How is Bedlam a rivalry?

#1
Vol in Buckeye Land

Vol in Buckeye Land

Well-Known Member
Joined
Oct 30, 2021
Messages
3,862
Likes
11,991
#1
Bedlam is hyped as this great rivalry, and yet the series history is comically one-sided. Oklahoma has won 91 games to OkSt’s 19. It’s like hyping the UT-Kentucky or UT-Vandy game as a rivalry.

What am I missing (paging our resident Big XII expert @BUBear)?
 
#4
#4
In-state rivalries are wonderful and special. No amount of cluelessness by people in Tennessee will change that. It doesn’t matter what other people think. You’ll never experience that as a Tennessee fan outside the Dr. Pepper commercials.
 
  • Like
Reactions: YankeeVol and 05_never_again
#5
#5
Vol in Buckeye Land said:
Bedlam is hyped as this great rivalry, and yet the series history is comically one-sided. Oklahoma has won 91 games to OkSt’s 19. It’s like hyping the UT-Kentucky or UT-Vandy game as a rivalry.

What am I missing (paging our resident Big XII expert @BUBear)?
Click to expand...
UK/UT is a rivalry, despite the one-sidedness. The historical series record doesn't automatically mean that the game is or isn't a rivalry.

UT/Vandy isn't a true rivalry because one side doesn't really care about it.
 
#6
#6
05_never_again said:
UK/UT is a rivalry, despite the one-sidedness. The historical series record doesn't automatically mean that the game is or isn't a rivalry.

UT/Vandy isn't a true rivalry because one side doesn't really care about it.
Click to expand...
If you want to call UT/UK a rivalry fine, but nonetheless, we don’t call it a cute name and try to hype it up a bunch. We just beat up on little brother, yawn and move on.
 
#7
#7
Vol in Buckeye Land said:
If you want to call UT/UK a rivalry fine, but nonetheless, we don’t call it a cute name and try to hype it up a bunch. We just beat up on little brother, yawn and move on.
Click to expand...
Couple things:

1 - Until 1998, the game was sometimes referred to as The Battle of the Barrel. So yeah, it actually did have a name (and a trophy) for a very long time.
2 - You're right...we don't hype that game up all that much, but UK does. Same for Bedlam - the underdog (OSU) hypes that game up way more than OU does.
 
  • Like
Reactions: YankeeVol and Vol in Buckeye Land
#8
#8
Firebirdparts said:
In-state rivalries are wonderful and special. No amount of cluelessness by people in Tennessee will change that. It doesn’t matter what other people think. You’ll never experience that as a Tennessee fan outside the Dr. Pepper commercials.
Click to expand...
not sure how you can talk up in-state rivalries and then say Tennessee fans will never experience it, we have an instate "Rival", that no one cares about.
 
#9
#9
Vol in Buckeye Land said:
Bedlam is hyped as this great rivalry, and yet the series history is comically one-sided. Oklahoma has won 91 games to OkSt’s 19. It’s like hyping the UT-Kentucky or UT-Vandy game as a rivalry.

What am I missing (paging our resident Big XII expert @BUBear)?
Click to expand...
Because of how much they hate each other.

That said, it is also sort of an “elevated” rivalry, as a bit of a result of 2 of the teams Oklahoma considered historic rivals - Nebraska and Missouri - both having left the conference in the early 2010s and the Sooners stopping play with them from then onwards.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Vol in Buckeye Land
#10
#10
TrueOrange said:
Because of how much they hate each other.

That said, it is also sort of an “elevated” rivalry, as a bit of a result of 2 of the teams Oklahoma considered historic rivals - Nebraska and Missouri - both having left the conference in the early 2010s and the Sooners stopping play with them from then onwards.
Click to expand...
Yep. If you look up "rivalry" in a dictionary it'll likely say something about it needing to be competitive, but IMO (in sports anyway) the all-time series doesn't have to be close.

IMO, some of the greatest rivalries in CFB pre-dated football and exist outside of a sports context altogether. Alabama/Auburn and Texas/Texas A&M might be the quintessential examples of those. Army/Navy does as well.
 
#11
#11
Like TX and aTm, OU and OK State probably compete heavily for the in-state talent even though OU is the much better program.

TN and Vandy don't really compete for in-state talent because we have different goals for our football programs: we'd like to win and Vandy would like to cash that SEC media check.

The SEC comparison is Bama and Auburn. Not only do they just hate each other, they also compete hard for in-state talent and the games can actually be competitive.
 
#12
#12
05_never_again said:
Couple things:

1 - Until 1998, the game was sometimes referred to as The Battle of the Barrel. So yeah, it actually did have a name (and a trophy) for a very long time.
2 - You're right...we don't hype that game up all that much, but UK does. Same for Bedlam - the underdog (OSU) hypes that game up way more than OU does.
Click to expand...
934a9e94505087e679d945efd3a946e3.jpg
 
  • Like
Reactions: Plecoptera and 05_never_again
#13
#13
To me instate rivalries are some of the most special parts of sports. The amount of guttural disdain that both teams (and fan bases) have for each other is special. It reminds me of playing against your biggest rivals in high school. Does the county next to us care who wins? Not really. But it means everything to both of those teams. It sucks that Bedlam is not going to be a thing going forward.
 
  • Like
Reactions: 05_never_again and Plecoptera
#14
#14
Vol in Buckeye Land said:
Bedlam is hyped as this great rivalry, and yet the series history is comically one-sided. Oklahoma has won 91 games to OkSt’s 19. It’s like hyping the UT-Kentucky or UT-Vandy game as a rivalry.

What am I missing (paging our resident Big XII expert @BUBear)?
Click to expand...

Mike Gundy referenced former Oklahoma State head coach Jimmy Johnson in his post game remarks and that earned a shout out from Johnson on the NFL Today pre game show yesterday.
 
#17
#17
YankeeVol said:
UT/UK
UT/Vandy
Bama/UT
Click to expand...
I literally do not care about two of those. we could never play Kentucky or Vandy again, and it would not impact my view of the Vols in the slightest. But I would detest running away from Bama. If you want to be the best you have to beat the best.
 
#18
#18
LouderVol said:
not sure how you can talk up in-state rivalries and then say Tennessee fans will never experience it, we have an instate "Rival", that no one cares about.
Click to expand...

But that’s primarily because the state of Tennessee doesn’t have two large public institutions like most other states do: Bama/barn, Texas/A&M, Florida/FSU. So, we’re the exception on that.
 
#19
#19
Rivalries are also something that in most cases go way back to a time when things were just different. Back when winning your conference or even just beating a certain team was pretty much the point of the season, not a national title or even a bowl win. That type of mentality is long dead. UT/Vandy is a "rivalry" because of what happened like 100 years ago, modernly it's a joke.
 
New posts
You must log in or register to reply here.

VN Store



Back
Top