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Oklahoma State football: 5 keys to a Bedlam victory vs. the Sooners

By John Scimeca

STILLWATER, OK - NOVEMBER 30: Cornerback Parnell Motley #11 of the Oklahoma Sooners rushes for four yards against linebacker Kevin Henry #33 and safety Kolby Harvell-Peel #31 the Oklahoma State Cowboys on the final play of the game on November 30, 2019 at Boone Pickens Stadium in Stillwater, Oklahoma. OU won 34-16. (Photo by Brian Bahr/Getty Images)
STILLWATER, OK - NOVEMBER 30: Cornerback Parnell Motley #11 of the Oklahoma Sooners rushes for four yards against linebacker Kevin Henry #33 and safety Kolby Harvell-Peel #31 the Oklahoma State Cowboys on the final play of the game on November 30, 2019 at Boone Pickens Stadium in Stillwater, Oklahoma. OU won 34-16. (Photo by Brian Bahr/Getty Images) /
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Oklahoma State football will take on Oklahoma in a what promises to be an epic Bedlam matchup to conclude the 2021 regular season. The game begins at 6:30 p.m. CT and will be televised on ABC.

The Cowboys (10-1, 7-1) have already clinched a spot in the Big 12 championship game for the first time in school history, while the Sooners (10-1, 7-1) will need a win in Stillwater to advance to Arlington instead of Baylor — which beat the Sooners two weeks ago, 27-14.

To beat the Sooners for the first time since 2014, Oklahoma State football will need to limit turnovers while relying on its running game.

From 1995 to 2002, which encompassed the Howard Schnellenberger, John Blake, and start-of-Bob Stoops eras at OU, OSU defeated the Sooners in five out of eight meetings. Since 2003, however, OU holds a 16-2 record against the Cowboys.

OU has defeated OSU six years in a row. The Sooners hold the overall Bedlam series advantage against the Cowboys with 90 wins, 18 losses, and seven ties.

For OSU fans, the lack of success against OU is beyond infuriating. The Cowboys have been the Big 12’s clear second-best team in the last decade and a half under head coach Mike Gundy, but failure has been the only consistent result against the Sooners.

OSU won Bedlam in the magical 2011 Big 12 title season and upset the Sooners three years later. For the most part, though, Bedlam seems to hold two different routes to an orange heartbreak: a plucky, undermanned Cowboys squad challenges the Sooners and loses a close game, or a slightly favored or equal-footing Cowboys squad doesn’t even show up and gets trounced by the team in Norman.

How can the Cowboys shake the Bedlam jinx in this year and advance to the Big 12 title game with their CFP hopes intact?

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