OU-OSU game is moved to Thanksgiving weekend
Bedlam football: Stoops, Gundy like mid-season bye weeks

By Scott Wright

Published: March 27, 2007

Bob Stoops has changed his opinion about playing a football game the week before the Big 12 Championship.

Good timing for the Oklahoma coach's change of heart, considering the Oklahoma-Oklahoma State game will be played on Thanksgiving weekend for at least the next nine seasons.

The Big 12 Conference announced Monday that this year's OU-OSU game has been moved from Oct. 27 to Nov. 24. Last December, the conference said the Bedlam game would be played that weekend each year from 2008-2015.

"Now that we're back to the 12-game schedule, it's important to get a bye week somewhere during the regular season,” said Stoops, who historically has preferred a bye on Thanksgiving weekend to allow his team two weeks of preparation for the Big 12 Championship game.

OSU coach Mike Gundy agreed on the benefits of a mid-season bye week.

"For us, the next two years, we're looking to building our depth up,” Gundy said. "But when you don't have a lot of depth you sometimes need a bye week.”

Gundy also endorsed the game becoming a traditional regular-season finale.

From the Big 12's side of things, having a matchup like OU-OSU locked into that weekend every year gives the conference a lot to offer its television suitors.

The Nebraska-Colorado and Texas-Texas A&M games are played annually on the Friday after Thanksgiving and Missouri-Kansas — one of the nation's longest-running rivalry games — was added as a Saturday staple last season. All four games are guaranteed to be televised by either ABC or Fox Sports Net this year.

"We've done this, in part, because on that weekend, you have two play dates, which adds to our potential television windows,” Big 12 assistant commissioner Bob Burda said. "With these games, we can offer attractive matchups on both Friday and Saturday.”

Said Gundy: "There is obviously a lot of interest in this game. We're happy to work with our terest in this game. We're happy to work with our Big 12 television partners in making the move.”

Burda added that while it is possible, he does not foresee the Bedlam game being played on Friday in the future, the day the Nebraska-Colorado and Texas-Texas A&M games are traditionally played.

"I don't see those games moving,” Burda said, "but I won't say ‘never.' ”

Stoops only needed a quick look over his team's past record in the Big 12 title game to help alter his thinking.

"We've played in five of those games during our eight years here, and the only one we didn't win had an open week before we went to play,” he said. "Of the four we've won, three went directly from our last regular-season game to the championship game.

"If that's what works best for us, I'm all for it.”

Staff Writer Mike Baldiwn

contributed to this report