The Oklahoma Sooners tried to bring Bedlam back to the football field, but apparently the Oklahoma State Cowboys wanted no part of it after already escaping the once annual rivalry.
Tulsa World reported on Wednesday that OU athletic director Joe Castiglione said he met with OSU a few months ago to try to reignite Bedlam as a nonconference game, but “OSU’s interest was minimal.”
Oklahoma State had 'minimal' interest in Sooners offer to restart Bedlam
Within this: #Sooners reached out to #OKState a few months ago about scheduling a nonconference football Bedlam, but OSU's interest was minimal. https://t.co/2jp0gAbwm4
— Mason Young (@Mason_Young_0) October 8, 2025
Bedlam football ended after the 2023 season when OU left the Big 12 for the SEC. Texas made the move with the Sooners, keeping the Red River Rivalry alive as an annual conference matchup with no end in sight.
Thanks to conference realignment, the Sooners no longer have annual rivalries with Nebraska and OSU. That’s what prompted Tulsa World’s Berry Tramel to talk to Castiglione about how that makes the Red River Rivalry more important than ever. OU and Texas will meet for the 121st time at 2:30 p.m. CT Saturday in Dallas.
The SEC recently announced a new scheduling format that not only implemented a nine-game conference slate, but also requires SEC teams to have at least one nonconference game against a Power Four team or Notre Dame. That move seemed to open the door for the Sooners to annually schedule OSU or Nebraska to not only check off a requirement, but also revive a beloved rivalry for fans. OU general manager Jim Nagy also said this summer that he believes OSU and Nebraska should be annual opponents for the Sooners.
If Castiglione did meet with OSU "a few months ago," though, then that means he likely wanted to put the Cowboys back on the schedule even before the SEC’s new rule, which wasn’t passed until late August. The updated schedule requirements could even strengthen OU’s desire to schedule Bedlam in the future.
The Sooners have nonconference games against Power Four opponents already on the docket until 2031. That includes hosting the Cornhuskers in 2029 before the Sooners travel to Nebraska in 2030, while also hosting Tulsa that year.
All the Cowboys have scheduled in 2031 is Tulsa, but they will host Arkansas in 2032 and have nonconference games already scheduled until 2035. However, if the College Football Playoff committee really does start emphasizing strength of schedule and the Cowboys plan to take things to a new level post-Mike Gundy, then another Power Four nonconference opponent annually could benefit OSU’s lackluster Big 12 schedule.
Without any reshuffling, and not even adding an extra Power Four opponent for OU, Bedlam could have returned as early as 2031, only eight years after the rivalry seemed to be dead for the foreseeable future.
It’s clear OU wants to bring Bedlam back to the state. Now it seems it’s just up to the Cowboys if they want to get back into a rivalry in which they trailed the all-time series 91-20-7.