Bob Stoops, Mike Gundy Concerned About Possible Back-To-Back Games


Both Oklahoma’s Bob Stoops and Oklahoma State’s Mike Gundy would like to see the Big 12 do something about possible back-to-back games before the conference championship game returns next season.


Oklahoma and Oklahoma State will meet in Norman this Saturday with the Big 12 title on the line. If this was 2017, the two teams would also be preparing for a game after Bedlam … against each other in the conference title game.

With the Big 12 deciding to bring back its title game next season, the two teams with the best record will meet at a neutral site for a shot at conference bragging rights. The head coaches of the Sooners and Cowboys have different ideas on how, if the time came, the two schools could avoid playing in back-to-back weeks.

“Maybe the Big 12 looks at the timing of this game as a possibility,” Oklahoma head coach Bob Stoops said. “Last year and this year, it would be us and Oklahoma State again and that’s kind of different.”

While it would possibly create a strange situation, Stoops is in favor of the conference’s two top teams two being represented in the title game rather than divisional winners.

“You get the biggest bang for your buck when you’re playing the top two teams,” Stoops said. “That’s where you are going to get the biggest audience, the biggest interest, and the most respect from the playoff committee. That’s the reason to do it.”

Oklahoma State head coach Mike Gundy would prefer the conference go to divisions as a way of avoiding playing the Sooners in consecutive weeks.

“I voted for divisions,” Gundy said. “It would allow the Big 12 to schedule conference opponents that are in the same division at the latter part of the season and then you wouldn’t get a back-to-back title game. The way it is right now, I think, but I’m not for sure, that in four of the last years, and this year, Oklahoma and Oklahoma State would be playing each other again next week. That’s why I would like to see them go to divisions is to eliminate the back-to-back.”

The coaches are concerned about playing the same team twice in two weeks, but for fans of the Sooners and Cowboys, two weeks of Bedlam just might be too much for the state of Oklahoma to handle.

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