The Oklahoma Sooners play in one of the fiercest rivalries in college football, the Red River rivalry. And the game against Texas got more hype when the two teams moved to the SEC, with more than 92,000 people attending it in 2025. However, the transition to the SEC has also made some OU rivalries more dormant than ever. But Norman’s mayor has a solid plan to restore one of the historic OU rivalries.

The Bedlam Series rivalry between OU and Oklahoma State has been played since 1904, but in recent years, the two teams haven’t met on the field often. Norman Mayor Stephen Tyler Holman and Stillwater’s mayor just co-authored legislation that can change that for good.

“The mayor of Stillwater and I got together and co-authored a piece of legislation that, for economic development purposes, under state laws requires OU and OSU to play a football game every season,” Stephen Tyler said on February 11. “We felt that in Norman’s case, we’ll be playing New Mexico and UTEP at home next year.

“So, a non-conference game against OSU would be much more beneficial to the local Norman economy than playing New Mexico or UTEP, and the same thing for Stillwater. It’d be much more beneficial for their local economy to have OU come visit every other season,” Tyler added. The legislation needs one more sanction to force OU and OSU play each other every year.

The co-authored legislation has now passed by the city council unanimously and will now go to the state’s legislature for further sanction. It remains to be seen how the proposal will be received by OU fans. However, in reality, the Bedlam series has faced many roadblocks. Oklahoma joined the SEC on 1st July, 2024, and has seen a complete scheduling overhaul.

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In OU’s inaugural season in the SEC, OU played four non-conference games against Temple, Houston, Tulane, and Maine. But Oklahoma State wasn’t on its schedule. Thereafter, in the 2025 season, OU visited Temple and had Illinois State, Michigan, and Kent State on its non-conference slate. But OSU wasn’t there again on OU’s priority. That makes the 2023 season the last time the two teams played in the Big 12, as OU lost 24-27.

Oklahoma currently has a home-and-home agreement with Michigan, which will end in 2026. The program also had a similar agreement with Temple, and the third game will be played in 2028. A home-and-home series is also in place with Nebraska for 2029 and 2030. A similar case is with SMU, which will play its second game against OU in 2027. Now with the SEC’s new conference games move, fitting in OSU will be harder than ever, especially since prior agreements are already in place with different programs. And should OU prioritize reviving the Bedlam rivalry?

SEC’s conference scheduling will leave OU in a tricky position

The Bedlam rivalry is one of those rare and longest continuous rivalries in college football. OU played its 114th straight game with OSU when the two teams faced off in 2023. Moreover, since Stillwater and Norman are just 80 miles apart, the rivalry fuels intense in-state drama. Think of it like the Big 12’s Iron Bowl.

However, since OU changed allegiances in 2024, it’s hard to expect high scores, drama, and tradition clashes now.  On top of that, the SEC has now released a 9-game conference schedule, and Oklahoma will play Michigan, UTEP, and UNM in 2026. Due to that, the program can already cancel its prior agreed-upon matches, and adjusting OSU will be harder than ever.

“We played conference-only games and had the highest viewership consumption on the SEC Network because every one of those games were great game,” SEC commissioner Greg Sankey said. “A lot of lessons that also set us up for future decision-making and future opportunities. Those are but some of the factors that brought us to this conclusion.”

That said, with the state legislature’s sanction, avoiding the Cowboys won’t be an option. As a result, we can see the team playing each other, starting from the 2029 or 2030 season, in a home-and-home agreement. Will it happen regularly and every year? It’s hard to say, and for now, the team has to navigate one of the toughest schedules in the nation in 2026.