Mike Gundy Advocates for Home-and-Home Bedlam Spring Event

STILLWATER – It’s football time once again in Stillwater, America, and Pokes Report will have tons of articles over the next couple of days, including interviews with players and head coach, Mike Gundy.

One thing that’s really taken the college football world by storm the past few months is the cancelation/changing of spring events. No team is playing traditional games anymore, more so glorified drills, practices and scrimmages. Nebraska was the first to cancel because they didn’t want coaches to be able to watch and scout their players while watching on the Big Ten Network ahead of the spring transfer window.

Following several coaches either canceling or changing, Colorado head coach, Deion Sanders, came out and said he wants to play another team. So, now Colorado and Syracuse are looking to try and make something happen. 

Well, Mike Gundy was asked about his spring game and if he’s on board with any potential changes.

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“We should go down [to Norman] and play a home-and-home in the spring against [OU]. Charge 25 bucks a head. They can use it for NIL. We'll use it for NIL. You know, if they don't want to do two in one spring, we can do one here this year, do it there next year, and split the gate because we get tired of practicing against each other. It's not going to be a live game because, well, I don't know what Coach Venables would say, but I would be concerned with making it live just because of injury. But nobody really has live scrimmages anymore, so you make it a full thud, like we're doing, and practice against them, just like they do in the NFL. We're moving towards the NFL. Why not do that?

“So, I think it would be a great idea. I'd be open to doing it here on the 19th. I asked about it, somebody said theirs is the week before on the 12th. We'll go down there for an hour and a half and practice, and they'll come up here for practice. I'm all for it. We can split the gate for NIL.”

The NFL has been doing team scrimmages for years, and while there’s inevitably fights, team get way more out of playing someone you don’t face/practice every day. Could we see this with Oklahoma State in the future? If coach Gundy was asked, it would be a resounding yes.

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“You know what's happened to the Pro Bowl, right? And NBA (All-Star Game), you watch that? So, all of us as coaches fear of the portal. They fear potential tampering. They fear putting it on TV. They fear making a depth chart and their players getting upset and leaving. And then injury. So, it makes sense to go down and, like I said, go down there and scrimmage them in a full thud, and come up here, you would get a more competitive atmosphere. 

“It would be good for us. I would like to see our guys compete against them in the spring to see where we're at and do the best we can to stay off the ground. We know that's not going to happen 100% of the time. They could use it as a scrimmage. We could use it to scrimmage because by rule, we get it and I would think that they do it in the NFL, right? And they try to stay up, but it's still more entertaining to go watch the Eagles against the Bears than it is just the Eagles against the Eagles. So, I think it's a great idea.”