Big 12 Media Days: Oklahoma's Brent Venables Focused on What's 'Right in Front of Us' Amid Bedlam Speculation

The new Oklahoma head coach declined to comment on the future of the Bedlam rivalry during his first appearance at Big 12 Media Days since returning to Norman.

ARLINGTON, TX — Oklahoma head coach Brent Venables didn’t shed any new light on the future of Bedlam on Thursday.

Making his first appearance at Big 12 Media Days as the head coach of the Sooners, Venables declined to forecast where the series is headed.

“I don't want to speculate on the future,” ‘Venables said. “… I’m going to keep it on this season and what's right in front of us.”

Wednesday, Oklahoma State coach Mike Gundy said there’s just “a year or two left” of the rivalry on the football field.

As the Sooners move to the SEC, the rivalry is expected to take a hiatus.

Still, Venables said his team will be ready for the 2022 battle in Norman, as he acknowledged the rivalry is woven into the fabric of the state.

“I am focused on winning the state,” he said. “It's an incredibly important game. There's a long history and tradition over 100 years of playing Bedlam and regardless of however the scores have been or the success of one place of the other, it's important from a foundational standpoint.

“You've got to have some hate in your heart for your rival. I've got great respect for Mike and the success and the program, the coaches, their players. They obviously have done a lot of things really well.”

Under the SEC’s current scheduling setup, there are allowances for a number of non-conference rivalries.

Florida-Florida State, Georgia-Georgia Tech, Clemson-South Carolina and Kentucky-Louisville are just a few of such contests that play every season, but the SEC still hasn’t settled on how many conference games will be played once Oklahoma and Texas are in the fold.

And the biggest hurdle of all will still be Oklahoma and Oklahoma State coming together and hammering out an agreement to play the actual game, regardless of scheduling logistics.

“When the time comes that's a tremendous focus but year-round in this state, that's important to so many people,” Venables said. “It brings a lot of joy and a lot of heartache to a lot of people, so it'll be a great focus for us and exciting at the last week of the season so we'll meet up again so that's my thoughts on all of that.”

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