Saturday’s Bedlam football game will showcase yet another way in which the landscape of Big 12 football has dramatically changed this season.

This regular season finale for both teams is a role reversal from the norm, featuring an Oklahoma State team that is ranked higher than Oklahoma and that controls its own destiny in the Big 12 South.

Just this summer, T. Boone Pickens made some comments that somewhat subtly put some pressure on OSU head coach Mike Gundy to win a conference championship, which was one of the stipulations of his large donation to the football program.

2010 is Oklahoma State’s best-ever chance to give Pickens his wish before he passes on, and the chance will come on the largest of stages.

With that said, Oklahoma is probably one of the toughest underdogs you’ll come across. They might be ranked lower the No. 9 Cowboys, but at No. 13, it isn’t by much.

And, as OU head coach Bob Stoops isn’t afraid to remind anyone, the Sooners are no strangers to conference championships.

The Sooners have hit their stride over the last few games, bouncing back from a loss at Texas A&M with blowout victories against Texas Tech and Baylor, with the latter game on the road.

During both games, Oklahoma showcased new offensive schemes with great success. Against Texas Tech, it was a variety of direct snaps, option pitches, and more deep passes than normal that helped dismantle the Red Raiders.

In the OU-Baylor game, a diamond formation — called "Backs" that is similar to the one Oklahoma State runs under coordinator Dana Holgerson — put the Sooners' best players on the field at the same time and proved to be too much for the Bears to handle.

But Oklahoma State is the toughest opponent the Sooners have faced since they traveled to Columbia, Mo., as the No. 1 team in the nation and fell to then-No. 11 Missouri. The Tigers are now ranked 14th.

There are some similarities this week to that Missouri game. Both are 7 p.m. CT kickoffs on the road, and both are nationally televised on ESPN. Like they were in Columbia, College GameDay will be in Stillwater.

Saturday will show whether the Sooners have learned any lessons from that game and their other road loss against Texas A&M, and whether the young stars on the team have matured enough.

If they have, the Sooners will head back down I-35 South with their eighth-straight Bedlam victory, restoring some order to what has been an unorthodox Big 12 season.

GameDay airs at 9 a.m. ET on ESPNU and from 10 a.m. to noon on ESPN.

— Aaron Colen, journalism senior

LINKS:
» College GameDay's website
» College GameDay's Twitter — @GameDayFootball
» College GameDay's Facebook page