Football is back in the state of Oklahoma (sort of), and maybe Bedlam could return, too (sort of).
The Oklahoma Sooners kicked off spring football almost three weeks ago. Their Bedlam rival, the Oklahoma State Cowboys, just started spring ball on Tuesday.
Although spring practices are in full swing, neither program will host a real spring game this year. OU, instead, will debut the Crimson Combine on April 12, when the annual spring game was originally scheduled for. OSU will host basically an open practice at Boone Pickens Stadium on April 19, a week after OU's event.
Canceling spring games has become the latest trend throughout college football, not just in Oklahoma. The reasons vary from programs trying to steal talent during the April transfer window, to smaller roster sizes and injuries.
As he usually does, Colorado coach Deion Sanders is trying to start a new trend and have his Buffaloes play Syracuse for a spring game like NFL teams do during the preseason, including joint practices. NCAA rules won't allow programs to play or practice with other teams during the spring, though, so Colorado and Syracuse filed a waiver to try to make Sanders' idea a reality. The NCAA Division I FBS Oversight Committee will reportedly meet on April 10 to possibly grant that waiver.
Most, from fans, to coaches, including Mike Gundy, have praised Sanders' scheme. Gundy, known for trying to fix college football himself, was asked after OSU's practice about the idea and brainstormed even more, claiming he had thought of the idea before in the past.
"I mean, honestly for us, we should do a home-and-home with OU in the spring," Gundy said. "... So they should come here on (April 19), and I think theirs is earlier in the year -- we should go down there and play a home-and-home in the spring against them. Charge 25 bucks a head. They can use it for NIL, we'll use it for NIL. If they don't want to do two in one spring, we can do one here this year, do it there next year, spilt the gate.
"Because we get tired of practicing against each other. It's not going to be a live game. I don't know what Coach (Brent) Venables would say, but I would be concerned about making it live just because of injuries. But nobody really has live scrimmages anymore, so you make it a full thud like we're doing and practice against them just like they do in the NFL. Why not do that?
Venable's biggest reason for canceling OU's spring game was roster size between new roster limits and injuries. However, with a traditional spring game, a program has to field two complete teams. When going against a different team, though, a program has to put just one team out there while being able to cycle through backups and newcomers.
Bedlam football essentially died after 2023 with the Sooners heading to the SEC and OSU staying in the Big 12. The schools still competed in other sports during this academic year but not football, which seems unlikely anytime soon because nonconference games are scheduled so far in advance nowadays in college football.
Gundy's scheme, though, would give fans at least a taste of two things the new age of college football has ripped away from them: a rivalry and spring game. The event definitely wouldn't fill the entire void, but in a world that now only seems to take from fans, this could finally be some give.
“I made a C in political science, and I certainly don’t have a law degree, but I don’t know if you can file a waiver or whatever,” Gundy said. “I don’t know if Coach Venables would be willing to do it. I haven’t talked to him about it, but I just thought about it. I think it’d be a great idea. I don’t know what do y’all think? I mean, I bet the fans would like it. Go pay 25 bucks. Go down and watch OU and OSU practice against each other. Go 7-on-7. Go inside, do 35, 40 minutes of a team drill. Do individual against each other, one on ones. It’d be like ‘Stripes.’ Like you said, you got, what, a six-day-a-week program here, you know. So, I think it’s a good idea.”
Here's video of Gundy's full answer:
Mike Gundy floats the idea of a Bedlam practice/scrimmage #okstate pic.twitter.com/edLVRYWcRX
— Jeremie Poplin (@jeremiepoplin) March 25, 2025