Gundy Suggests Home-and-Home Bedlam Scrimmages in the Spring

STILLWATER — Mike Gundy was ahead of the curve when it came to veering from the traditional spring game. His latest idea on the matter: Bedlam.

Oklahoma State had its first spring practice on Tuesday, where Gundy met with reporters beforehand to give updates on his program. Spring games got brought up with how many programs are moving away from them or at least reimagining them. Years ago Gundy moved from a traditional spring scrimmage to an open practice. Then the past two years, OSU didn’t hold a spring game/open practice because of construction going on at Boone Pickens Stadium.

But now he has a new idea.

“Honestly, for us, we should do a home-and-home with OU in the spring,” Gundy said. “… 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, and split the gate because we get tired of practicing against each other.

“It’s not going to be a live game because, well, I don’t know what Coach (Brent) Venables would say, but I would be concerned with making it live just because of injury. 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. We’re moving towards the NFL. Why not do that?”

It’s not a totally unique idea, but one made all the more intriguing because the Bedlam game was done away with after Oklahoma moved to the SEC. Colorado and Syracuse — two schools separated by a measly 1,700 miles — are looking into ways to have a combined spring game.

“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.”