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USA Today
22-05-2025
- Sport
- USA Today
Joel Klatt calls for Bedlam to be played every year
Joel Klatt calls for Bedlam to be played every year When the Oklahoma Sooners departed the Big 12 Conference in favor of the Southeastern Conference last summer, their annual "Bedlam" rivalry game against the Oklahoma State Cowboys was lost. The Pokes remained in the Big 12, while OU went to the SEC along with the Texas Longhorns. After years of a great in-state college football rivalry being played annually, the matchup stopped after the 2023 season. With the two teams in different leagues, there was little interest (especially from OSU's side) about continuing to play the game. As it stands currently, there are no future Bedlam games on the books. FOX Sports' lead college football color commentator, Joel Klatt, called for that to change. On his show, "The Joel Klatt Show: A College Football Podcast", he discussed multiple rivalries in the sport that need to be played every single year. Oklahoma-Oklahoma State wasn't the only rivalry he wanted to see annually. Klatt also wanted to see games like Notre Dame-USC, Kansas-Missouri, Florida-Miami, and Colorado-Nebraska happen each season, calling them "part of the fabric of this sport." But there was no game he wanted to see more than Bedlam. He pointed out that the Cowboys were less than thrilled about the Sooners leaving them high and dry in their old conference. 'You talk about no love lost in particular after the conference realignment, I want Bedlam. I want Bedlam every year," Klatt said. "Nothing is scheduled right now. In December, Joe Castiglione, the athletic director at Oklahoma, said it wouldn't be until well into the 2030s that we're gonna get this matchup.' Bedlam began in 1904 and has been played 118 times since then. Oklahoma has dominated the series and holds a 91-20-7 all-time series lead. In the last 25 matchups, the Sooners are 19-6, including an eight-year win streak from 2003 to 2010, and a six-year win streak from 2015 to 2020. Oklahoma State head coach Mike Gundy recently proposed a spring game series between the two programs, but that wouldn't even be close to the same thing as a true game in the fall. Conference realignment took Bedlam away from us. As a result, the Sooners don't want to add another difficult game to their schedule in the most daunting league in the sport. OU will be trying to make the College Football Playoff and they always get OSU's best shot when the teams face off. That could come back to haunt Oklahoma, as a loss would be very costly. The Cowboys don't want to have to play a team each season that typically gets the better of them, and they also have a shot to make the CFP now in the expanded playoff era. A loss to OU could be the difference between being in or out. However, there is hope. SEC teams like Georgia, Florida and South Carolina play an out-of-conference rival every season. The Bulldogs have the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets. The Gators have the Florida State Seminoles. The Gamecocks have the Clemson Tigers. All three are also in-state rivalries. The Bedlam Series is one of college football's most exciting rivalry contests. Bringing it back would be a great thing for the sport. Although it may never happen, there's still hope that the Sooner State rivals can put down their swords long enough to get games on the schedule down the road. Then, Oklahoma and Oklahoma State can pick the swords back up and start fighting again, except that these fights would happen on the football field where they belong. Contact/Follow us @SoonersWire on X, and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Oklahoma news, notes, and opinions. You can also follow John on X @john9williams.
USA Today
08-05-2025
- Sport
- USA Today
Joel Klatt offers stern warning to Oklahoma ahead of 2025 season
Joel Klatt offers stern warning to Oklahoma ahead of 2025 season The Oklahoma Sooners are in need of a bounce-back season after posting a 6-7 record a year ago. Head coach Brent Venables simply can't afford another year that isn't up to the OU standard, or he'll be gone. Joel Klatt, FOX Sports College Football's lead play-by-play commentator, believes in the changes Venables has made this offseason, at least enough to barely include the Sooners in his post-spring ball Top 25 list. However, Klatt also issued a warning to Oklahoma ahead of the 2025 season on his podcast, "The Joel Klatt Show: A College Football Podcast". "A lot of people up until this point have overlooked Oklahoma in this process but I'm not going to do that," Klatt said. "I think Oklahoma is gonna be a really good football team ... Here's the hard part for Oklahoma and you Sooner fans, you know this. The schedule is still absolutely rigid ... In a lot of ways, it's terrible. Week two, you gotta host Michigan in Norman. And then their last seven games, check this out, brutal stretch: Texas, at South Carolina, Ole Miss, at Tennessee, bye week, at Alabama, Missouri and LSU. I'll tell you what man, I know that the SEC hasn't had the national champ the last couple of years, but the depth is there. And there's not many easy games in that conference. And this Oklahoma schedule is evidence of that." Klatt also called the OU schedule this season "terrible" and "brutal". Oklahoma's SEC strength-of-schedule in their first two seasons in the league (especially compared to Texas') has been a talking point ever since the new conference schedule model was announced. It's even more evident in 2025 than it was last year, as the Sooners have the nation's toughest schedule this season. More: Joel Klatt's top 25 college football teams after spring ball The Longhorns dodge all of the best teams in the SEC with the exception of Georgia, just like they did last year. The Sooners must face all of the best teams in the SEC with the exception of Georgia, just like they did last year. That's real inequality in the best and deepest conference in college football, and it's lead to some of the issues Oklahoma is having right now, and some of the success Texas is currently having. However, Klatt believes there's reason for optimism in Norman, primarily due to the new battery on offense and Venables re-assuming command of the defense. "The offense last year was a disaster," Klatt said. "So they got better, they brought in one of the really good offensive coordinators in the country. They got in Ben Arbuckle and he brought his quarterback. And so John Mateer comes in at quarterback, that will help them, there's no doubt. Meanwhile, Brent Venables is going to call the defense, so he's gonna do what he's best at. Mateer comes in from Washington State. Arbuckle comes in to fix the offense. Venables goes back to calling the defense, which is obviously what his forte was at Clemson when they were winning national championships. And they should be better." Oklahoma has the bad luck of playing a very difficult schedule in one of the biggest seasons for the program in recent memory. The Sooners are hoping that they've improved exponentially from last year, so that they can navigate the gauntlet and rebound in a big way in 2025. Contact/Follow us @SoonersWire on X, and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Oklahoma news, notes, and opinions. You can also follow Aaron on X @Aaron_Gelvin.
USA Today
06-05-2025
- Sport
- USA Today
Where Joel Klatt has Alabama football in early Top 25 rankings after spring practice
Where Joel Klatt has Alabama football in early Top 25 rankings after spring practice Fox Sports lead college football analyst Joel Klatt says he was a bit confused when thinking of where to rank the Alabama Crimson Tide following the conclusion of the 2025 spring practice schedule. Klatt on Monday unveiled his post-spring, way-too-early Top 25 rankings for the 2025 college football season. Ultimately, Alabama landed at No. 9 in Klatt's rankings, one spot ahead of Illinois and one spot below the Georgia Bulldogs. Penn State topped Klatt's way-too-early rankings at No. 1, followed by the Texas Longhorns at No. 2. Klatt said on his video podcast, "The Joel Klatt Show: A College Football Podcast" that he struggled with whether to rank Alabama as a top 10 team. "I struggled with this team quite a bit. I did not know where to put Alabama. Looks like Ty Simpson is the leader to be the starting quarterback. I like Kalen DeBoer, you know that. I thought it was going to be better last year. Was it just not a fit with Jalen Milroe and Kalen DeBoer? Maybe. Simpson's a former five-star. He's been waiting three years for this chance." Klatt believes that DeBoer being reunited with longtime offensive coordinator Ryan Grubb will pay dividends for the Crimson Tide, if the two's past is an indication. "Every time these two guys have been together, DeBoer and Grubb, lights out offensively -- in particular the quarterback play," Klatt said. "Think of what Michael Penix was able to do at Washington for those two years that they were up there." Klatt highlighted some of Alabama's returning starters: "On defense, (Alabama has) LT Overton and Tim Keenan on the defensive line, Deonte Lawson at linebacker. They still have Ryan Williams on the offensive side, one of the best players in the country. They've got Germie Bernard out there. They get Kadyn Proctor, who's now a three-year starter. They've got their center, Parker Brailsford. He's in there. So now I'm like, 'OK, I think I'm in.'" Klatt finished by previewing Alabama's 2025 schedule and highlighted the Tide's SEC opener at Georgia on Sept. 27, and road trips to South Carolina and Auburn. Alabama hosts Tennessee, LSU, Vanderbilt and Oklahoma at Bryant-Denny Stadium in conference play. "That schedule, nothing to scoff at," Klatt said. Alabama opens the season against Florida State on Aug. 30 at Doak Campbell Stadium in Tallahassee. Contact/Follow us @RollTideWire on X, and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Alabama news, notes and opinion.
