Flashback 1 – Oklahoma State

Oklahoma State – October 24, 1998; Stillwater, Oklahoma

Oklahoma State 41 – Oklahoma 26

I visited Stillwater for the Bedlam game my Sophomore year of college in 1998. My dad was able to get tickets from his boss for both my parents and I to go together. OU was in a very down time in its history in the final year of a three year stretch of seasons below .500.  Oklahoma State had come off a win in Norman in 1997 where they finished in the top 25 and, although they slid a little bit in 1998, still had the better team.

Oklahoma State went on to win 41-26. There are two things I remember most from this game. The first was a play early in the game where OU’s quarterback was driven into the wall of the stands and taken out of the game in what seemed, at least to me, to be a very dirty play. One thing to note about OSU’s stadium is that the stands come down very close to the sidelines making them easy to run into.  Although they are padded if you run full speed into them you will still get hurt. Oklahoma State received a 15-yard penalty, but effectively took OU’s best player out for the rest of the game.

The second thing I remember is how excited OSU fans were to win the game.  Although OSU had won a handful of games in Norman this was the first Bedlam game that OSU won in Stillwater since 1966.  The fans rushed the fields and immediately tore down the goal posts.  I remember them starting to march part of one goalpost up into the stands. The announcer at the stadium tried to stop them because the fear was they were going to throw the goalpost over the top of the stadium.  We left before we saw the outcome but I remember how close they were to the top and how crazy that was.

Overall, although my first non-home game experience, definitely not my best!