John Smith Talks as Pokes Prepare for Bedlam in Norman
STILLWATER – With a lot of younger reporters in the audience and Scott Wright from The Oklahoman in attendance Oklahoma State wrestling head coach and two-time Olympic Gold Medal winner and six-time World Champion John Smith and I went down memory lane with Bedlam wrestling. The No. 4-ranked Cowboys will travel to Norman on Sunday to meet the No. 17-ranked Sooners at 5 p.m. in a dual nationally televised on ESPNU.
Smith was talking about being a kid and the highlight each year was going to two Bedlam duals, one in Norman and one in Stillwater. His older brother Lee Roy was a big part of those days. John and I talked about the double disqualification in then Gallagher Hall when the late Tommy Chesbro sent a 184-pounder in David Hille to wrestle Oklahoma All-American defensive tackle and heavyweight wrestler Steve “Dr. Death” Williams. Williams cross faced Hille and the underweight wrestler took a bite, a chomp out of Williams’ arm. Williams then began slugging Hille and longtime wrestling official David Kincaid called the double DQ that allowed Oklahoma State to win.
"It was the first real rivalry, I think, in wrestling, dating back to 1920. So, as they gathered steam in those '20s, it became something that maybe became the first rivalry in college wrestling,” Smith said taking Bedlam back to the beginning. I don't For us, it was definitely the beginning of something and maybe all of our sports, and it hasn't ended. There have been some wild matches with Bedlam. I mean wild. I've been part of them since I was eight or nine years old, watching them, going to Norman, coming to Gallagher Hall. It was the highlight of the year going to two Bedlam matches every year for a long time."
Smith still highly values the competition in Bedlam and loves that the event is back in the larger Lloyd Noble Center in Norman. He also knows that with final exams ending this week that a crucial time is coming up for his teams. They are on the road at Oklahoma (Dec. 12) at Air Force (Dec. 17), at Wyoming (Dec. 17), and at Utah Valley (Dec. 20) before going to the Southern Scuffle for some tournament experience. This is a time for the team to get better, maybe even a lot better.
"First priority is making sure we take care of ourselves and our grades. As we prepare for Bedlam, you need to get better,” Smith said. “You started in November, on a normal year, you started in early November and here you are in the middle of December, you have to get better in six weeks. And if you don't, you're in trouble. And for us, I think we have gotten better. There were some concerns early on about a few of them while we were tested on the road, both at Standford and Minnesota, but I thought we really grew as we wrestled our bout here against Drexel. I need to see an even better team this Sunday."
Smith truly believes Oklahoma is better than the team his team beat 23-9 in Norman and 27-8 in Stillwater last season. The rankings back it up. Oklahoma will come in with nine wrestlers individually ranked going into Bedlam.
| Wt. | Bedlam Wresting, Sunday, Dec. 12 5 p.m. Oklahoma State | at Oklahoma in the Lloyd Noble Center |
| 125 | No. 12 Trevor Mastriogiovanni (3-0) | No. 21 Joey Prata (6-1) |
| 133 | No. 2 Daton Fix (3-0) | No. 19 Tony Madrigal (6-2) |
| 141 | No. 28 Carter Young (2-1) | No. 6 Dom Demas (0-0) |
| 149 | No. 20 Kaden Gfeller (2-1) | No. 15 Mitch Moore (10-4) |
| 157 | No. 16 Wyatt Sheets (2-1) | No, 15 Justin Thomas (7-3) |
| 165 | No. 5 Travis Wittlake (2-1) | No. 29 Joe Grello (2-3) |
| 174 | No. 9 Dustin Plott (3-0) | TBA |
| 184 | No. 7 Dakota Geer (3-0) | No. 18 Darrien Roberts (11-3) |
| 197 | No. 1 A.J. Ferrari (3-0) | No. 11 Jake Woodley (11-2) |
| HWT. | No. 30 Luke Surber (2-1) | Josh Heindselman (6-5) |
"Good team. Look at the team, you've got a bunch of guys that, if some of them break through, they're going to be very competitive in a tournament setting. It's basically the same team they had last year, probably better at a couple of the weights. I think it's a competitive team. Last year we won 24-10 I believe there, with some tight matches,” Smith said. “I think it could end up being a dog fight for some of these matches. I think there are going to be some hard wins. Not at just one weight, but maybe three or four of them, maybe five, six. So, we need to make sure we're ready and I think OU, knowing they're not ranked real high, I think that they're probably the most competitive team we'll wrestle to this point. That's including Minnesota."
Of all the matches, Smith points to 197 pounds and his only top-ranked wrestler in defending national champion A.J. Ferrari against No. 11 Jake Woodley.
“I think their 197-pounder is as good as anyone. I was impressed with him last year,” Smith said of Woodley. “I haven't seen him wrestle this year yet. I'll probably see a few films before the match, but really impressive. I think that's the key match.”
Fresh off another NIL deal, Smith is pushing his defending champ and you know that Ferrari will be ready to wrestle especially in Norman at Oklahoma.