Winning Ranked-On-Ranked Bedlams Not Just a Mike Gundy Problem, Pokes 1-14 In These Games

When Bedlam kicks off this Saturday afternoon, Oklahoma State will be the No. 11-ranked team in the country and Oklahoma will be No. 8. We were this close to getting just our third AP Top 10 Bedlam matchup — and the second in three years.

Since Mike Gundy took the helm in Stillwater, this will be the sixth time the rivalry game has been between top 15 opponents. Let’s review how his teams have fared.

Gundy’s team has only won once when both teams were ranked. He is 1-6 overall. There was also the 2009 game when an 11th-ranked Oklahoma State team fell to an unranked Sooner squad in Norman 27-nil.

Gundy explained that some of the Sooners’ dominance both historically and of late is due to them just being good at football. “If you’re playing a team that’s good, you’re going to be in for a dogfight.”

Dogfight or not, the Bedlam record remains pretty much the only knock on Gundy’s distinguished career and legacy as the greatest coach OSU football has seen. The only way that changes is by flipping that narrative.

Pre-Gundy Era

So in eight of Mike Gundy’s 13 years, both teams were ranked in the top 25. But before he took over there were eight total ranked-on-ranked Bedlam matchups in the 70 years prior — the first Associate Press poll was published in 1936.

But before we cast all the blame at the 13th-year head man’s feet, let’s look at those pre-Gundy ranked-on ranked matchups. In those eight contests, Oklahoma State went 0-8. In four of those games, both teams were ranked in the top 15. So losing to Oklahoma as a ranked team is not exclusively a Mike Gundy problem.

In 1976 the Cowboys entered Bedlam 3-2 with a win over No. 8 Kansas but still were outside the top 25. Then a 31-24 win over the No. 5 team in Norman catapulted the Cowboys to No. 16 in the nation. The Cowboys would finish 5-1 with wins over No. 10 Missouri, No. 14 Iowa State and a loss to No. 9 Nebraska.

In 1958, Oklahoma State was unranked all season and entered Bedlam 7-2. It lost 7-zip at home to No. 3 Oklahoma but actually jumped into the 19th spot in the AP poll — after a loss. It would go on to beat Florida State in the Bluegrass Bowl 15-6.

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