STILLWATER – Oklahoma State wrestling head coach John Smith was in a good mood when he met with the media on Valentine’s Day, Smith was not in his usual Cowboy hat and western vest but said it was because “I dressed up for Valentine’s Day. Smith has a team that has four straight duals, three over ranked teams, and 10 of their last 11 duals. The push for the postseason continues with Bedlam on Thursday and a trip to Iowa City to face No. 2 Iowa on Sunday. These are arguably the two biggest rivals in Oklahoma State wrestling period.
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John Smith talking on Valentine’s Day.
“You need to win some for it to be a rivalry,” Smith said of the Iowa dual. “We need to win more than once every five years. We need to do our part.”
John Smith always accountable and always talking brute honesty. That was where he was last week asking his team for more and he appeared to get it with a 19-12 win over South Dakota State on the road last Friday night and a 25-9 mostly dominat win over Stanford on Sunday in Gllagher-Iba Arena. Now it’s Oklahoma and Iowa that will finish the Cowboys regular season.
“I feel good, but I think both of these teams we are going to wrestle are better,” Smith said. “I think either of these teams is better than either of the teams we wrestled last week, Obviously Iowa is and Oklahoma had a good win over South Dakota State on Sunday. It is Bedlam and in Bedlam, you wrestle your best. It is one of those dual meets you will always remember.”
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Reece Witcraft will face Joey Prata from OU and then top-ranked No. 1 Spencer Lee of Iowa.
Smith pointed out 125-pound Reese Witcraft, 141-pound Carter Young, 149-pound Victor Voinovich, 157-pound Kaden Gfeller, 165-pound Wyatt Sheets, 174-pound Dustin Plott, and heavyweight Konner Doucet as wrestlers in particular that need to be at their best.
Bedlam is Bedlam and the Sooners will come in highly motivated as they have been getting closer in the duals after losing 16 straight to Oklahoma State and they are dusted in the series as Oklahoma State has owned it.
The Cowboys own the rivalry all-time the record is 148-27-10 in favor of Oklahoma State. In Stillwater the Cowboys are an overwhelming 81-12-2. John Smith as head coach has a 55-6-3 record over the Sooners and current OU head coach Lou Rosselli is 0-11 vs. OSU.
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Oklahoma State won Bedlam in Norman back in Dece. 21-15.
The last Oklahoma win was Dec. 1, 2013 when the Sooners squeezed out a 16-15 win in Norman. The last time Oklahoma found a way to win in Gallagher-Iba Arena was Nov. 28, 1995 with a 19-18 verdict.
“It’s Bedlam, and you always remember what you do in Bedlam,” Smith said of the rivalry and borrowed a phrase from the future conference of the rest of the University of Oklahoma’s athletic teams. “It’s Bedlam and it just means more.”
Here is the prospective line-ups for Bedlam on Thursday night at 7 p.m.
NO. 6 OKLAHOMA STATE VS. OKLAHOMA
125: No. 28 Reece Witcraft (16-7) vs. No. 30 Joey Prata (16-7) Never Met
133: No. 2 Daton Fix (20-0) vs. No. 28 Wyatt Henson (14-10) Fix leads, 1-0
141: No. 15 Carter Young (12-9) vs. No. 7 Mosha Schwartz (20-2) Schwartz leads, 1-0
149: No. 20 Victor Voinovich (13-7) vs. No. 19 Mitch Moore (13-5) Moore leads, 1-0
157: No. 9 Kaden Gfeller (16-5) vs. Jacob Butler (14-7) Gfeller leads, 1-0 -or- Jared Hill (14-8) Never Met
165: No. 23 Wyatt Sheets (12-10) vs. No. 21 Gerrit Nijenhuis (12-5) Nijenhuis leads, 1-0
174: No. 11 Dustin Plott (17-3) vs. No. 22 Tate Picklo (19-5) Never Met
184: No. 10 Travis Wittlake (15-3) vs. Keegan Moore (5-8) Never Met
197: No. 17 Luke Surber (16-6) vs. Carson Berryhill (5-10) Never Met
HWT: No. 22 Konner Doucet (14-7) vs. No. 15 Josh Heindselman (21-7) Heindselman leads, 1-0
Speaking of Bedlam, we all know after last week that Oklahoma along with Texas (no wrestling program) is leaving for the SEC. Missouri did that and their wrestling program finally came back to the Big 12 in the 2021-22 school year. John Smith sees no interruption in Bedlam and believes the Sooners wrestling program will stay in the Big 12.
“I think we’ll have Bedlam and hopefully, have Oklahoma wrestling in the Big 12 after this year,” Smith offered. “I think that is what Oklahoma wants and I think that is what Oklahoma State and the Big 12 want.
It would make sense. The SEC does not offer wrestling as a sport and Missouri was a MAC member for nine years before rejoining the Big 12 for wrestling only.
