almost lost a third time.

The most recent turnabout occurred in the 2014 game, the next to the last time Oklahoma State visited Norman. The Sooners never trailed in regulation in this game but squandered a 14-point third-quarter lead. This contest will forever be remembered for Bob Stoops’ questionable decision to re-kick after accepting a roughing the punter penalty.

Oklahoma State’s Tyreek Hill (yes, one and the same that now plays for the Kansas City Chiefs in the NFL) made a fair catch at the OSU 15-yard line on the initial punt, which would have left the Cowboys 95 yards away from the end zone with under a minute to play, trailing by seven points.

On the re-kick, however, Hill again fielded the punt, this time at his own eight-yard line, and this time he took off down the left sideline. Anyone who has seen the lightning-fast Hill run knows there are very few football players, if any, college or pro, who can match his electrifying speed. No one hardly touched him on this occasion as he raced his way to the OU end zone. In what seemed like a flash, the Cowboys had pulled even with the heavily favored Sooners, 35-35, with under a minute remaining in regulation.

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OU seemed to lose its fight after Hill’s game-changing touchdown run and lost to OSU in overtime, 38-35. Oklahoma was a 19 1/2-point favorite coming into the 2014 Bedlam game.

In the Sooners’ 2000 national championship season, they went on the road to face Oklahoma State in Stillwater, and the Sooners were established as 25 1/2-point favorites. OU had scored no fewer than 31 points in nine games already that season, but the visitors managed just 12 points against the home Cowboys and barely escaped a huge upset, winning 12-7.

The following season, in 2001, Oklahoma again was in national championship contention, with one game remaining in the regular season. Sitting at 10-1 and No. 4 in the country, the Sooners were 27 1/2-point favorites over the visitors from Oklahoma State, who were struggling that season with a 3-7 record.

The Oklahoma State defense rose to the occasion against the reigning national champions, holding the Sooners to just 10 points in the first half and allowing only three more the rest of the game. Oklahoma was able to muster just 220 yards of offense in the game against an especially stingy Cowboys defense.

A fourth-quarter field goal brought OSU within four of the Sooners at 13-9, and with only 1:36 to go in the game, a pass by Cowboy quarterback Josh Field alluded the outstretched hands of Sooner defensive back Derrick Strait and found the waiting arms of OSU’s Rashaun Woods in the back corner of the end zone for the go-ahead score. Ironically, Strait had knocked down a fourth-down pass in the end zone to preserve the Oklahoma victory over the Cowboys the previous season.

The 16-13 upset not only knocked Oklahoma out of the national championship picture that season, but also prevented the Sooners from defending their Big 12 championship from the year before.

If these snapshots in time aren’t enough of a reality check for Sooner fans and a  reminder of what can happen on any given day in college football, I’m not sure there is anything else to be said. Every game is important at this time of the season, even if they don’t seem that important.