Bedlam

Bedlam: Noun -- a scene or state of wild uproar and confusion.

It's coming, Oklahoma. Stillwater will host two teams that are responsible for 21 wins and only 1 loss in the 2011 season.

Blood is already boiling over it. Is it possible for the Oklahoma State football team to lose this game?

"It's fate. It can't happen. No way, we're going to New Orleans."

"No way. They're the same old Cowboys. The 'Poke Choke' has to come sometime, it'll be in Bedlam."

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Growing up, I was an Aggie fan. My mother graduated from Texas A&M, and if school had been important to me, odds are I would be the same.

Fortunately, I'm a good test-taker and qualified for entrance to Oklahoma State, the only other school I applied for.

I held out for Texas A&M, and eventually got wait-listed. The plan was to go to the junior college in College Station for a year, then sport the Maroon & White until I die.

But I didn't want to be a JuCo kid, I couldn't fathom it, and it eventually caught up to me.

"Mom, let's visit Stillwater."

People were nice, I was hooked. I'd go there for a year or two, then transfer back home. But my blood turned from Maroon to Orange very quickly.

In freshman orientation, I was sitting in the back. The counselors were doing skits and giving info for the 200+ kids there, and they called a guy onto the stage. He was wearing red.

"We don't do this here. Burn this shirt when you get home. You don't wear red in Stillwater. Ever."

That was about the whole message, and I haven't worn red since then.

Obviously, I fell in love with Oklahoma State. I'm an 'underdog guy', and I see Oklahoma State as the underdog in their own home state.

But why?

On the way back from Lubbock after seeing Texas Tech run out of their own stadium by the orange and black, we talked about it. Our photographer KT King, who's a long-time Oklahoma State fan and Oklahoma native, hit the nail on the head.

"Oklahoma has never had a unifying thing. If you grow up in Texas, you may be a Texas Tech fan and your friend may be a Longhorn, but you both like the Dallas Cowboys or the Houston Astros. You have common ground. In Oklahoma, the first thing to come around is the Oklahoma City Thunder, but that's second to college football. There will always be a line between the two, and I doubt anything comes along that is strong enough to erase it."

It was tough for me to understand it, so I took to twitter. Describe Bedlam for me, tweeps.

@Daniel_Toofine: Epic.
@Mitchell_Bro: BOOMER.
@DenLowery: Blood Bath.
@OKenglandk: Japanese anime-like.
@Schemingdreamin: Insanity.
@Chase_Wilcher: It's THE GAME for OSU fans, and it's the last scary test before a big bowl for OU fans

While I was sitting in the O'Colly newsroom today, we were having our usual football talk and putting our guesses down against the Vegas odds. Then I thought about it.

"Is it even possible? The football God's have smiled down on Stillwater all season, is it possible for the Sooners to win? After years of coming in second place in Oklahoma, is it finally the Poke's chance to stand at the top of the state?"

Trenton Sperry, our managing editor who is also an Oklahoma native, looked at me and said "It's Bedlam. Anything can happen."

On one hand, I agree. But on the other, why chalk it up to 'Who knows?'

That's the difference I've noticed from Texas to Oklahoma.

In Texas, unranked Texas Tech WILL beat Oklahoma because Tech is the greatest team on the planet.

In Texas in 2002, top-ranked Oklahoma comes into College Station to face a 5-4 Texas A&M team, but the Aggies WILL beat Oklahoma because the Aggies are the greatest team on the planet.

In Texas, the Longhorns are going to the National Championship to play Matt Lienart and Reggie Bush, possibly the best quarterback-runningback duo to ever play college football. But the Longhorns WILL WIN because they're the greatest team on the planet.

In Texas, Euless Trinity and Southlake Carroll can win multiple state championships because their fan base KNOWS THEY WILL WIN no matter what.

They expect it, they don't hope.

In Stillwater, no one BELIEVES, and the sooner (no pun intended) they start BELIEVING, the sooner they will sit atop of the football world.

Believe.