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Bedlam 2002-2003

Football:
	38	Cowboys retain bragging rights over stunned Sooners	28

OSU receiver Terrance Davis-Bryant makes a catch while being defended by OU's Roy Williams in the fourth quarter. This catch set up the game-winning play for OSU.

Time for Cowboys to cash in euphoria over Bedlam upset

The memory is crystallized for Cowboy fans. Rashaun Woods... leaping ... reaching ... grabbing a pass that would wilt Sooner red Rose Bowl plans and send all who prefer orange into a frenzy that carries on still.

Time, however, is up. Let it go. New thrills await. Bedlam was a blast, and plenty good has and could yet come from it. Confidence. Pride. Momentum. They've all been claimed as spoils of victory. Now it's time to put them to use.

For years, OSU teams have craved a benchmark win — confirmation that they're talented enough to shake the program's losing label. Now these Cowboys have it. What will they do with it? "This is the team," Woods says. "This is the team that's going to take OSU to the next level."

Proof presents itself soon enough. Just like last year, fate waits at the starting gate. Beat Western Athletic Conference champion Louisiana Tech in Shreveport in the opener and the map of a bowl season begins to take shape. "Now we know we can do it," Woods said. "Now we need to keep doing it. And if we do it enough, we can go to a bowl."

Lose and prepare for a crash. All momentum is kaput. That's an uncomfortable reality for an OSU team so desperate for respect. But respect is earned. And a loss to Louisiana Tech smells of the same 'ol, same 'ol that has plagued the Pokes the last four years. Besides, this season's schedule doesn't allow for such missed opportunity, not with UCLA and a path filled with so many Big 12 bullies still to tread. But win — win and a splendid season is suddenly doable.

Check it out: Make it happen against Louisiana Tech and four more wins are easily identified — Northern Iowa, SMU, Kansas and Baylor. That's five wins, leaving one more required to become bowl eligible. That means beating someone. A real someone from the group of UCLA, Texas, Kansas State, Nebraska, Texas A&M, Texas Tech and OU. The best bets would appear to be UCLA, Texas A&M and Texas Tech. UCLA is rebuilding, replacing a slew of seniors and running back DeShaun Foster. Besides, the Bruins are 17-17 over the last three years, hardly the mark of a champion. A&M is dynamite on defense, but plods on offense. And remember, OSU has a history of hanging with the Ags. Tech's a strange beast, at times capable of piling up yards and points, at times close to being revealed as a fraud.

Did we leave out OU? The Cowboys have been there. Done that. Bottle some Bedlam and break it out on somebody else, and who knows what can happen? "That's the watermark for our team," Cowboys coach Les Miles said. "That's where we have to play at. That's the intensity we have to take the field with. We understand it now."

So go prove it. These Cowboys are more prepared for a successful season than any since 1997. There's more talent. That talent has been put in the right place. And, for a change, there's belief. Deep down belief. "Now it's just a matter of going out and doin' it," senior linebacker Terrence Robinson says.

Time will tell.

Rashaun Woods caught 12 passes for 226 yards and three TDs, and set three Cowboys' records.

Rashaun Woods And Josh Fields Did It To Oklahoma Again

One year after ruining the Sooners' postseason plans with a late touchdown in Norman, Fields and Woods connected for three TDs as Oklahoma State pulled off a 38-28 upset of Oklahoma (No. 4 ESPN/USA Today, No. 3 AP) on Saturday. Woods had 12 catches for a school-record 226 yards, while Fields completed 18 of 27 passes for 357 yards and four touchdowns against the nation's ninth-ranked defense. "We played our best opponent; we played our best football," Cowboys coach Les Miles said. "Considering all of our big wins this year, this was undoubtedly our best one."

The Cowboys (7-5, 5-3) beat Nebraska and Oklahoma in the same season for the first time. As the last seconds ticked off the clock, orange-clad Oklahoma State students and fans ran onto the field and tore down the goal posts. In beating the Sooners for the fifth time in eight years, Oklahoma State enhanced its chances of going to its first bowl game since 1997. The Cowboys also never let Oklahoma take the lead, something no team had done against Bob Stoops in his first 49 games as Oklahoma's coach. "We just wanted to prove that last year wasn't a fluke," said tight end Billy Bajema, who had a 58-yard catch on a second-quarter scoring drive. "It will improve our bowl destination, but that's not what we were thinking coming in. Playing Oklahoma was enough motivation."

Last year's 16-13 stunner by Oklahoma State cost Oklahoma a trip to the Big 12 title game, where a victory would have sent the Sooners to the national title game. Oklahoma (10-2, 6-2) came into this game with the South Division title sewn up, but the Sooners have no shot of playing for a national title. "There are no excuses," Stoops said. "They did an excellent job all around — their coaches and players — and just beat us." Oklahoma, which will play No. 13 Colorado for the Big 12 title next week in Houston, had no answer for Woods.

He caught TD passes of 41, 60 and 13 yards in the first half and had three catches on the Cowboys' first drive of the third quarter, when they took a 35-6 lead. Woods then had two more receptions on a clinching fourth-quarter drive that led to a field goal and a 38-21 lead. "Their defensive backs are known for sitting on short passes," Woods said. "When they do that, they're susceptible to the double move." The Cowboys set the tone for the game by driving 64 yards for a touchdown on their first possession. Mixing the pass and run, the Cowboys drove to the 30 before Seymore Shaw broke free. He fumbled at the 1, but receiver John Lewis picked it up and fell into the end zone for a touchdown.

Oklahoma State needed just two plays to make it 14-0. After a personal foul put the ball at the Oklahoma 41, Woods got behind cornerback Andre Woolfolk on a post pattern and was wide open when he caught Fields' perfect pass. The Sooners used the final 6:35 of the first quarter to drive from their 17 to the Oklahoma State 1, where Kejuan Jones scored on the first play of the second quarter. The extra-point kick failed. The Cowboys immediately seized the momentum back, going 71 yards in three plays for another touchdown — this one a 60-yard pass to Woods, who again burned Woolfolk.

Oklahoma State made it 28-6 on a 13-yard pass from Fields to Woods midway through the second quarter. The big play on the drive was the long completion to Bajema. The Cowboys scored on their first drive of the third quarter, a 13-yard pass from Fields to tight end Charlie Johnson, to make it 35-6. Oklahoma came back with a 26-yard TD pass from Nate Hybl to Brandon Jones late in the third, and a 13-yarder from Hybl to Trent Smith early in the fourth to pull to 35-21. Oklahoma State then sealed it with a 16-play drive that used up more than 7½ minutes. Luke Phillips' 40-yard field goal gave the Cowboys a 38-21 lead with 4:09 left.

Oklahoma scored its final touchdown on a pass from Hybl to Trent Smith with 2:14 left, but couldn't recover the onside kick, and the Cowboys ran out the clock. "We are on the rise," said Woods, who also set school records for touchdowns in a season and receptions in a career. "It's obvious now that we are a program on the rise."

You Gotta Believe, And Miles' Cowboys Did

Soaking wet from a Gatorade shower and clutching the crystal awarded to the Bedlam champ, Les Miles walked into the press conference that was trying to bubble into a pep rally. Then OSU sheriff Steve Ingham announced, "All rise." All in orange should.

Hey, residents in Cowboy Territory. Hey, college football. Yes, I know this state is infatuated with the wizard coach down by the Canadian River. But there's one heck of a football coach patrolling the south sideline at Lewis Field. Miles snookered the Oklahoma Sooners yet again Saturday, and he upstaged even his 2001 epic stunner. The Oklahoma State Cowboys beat OU 38-28 in a game that was not that close. They browbeat the Sooners through the air and on the ground and would have done the same on the seas. No wonder OU wants to de-emphasize the Bedlam Series.

OSU beat OU a year ago because Miles convinced his troops anything was possible. OSU beat OU this time because Miles had his lads believing they didn't need an upset to win. "We were so pumped up," said Cowboy tight end Billy Bajema. "We knew we were going to play our best. We were so ready." Despite a dozen months of talk, were the Sooners?

Since losing to OSU last November, the Sooners have spent 12 months throwing darts. Bob Stoops said some programs are happy with four-win seasons. The OU brass announced it wouldn't play the Cowboys on Thanksgiving weekend after 2002. Stoops swiped Miles' chief recruiter, Darrell Wyatt, for his own staff. Everyone from Sooner fans to player spokesman Trent Smith said revenge needed to be exacted in the form of a big score. Stoops became the Grinch Who Stole Thanksgiving, not allowing his squad to dash home for turkey.

Put it all in a crockpot, and the inference is that OSU isn't worthy to win a Bedlam football game. It reeked of excuse-making, which has not been Stoops' style. And it's the wrong approach, because the Bedlam Series is alive and well and morphing into quite a monster. "We've always wanted to play this game for more than bragging rights," said Miles.

This isn't the old one-sided rivalry in which the big, tradition-rich school beats up on little brother and lets him win but once every 20 years. OSU is 5-3 against OU in the last eight years, and you can no longer blame it on Howard Schnellenberger and John Blake. Bob Stoops is 2-2 against OSU and was danged fortunate to squeak by in 2000. "It's a real rivalry," Miles said. "We look forward to playing these guys. It's a celebration of football; two teams that play all out. That's what you got today."

OU had better start looking forward to playing OSU. The Sooners don't seem to respect the Bedlam Series under Stoops. Heck, until the mid-90s, there was reason to disrespect it. But that was then. Miles is now. Stoops is the golden boy of college football. No coach in America except the graybeards has a stouter reputation. But in the same way we all cackle at Stoops' domination of Mack Brown, maybe it's time to ponder if Miles has a hex on Stoops. Miles is 2-0 against the Sooners, winning once with a bad team and once with a good team, both against squads that kicked off Bedlam with national-title aspirations. Saturday, OSU's defense stuffed tailback Quentin Griffin like no other Big 12 team and its offense carved the vaunted Sooners like no Stoops foe ever has.

OSU offensive coordinator, Mike Gundy, waltzed through the Gallagher-Iba Arena lobby Saturday and said of Miles, "If he doesn't get coach of the year, it's a joke." Yes indeed, Miles has worked wonders. These Cowboys are 7-5 and hopefully played themselves out of Boise, where the Humanitarian Bowl looms for some poor squad that has to play Boise State. Miles is just 11-12 as a head coach, but in some ways, his numbers are as remarkable as Stoops'.

In Bedlam games since World War II without Miles as coach or offensive coordinator, OSU is 4-47-1. With Miles, OSU is 4-1 vs. OU. From WWII to Miles' return in 2001, OSU was a combined 8-82-1 against the Sooners and Nebraska. Under Miles, the Cowboys are 3-0 against the Big Reds. Don't look now, but OSU finished only a game behind OU and Texas in the Big 12 South Division. Give OSU one tiny little field goal against Texas (the Cowboys lost 17-15), and the Cowboys, not the Sooners, are playing Colorado in the league title game next weekend. "We're playing awfully well right now," Miles said. "It's a great tribute to this group that started slow and kept getting better, week after week. In the two years we've been here, at the back end, we're playing our best football."

Yes indeed. And when this Bedlam bash was over, there really was only one thing to say. OSU should have won by more.

Sooners Coaching Staff Simply Stoopified In Loss

The irony hung over Bob Stoops like a banner. Maybe because it was one. There in Heritage Hall commemorating everything great about Oklahoma State athletics, the photo montage from the Cowboys' Bedlam victory a year ago looked over the Oklahoma coach's news conference. Les Miles raising his fists. Rashaun Woods grabbing his game-winner. Cowboys celebrating their victory.

Call the printing company. The Cowboys need a replacement. Cowboys 38, Sooners 28. "They just flat out beat us in many ways," Stoops said Saturday after the latest edition of this crazy rivalry. "They outplayed us and outcoached us."

Getting outplayed happens to the best of teams from time to time, but the OU coaching staff gets outcoached about as often as Mom fails to cook something good. The assistants that Stoops has gathered around him have been the difference in many a game. They plan and adjust as well as any bunch in the business. It isn't a coincidence. A good number of these guys spent time in the Flint Hills of Kansas, apprentices under the tutelage of Bill Snyder. They learned from a man who turns out the lights every night and turns them on the next morning. They saw what that level of preparation accomplished. And they followed Snyder's lead.

So exactly what happened Saturday afternoon on the Lewis Field turf is uncertain. This much, however, is certain. The Cowboys thumped the Sooners but good, and Les Miles and his posse outcoached Stoops and his troops. "That's probably more frustrating than anything," co-defensive coordinator Brent Venables said. "We got worn out that way as well."

Time and again, the Cowboys had a plan that trumped whatever the Sooners threw their way. OU put its best cover man in the league on Rashaun Woods; OSU used a Texas A&M-esque dose of play-action passes that led to Texas A&M-esque results. OU dinked and dumped passes underneath; OSU brought a linebacker or safety out of coverage and snuffed it out. No doubt the players had plenty to do with the success or failure of the plays. The Sooners failed to execute on several occasions, missing blocks or busting coverages, but Venables admitted the coaches were almost as discombobulated as the players seemed. "We just couldn't ever get in the rhythm in play calling," he said. "We just didn't call it well or play it well."

The whole thing felt foreign. "It was slow motion at times," Venables said. "You search for what exactly took place." He paused. "I mean, you know what happened," he said. "They got a hat on a hat and whooped us pretty good."

Did they ever. No doubt that burned no one more so than Stoops. He said little about his feelings before the game, but those closest to the coach said he was beyond joking about it in the days leading up to Bedlam. Oh, let's be serious. Stoops has been brooding about losing to the Cowboys last season since losing to the Cowboys last season. He heard about it. He answered questions about it. He thought about it more times than he would ever admit. There's no way his team wasn't ready.

Thing is, the fellas on the other sideline were just as intent on being prepared. Miles outsmarted Stoops. The Sooner front man tried to put a positive spin on the loss - "It would be worse if we weren't playing for the Big 12 championship next weekend," he said. "This can be a great year. This can be a championship year" - and truth can be found in his words.

But make no mistake. Stoops would've blown the top off his hat Saturday if he hadn't done so long ago. "One game doesn't make or break you," Stoops insisted. True, but it sure can tick you off.

Basketball:
	48	In a game dominated by defense, Oklahoma State's victory over fifth-ranked Oklahoma came down to one play on offense.	46

Victor Williams' short bank shot with 3.6 seconds remaining gave the 24th-ranked Cowboys a 48-46 victory Monday night. The matchup of the Big 12's two stingiest defenses went about as expected. Oklahoma (10-3, 1-1 Big 12) shot 32.7 percent. Hollis Price and Ebi Ere, each averaging 18 points, scored six each and combined to go 4-for-24 from the field. Oklahoma State (13-1, 2-0) shot 38.8 percent in winning its 11th straight in Eddie Sutton's 400th game as the Cowboys' coach. Leading scorer Tony Allen had 11 points, six below his average, and didn't score in the second half.

It was the first time since 1962, when Oklahoma State won 49-48, that both teams scored in the 40s. "You didn't worry just about getting a good shot, you worried about getting a shot," Sutton said. Williams finished with 16 points. Ivan McFarlin scored 11, all in the second half, and grabbed 14 rebounds.

Freshman Kevin Bookout led the Sooners with 14 points and 11 rebounds. Quannas White had 10 points. McFarlin gave the Cowboys a 46-43 lead with a tip-in at the 1:43 mark. Price sank a free throw with 1:17 left, then hit a short jumper in the lane with 40 seconds remaining to tie it at 46. After an Oklahoma State timeout, Williams dribbled alone near midcourt before driving left of the lane and shooting.

Oklahoma State had just two points in the first six minutes and twice fell behind by seven in the first half, the second time 13-6. The Cowboys held Oklahoma scoreless for nearly four minutes to take a 15-13 lead and neither team led by more than three the rest of the half. Oklahoma's biggest lead in the second half was four points. Oklahoma State never led by more than three.

Wrestling: Oklahoma State's wrestling team captured its 31st team title at the 2003 NCAA Wrestling Championships in Kansas City, Mo., in front of 16,436 fans. The Cowboys won in convincing fashion with 143 team points. Minnesota came in second with 104.5 points, while Oklahoma chipped in 78 points to finish third. Rounding out the top fiver were Lehigh with 69 points and Arizona State with 65 points. The 143 points the Cowboys scored were the most ever by an OSU team. The previous high was 117. Johnny Thompson and Jake Rosholt both captured individual titles for the Cowboys. The Cowboys clinched the title during the consolation semifinals with four of the five wrestlers winning. In the finals, Thompson faced off with Minnesota's Ryan Lewis in a rematch of last year's finals, while Jake Rosholt battled Scott Barker of Missouri. Thompson won his second individual title after defeating Lewis, 5-3. The two wrestled to a scoreless first period. Lewis notched the first points of the match with an escape in the second. Thompson then scored on a double leg takedown to take the 2-1 advantage. Lewis tied the score at 2-2 after recording an escape at the end of the second. The now two-time National Champion went up 3-2 after scoring an escape to open the third. The Oklahoma City, Okla., native captured his second takedown of the match to extend his lead to 5-2. Thompson went on to win his second individual title as he held off Lewis in the final minute. Rosholt entered the tournament as the 10th seed and came out as No. 1. He captured the title after romping Barker in a 13-5 major decision. The Sand Point, Idaho, native recorded two takedowns in the first period to take a 4-2 lead heading into the second frame. Barker cut the lead to 4-3 with an escape to open the second, but that would be the closest he would come. Rosholt didn't let up in the third period as he record a trio of takedowns and a two-point near fall en route to the title. Shane Roller pinned his way to a third-place finish. Roller cradled Scott Owen of Northern Illinois in 5:30. The Bixby, Okla., native took a 5-0 lead after scoring a takedown and cradling Owen to end the first. Roller then recorded the fall with :30 seconds left in the second period. In the third-place match, Roller faced defending National Champion Luke Becker of Minnesota. Roller went from a front headlock to the "snake" to record the fall in :34. Pendleton notched a third-place finish after cruising through the consolation semifinals with a :17 pin, the quickest in the tournament, over Oregon's Shane Webster. The Lemoore, Calif., native captured third after manhandling Arizona State's Curtis Owen, 17-4. Pendleton only had a 2-1 lead at the end of the first, but extended his lead to 13-3 after the second period. He then recorded a pair of takedowns in the final period to notch the victory. Muhammed Lawal wrestled his way to a third-place finish after defeating Nebraska's Justin Ruiz, 5-3, in the consolation semifinals, and Sean Stender, 7-4, in the third-place match. Jerrod Sanders defeated Boise State's Colin Robertson, 3-2, to advance to the third-place match. Sanders notched a fourth-place finish after falling to Jesse Jantzen of Harvard, 5-3. Tyrone Lewis captured his third All-America honors after defeating John Clark of Ohio State, 12-6, in the fifth-place match. The Cowboys ended the year at 17-0, Big 12 Champions and National Champions.
	23		Dec. 8, 2002 Oklahoma State's top-ranked wrestling team won six of the matches 10 matches en route to a 23-16 victory over the fourth-ranked Oklahoma Sooners on Sunday night at the Lloyd Noble Center. OSU took its first lead of the night after Tyrone Lewis major decisioned Wes Roberts, 13-4. Lewis took a 4-0 lead heading into the third period, but then recorded four takedowns to secure the major.		16
	38		Feb. 23, 2003 Oklahoma State's wrestling team moved to 5-0 in conference after blistering Oklahoma on Sunday afternoon in front of 8,606 fans. The Cowboys, now 16-0, won nine of the 10 bouts en route to a 38-3 whipping over the Sooners. OU dropped to 12-8 on the year and 1-4 in conference.		3

Baseball: The Bedlam series is the only Big 12 series consistently played at neutral sites. Players and coaches from OU and OSU like the atmosphere created at Drillers Stadium in Tulsa and SBC Bricktown Ballpark in Oklahoma City. Friday at Drillers Stadium, 8,963 orange- or crimson-clad fans watched OSU's 8-3 win. And even in a loss, OU second baseman Eddie Cornejo enjoyed the crowd's energy. "Oh, man, this is why you play," Cornejo said. "This is why you work so hard and try to make it to this level. There's nothing better than this." OSU's win came in a hasty 2 hours, 16 minutes. That's less than half the time the Cowboys took to win a 14-inning marathon last year in Tulsa. "I just remember how it never ended," said OU right- hander Mark Roberts, who started that game a year ago and Friday's, as well. "It just seemed like it kept going on and on and on." OSU coach Tom Holliday was much happier with the pace of Friday's game, which ended around 9:30 p.m. — three hours earlier than the 2002 counterpart. He said it would help the Cowboys today, when the teams meet at 7 p.m. at Bricktown. OSU bused to Oklahoma City after the game, just like last year. But unlike 2002, the Cowboys expected to get to bed much earlier. "Last year, when we got into Oklahoma City, I think it was 2:30 or quarter to 3 in the morning," Holliday said. "We were all dead the next day. Just flat." OU won the last two games of the 2002 series.
	8		Apr 25, 2003 Junior ace Scott Baker pitched his first complete game of the season to lead Oklahoma State past Oklahoma by a 8-3 score Friday night in front of 8,963 fans at Drillers Stadium. Baker scattered four hits in the game and allowed three runs, two earned, while walking two and striking out nine. Oklahoma State snapped a three-game losing streak to Oklahoma and improved to 28-13 overall and 10-6 in the Big 12. The Sooners fell to 14-24 and 2-14 in league play.		3
	4		Apr 26, 2003 Oklahoma broke a 4-4 tie with two unearned runs in the sixth and went on to defeat Oklahoma State 7-4 in front of 11,209 fans at the SBC Bricktown Ballpark Saturday night. OU evened the series at 1-1 and improved to 15-24 and 3-14 in Big 12 play while the Cowboys fell to 28-14 and 10-7 in league action.		7
	5		Apr 27, 2003 Oklahoma broke open a 2-1 game with three runs in the sixth and hung on to defeat Oklahoma State 6-5 in the rubber game of the three game series Sunday afternoon at the SBC Bricktown Ballpark. The Sooners claimed the series and improved to 16-24 overall and 4-14 in Big 12 play, while the Cowboys fell to 28-15 and 10-8 in league action.		6

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