Conference play has started for Big 12 Basketball and the Oklahoma Sooners are hosting a men’s and women’s double header on Saturday in Norman.

The men’s team will be hosting a Bedlam match-up between Oklahoma State, who is 11-3 and 1-1 in conference. The Sooners are 10-3 and 1-0 in conference, beating WVU in game one. The last eight times they have played in Norman, the Sooners have won eight straight. And as always when it comes to Bedlam, own the series. This is the men’s home-opener for the season.

The women are playing host to Texas Tech, who are 12-3 and 2-1 in conference. They lady Sooners are 3-0 in conference play and 13-2 on the season. Their last win came on the road against TCU, 85-79. The No. 16 Sooners have done well, even without one of their stars, Whitney Hand-Jones. Out of the last 15 match-ups with the Red Raiders, the Sooners have taken 14 of those.

The men will tip off first, at 2:00 PM, followed by the women at 7:00 on Saturday. Both games are being played at the Lloyd Noble Center.

The Bedlam math-up between the Oklahoma Sooners and the Oklahoma State Cowboys has been played for 108 years. On Saturday it gave true meaning to the word Bedlam: it went into OT for the first time in series history. The Sooners were never ahead in regulation play, but finally took the lead and sealed the deal in the last play of the game, winning 51-48.

Sooners QB Landry Jones had another record-breaking day, throwing for over 500+ yards for the second week in a row. He also became the first QB in FBS to throw for over 3000 yards and have 26 touchdowns in 4-years. Jones also broke a school record of passes attempted in a game with 41-71 and one interception.

The Pokes took an early lead of 14-3 after the never-ending first quarter which lasted almost an hour. The crowd at Owen Field was almost all the way out of the game, but nobody moved from their seats. The Sooners came back to tie it up going into half time and the second half was a boat race of scoring.

After an 81-yard kickoff return by Jalen Saunders, the Sooners regained momentum and the crowd was 250% back into the game. The Sooner had the ball with about 6 minutes left on the clock and were trailing, 45-38. Jones calmly led the team down the field and controlled the clock almost like he knew what was going to happen. With seconds left in regulation, the Sooners brought on the Belldozer, and scored a 4-yard touchdown to tie things up.

In overtime, the Sooner defense finally stepped up and held the Cowboys to only a field goal. The Sooners came out and did what they needed to do in order to win the game, a 18-yard touchdown from Jones to Brennan Clay sealed it up and the rest goes into Bedlam history.

Despite the final score in regulation, the Sooners had a much better game statistically than the Cowboys in every category except rushing yards:

You’d think the score would reflect a bigger win by the Sooners just looking at it, but the Oklahoma State defense stepped up. The Sooner defense had some problems with the run again for the third week in a row. They have one more game left in regular season against the TCU Horned Frogs.

I’ve seen a lot of Bedlam games and this one had many firsts. I’m glad this is one I got to witness it first-hand.

Men and Womens Sooner Basketball are both in Norman on Saturday.

The Women are hosting Bedlam with a Noon Tip off.

The Womens game features:

• Saturday is Military Appreciation Day and OU will honor each branch of the service during pre-game festivities.
• Limited-edtion Sooner hats designed by OU head coach Sherri Coale will be distributed to the first 1,000 through the Lloyd Noble Center doors when they open at 10:30 a.m. in recognition of I Love Hoops weekend.
• Foam fingers availble for OU students in the student section seats.
• Halftime will feature a performance by Evolution of Dance creator Judson Lappily.

The men are taking on Iowa State with a tip of 5:05.

Special events for the mens game includes:

Tickets are available for $10, $30 and $40 at the OU Athletics Ticket Office and online here.  Lloyd Noble Center’s north and east ticket windows will open at 3 p.m. on Saturday.
• OU students may purchase a ticket for $5.

GIVEAWAYS
• Caps designed and signed by head coach Lon Kruger for the first 1,000 fans
• Foam fingers for OU students

PREGAME EVENT
• World-renowned BMX rider Mat Hoffman will sign autographs from 3:30 to 4:30 in the Clinton Lounge (upper east concourse)

HALFTIME EVENT
• Mat Hoffman BMX Stunt Team performance

Get out to Lloyd Noble today and support Sooner Hoops if you are in or around the Norman area today.

That’s it folks, the regular season is over. For the Sooners, it was plagued with heartache, injuries and just an overall odd season. They had major ups and major downs.

Oklahoma States Athletic website, OKState.com's current landing page

Saturday night at Bedlam, the Oklahoma State Cowboys came out on the field to prove a point, and the point was definitely made. Oklahoma State wants to play for the crystal ball in New Orleans in January. In what was supposed to be one of the worst defenses in the country, Oklahoma State didn’t give Landry and crew a chance. Not that Landry and crew stepped it up and tried very hard to make them look worthy enough to play in a BCS game.

Oklahoma offense was flat from the first snap. Continuous 3 and outs, dropped balls and Landry being road Landry. The Sooner defense started off looking good, once they noticed the offense wasn’t playing, it’s almost like they decided to give up, too. A little something that will make Sooner Nation angry, if you didn’t already hear, Ronnell Lewis was actually cleared to play, but missed class. Stoops benched him. Clearly a sign this team was not focused.

Now I shouldn’t say that the Sooners gave up; I don’t actually believe that. I do believe that they played like a team who seems to be broken, battered and unmotivated. They were out played on every side of the ball, on absolutely every play. By halftime, I had circus music rolling through my head every time the Sooner offense took the field.

Stats from SoonerSports.com

The Pokes finally ended the dominating Sooner winning streak, and this was Gundy’s first win against the Sooners since taking the head coach job. They also won their first out-right conference title since 1948, when they were in the powerhouse Missouri Valley Conference, which had a whooping 3 teams (Yes, I’m taking shots while I’m down).

Deservedly so, the Pokes stormed Boone Pickens after the game, while the students chanted LSU, LSU, LSU. The real question is, what will the voters do? You would think that this would push the voters to make Oklahoma State jump Alabama. But from what I am seeing, it is all still on the fence. Many people would like to see a rematch between LSU and Bama, many of those people are also SEC homers.

Oklahoma State won their conference, Alabama did not. Oklahoma State has 5 wins against Top 25 teams, Alabama has 2. This shouldn’t be a difficult choice, but I have a bad feeling for the Pokes. They deserve to be there, they will lose, but they still deserve a trip to New Orleans.

It’s up to you now voters and computer. Make this right, give the Cowboys their chance.

I now know what Oklahoma State has felt like 82 times before this, losing isn’t fun. But they deserve it. Winning only 18 times in a 100 year period, it was bound to happen again at some point. All jokes aside, I’m a Poke fan this bowl season.

Boomer Sooner

Is it me, or does the hair get more gel and spike each year?

What would Bedlam week be without making fun of little sister’s coach, Mike Gundy. Gundy provides enough entertainment to last a life time. Have you ever seen him dance?

If not, you get to now.

Classic dances moves -

Vintage Gundy with a mullet-like hairdo

It’s Bedlam Eve, everyone needs a laugh.

And it’s hard to live that dance down. It was Texas A&M you beat, congrats. Everyone else beat them, too.

The regular season has come to a close. It all ends this weekend in Stillwater, Oklahoma.

Bedlam separates the entire state. You are either an Oklahoma fan or an Oklahoma State fan. Every other day out of the year, they work side by side, share a dinner table and laugh together. This weekend that stops for a day. Your Sooner boss is now your worst enemy, your Cowboy brother ignores you: This is Oklahoma Bedlam.

Whichever Oklahoma team comes out on top on Saturday will win the Big XII and get a BCS Bowl berth. If Oklahoma State wins, this will be the first time they have outright won the conference. This even goes back to the Big 8 days.

Oklahoma will be facing a high powered Poke offense featuring the best O line the Cowboys have had in as far back as I can remember and probably one of the best the Sooners have faced this season.

The defense needs to step up and it’s all about pressure pressure pressure on Brandon Weeden. Anytime this season Weeden has had pressure on him, he has panicked. The Sooner defense will also need to contain Poke RB, Joesph Randle. They need to force turnovers and the secondary needs to step up. Poke WR Justin Blackmon does not need to be defended softly, if you give him room to run, he will be gone before you can turnaround, that is if he can hold on to the ball.

The Chase for Eight National Titles may be over for the Sooners, but the Chase for Eight Big XII titles is still achievable. Look for the Sooners to utilize the run game quite a bit during the game. RB’s Roy Finch and Brandon Williams will see the ball often and the Bell Dozer will be in full effect against the questionable Poke defense. Also in typical Bedlam fashion, the offense may run some other surprise plays and actually return the diamond formation which worked so effectively last season.

The weather will be a factor for both teams, it is looking like it will be very cold, wet and windy once again. Advantage to the Sooners in this aspect, since they have played in extreme weather more than once this season.

Bedlam is always one of those games that is weird, crazy and heart-attack inducing to watch. The Pokes have a title game possibly on the line, the Sooners have another Big XII trophy to add to their case on the line. It will all end with who wants it more. Maybe the Gundy Poke Choke will continue for the 9th consecutive year.

After Saturday, all will go back to normal in the state of Oklahoma. Work will be fun Monday morning for one fan base, let’s just hope it’s the ones wearing the crimson.

Mike Gundy, who owns stock in Axe hair gel

As all coaches do each and every week, select members of the team and coaching staff give press conferences about the upcoming game. With so much riding on the game Saturday for the Pokes, I wanted to take a look at what Cowboys head coach, Mike Gundy had to say.

Mike “I’m a man and I’m 40″ Gundy:

“We took a few days off as a team – coaches and players. We brought the team back on Saturday night and had meetings and practice on Sunday and today is their day off. We’ll be back at it on Tuesday. Everybody’s spirits are high and excited. We had a good practice on Sunday afternoon. We’re excited about the game; I know everybody else is. It’s a great week for the state of Oklahoma and our players will be looking forward to playing in the game Saturday night. I think our challenge now is just to keep everybody kind of calm and under control, coaches included. Everybody is excited about the upcoming game, so that’s kind of our goal from this point forward.”

A member of the media actually asked him which coaches need to stay under control….

 ”Well, me. I’m pretty excited about the game. And all of them. Not anything to be alarmed about, I just think everybody is excited to get back on the field and play. As we all know, it’s been 10 days or so that we played in a game. One thing we’d like to do is coach and play in a game, so they’re just as excited to get back out on the field.”

Another genius question, where does Bedlam rank in the history of the school:

 ”I don’t know. I say this all the time – they’re all big, because if you don’t win enough of them, then the ones at the end don’t matter. For the first time in this program’s history – I’ll go back 50 years, maybe further – they have a chance to win a conference championship. So it’s a big game for that reason. It’s something that’s not ever been accomplished here, and the players are aware of that and the coaches are aware of that. It would be nice for our team to go out and play well and win the football game to be able to accomplish something that’s never been done here in football.”

On not winning enough of them remark, just an FYI to Gundy… The Bedlam series sits at 86-17-7… in the Sooners favor. It should also be noted that Oklahoma State has only beat Oklahoma twice in row just three times… since World War II.

On whether or not they will approach the game differently from other games:

“We won’t approach it any differently and it won’t feel any different than it did last year. We were in the same situation last year, and so our players have been in that environment and the preparation this week should be the same. There’s a lot of excitement in this state for the game. Obviously, we don’t have professional football here and it’s a fun week for everybody, but our players and our coaches have to stay focused on the task at hand.”

And I’m not sure he has the confidence level most Cowboy fans would require their head coach to have. Most coaches are out politicking their teams to play in the big game, if they have a legitimate shot. Not Coach Gundy. Gundy was asked who should play LSU in the title game, and instead of pushing for his own team, said Alabama.

 If somebody sat me down and said (I) had to make a decision,” Gundy said, “with where we’re at right now, Alabama lost to what would be the No. 1 team in the country LSU, and Oklahoma State lost to Iowa State.

“In our situation, if I was doing it fair, I don’t know how I could put us in front of (Alabama) right now.”

Not to worry Poke fans, Gundy doesn’t even have a vote in the Coaches Poll. Coaches who actually do get to vote in the poll may reconsider putting a team that their own coach doesn’t believe should be there. Hopefully Gundy didn’t shoot their chances in the foot. If he did, Im sure T. Boone Pickens is going to shoot Gundy’s foot, a couple of times.

For your viewing pleasure, the greatest press conference of all time.

It has been a long season here in Sooner Nation. A team who was slated to win it all has been plagued by injuries and saw their National title hopes disappear. But there is still a lot to play for, and the Sooners have one last chance to do it.

Bedlam.

This season has come and gone pretty quickly, but a shot to win the Big XII is right here in front of the Sooners, and their rival this Saturday, Oklahoma State. The Pokes have never won a Big XII title, let alone go to the National Title game, so they have a lot on the line this weekend. The Sooners on the other hand, could redeem their season if they beat the Pokes; they will have won the the Big XII and will most likely be headed to the Tostitos Fiesta Bowl.

Oklahoma State, if they win, COULD be going to New Orleans to play LSU (most likely) for the crystal ball. In order for OSU to do that, they will need to BLOW Oklahoma out, they need style points to jump Alabama, who sits at No. 2. And that brings a whole other debate, should the Crimson Tide even be allowed to go to the title game without winning their conference or even appearing in the conference title game. Voters seem to think so, since they are still sitting at the second spot.

In today’s Big XII teleconference, Oklahoma State head coach, Mike Gundy said:

No question it’s a big game, OSU has a chance to do something they’ve never done before – be a conference champion.

Funny that you mention that Gundy, doesn’t your team have 2010 Big XII South Championship rings, when you didn’t even play in the game, let alone, win the South? So the rings could actually mean something this time. In case anyone forgot, here is the ring Cowboys QB, Brandon Weeden tweeted out during the off-season.

Sooners offensive coordinator, Josh Heupel on heading to Stillwater this weekend:

“We get a chance to play for a conference championship, that’s what you are looking for. Oklahoma State is a great football team. They have had a tremendous year. Our kids look forward to going down there and getting to play.”

I have a feeling the Sooners will be perfecting the Bell Dozer in practice this week, it could be the key against Oklahoma State’s defense this weekend. Full game preview coming later on during the week.