Ranking the 5 best Oklahoma State Bedlam wins

Nov. 2—There haven't been very many Oklahoma State wins in its historic Bedlam Series with Oklahoma.

But that means each one has its own special meaning for different generations of fans.

Here are the five biggest OSU wins in Bedlam history:

5. Josh Fields, Rashaun Woods play spoiler (2001, 16-13)

No. 4 Oklahoma and No. 2 Nebraska were destined for a rematch in the Big 12 championship game. Heisman Trophy winner Eric Crouch and the Cornhuskers defeated the defending national champion Sooners, 20-10, in late October.

But two teams stood in the way — No. 14 Colorado (8-2) and unranked Oklahoma State (3-7).

The Buffs went on to pull off one of the most impactful upsets in college football history, 62-36, effectively ending the Cornhuskers' dynasty. It also gave the Sooners an easier path to back-to-back BCS National Championship games.

All they had to do was beat the Cowboys at home as 27-point favorites.

OSU had not beaten a top 10 team in 17 years nor a top 5 team in 25 years, and the 2001 team had just lost five straight games.

OSU quarterback Aso Pogi threw two interceptions early, and coach Les Miles quickly yanked him for freshman Josh Fields. But the defense didn't allow the Sooners to take advantage, forcing four punts and two interceptions and holding the opposition to 59 yards on their first six drives.

Quentin Griffin broke the game open with a 9-yard rushing touchdown, and the teams proceeded to trade field goals the rest of the night.

That was until the Cowboys had their last, best chance to steal the win. Fields, with three minutes to play, strung together four straight completions that set up a 15-yard touchdown pass to Rashaun Woods that will always be remembered as one of the biggest plays in school history.

OU cornerback Derrick Strait pleaded his case that Woods was out of bounds with the official, but the toe-tap catch would have been good on Sundays.

The Sooners had 1:30 left to make something happen, but the Cowboy defense forced a turnover on downs and saved them from the embarrassment of playing the Miami Hurricanes.

4. Cowboys end Sooners' four-year reign (2021, 37-33)

Oklahoma had won four Big 12 titles in a row and was a game away from a shot at its fifth despite surviving games against worse teams with preseason Heisman Trophy favorite Spencer Rattler at quarterback.

Oklahoma State, meanwhile, was having its best season in a decade and went into Bedlam as a favorite for the first time in a decade, too. The Cowboys had already clinched a spot in the Big 12 Championship Game a week prior with their win over Texas Tech.

A Bedlam win would deny the Sooners a rematch in Arlington and give OSU a real shot at its first College Football Playoff appearance.

The game was a shootout from the start. Both sides each scored a pair of touchdowns, and Brennan Presley put the Cowboys up 21-14 with a 100-yard kickoff return.

Spencer Sanders threw an interception late in the second half, giving Caleb Wiliams time to tie the game at 24 going into halftime.

It looked like any positive OSU momentum was lost when Dominic Richardson fumbled the ball into his own endzone for a safety. Even more so when Presley muffed a punt that was recovered for a Sooner touchdown.

Then, Tanner Brown missed a 44-yard field goal on the Cowboys' next possession, and Sanders threw another interception on the one after that.

OSU was going to fall apart in another Bedlam.

But the defense, which was arguably the greatest in school history, had other plans. After Sanders' second interception, the defense forced two punts and two turnovers on downs.

The offense was give new life, and it responded with touchdown runs from Sanders and Jaylen Warren. The Cowboys had the lead and were 50 seconds away from winning an ESPN instant classic.

The tension inside Boone Pickens Stadium had never been tighter when Williams ran 56 yards to the OSU 24-yard-line.

The defense stood up in its biggest moment. Incomplete, incomplete, incomplete, sack. True freshman Collin Oliver became a hero, and the fans in orange rushed the field — potentially for the last time on OU.

And the cherry on top? Lincoln Riley bolted for USC the next day.

3. Terry Miller vaults OSU atop Big Eight standings (1976, 31-24)

Fresh of OSU's most successful season since 1958, the 1976 Cowboys' started off as something of a roller coaster — beating No. 8 Kansas and subsequently losing to unranked Colorado (sound familiar?).

But the tides turned in OSU's favor on the third snap of the Bedlam game against No. 5 Oklahoma. Quarterback Harold Bailey faked a handoff to Skip Taylor and pitched the ball to Terry Miller, the most recent name in Boone Pickens Stadium's Ring of Honor, who made an OU defender and ran down the right sideline for a 72-yard touchdown.

And on OSU's first defensive snap, Richard Allen forced an Elvis Peacock fumble that the Cowboys recovered.

Willie Lester's interception would seal the 31-24 win with 36 seconds on the clock.

"That really sends the (OU) fans to the exit, although I don't imagine any Oklahoma State fans are leaving here," said Cowboy Radio Network Bob Barry.

OU and OSU played 27 times from 1967 to 1994, and the 1976 game was the latter's only win. It was therefore also legendary OU coach Barry Switzer's only Bedlam loss.

The win was essential for the Cowboys' to earn their share of the Big Eight Co-Championship along with OU and Colorado. It was their only conference championship of the modern era until ...

2. Cowboys clinch first Big 12 title (2011, 44-10)

A long 14 days separated two of the most important games in the iconic 2011 Cowboys' schedule.

The first, a 37-31 double overtime loss to Iowa State. It would ultimately cost OSU a chance to play for a national championship against an LSU team that was shutout in said BCS National Championship Game.

It's a heartache fans still haven't recovered from.

The second, a 34-point Bedlam blowout that stands as OSU's second largest in the series behind a Bob Fenimore-led team in 1945 (47-0). The win secured Oklahoma State's only outright Big 12 crown.

Joseph Randle and Jeremy Smith combined for 270 rushing yards and four touchdowns, Justin Blackmon caught 10 passes for 95 yards and the Cowboy defense, which entered the game ranked 107th out of 120 teams, didn't surrender a touchdown in the game's first 58 minutes.

The OSU college football team of 2011 remains one of the greatest ever to never play in a national title game, but the voters can never take away one of the best wins of the Mike Gundy era.

1. A missed field goal snaps Cowboys' 19-game losing streak (1965, 17-16)

A lot of things happened between 1946 and 1964.

President Harry Truman proclaimed the end of World War II. The first mass vaccination of children against polio began. Construction of the Berlin Wall began in East Germany. Martin Luther King Jr. delivered his "I Have A Dream" speech. President John F. Kennedy was assassinated.

And an OSU freshman had lived his or her entire life, but neither the Oklahoma A&M Tigers, nor the Cowboys had defeated the Sooners on the gridiron.

That changed when Ron Shotts' 41-yard field goal sailed wide left with six seconds on the clock. A minute and a half earlier, Charlee Durkee kicked a 35-yard field goal to put the Pokes up 17-16.

OSU President Oliver Willham canceled Monday classes. Students lit bonfires across campus, and the Student Union Activities Board organized a dance.

The 1965 Bedlam win didn't clinch a championship of any sorts. The Cowboys compiled a 3-7 record that year. They didn't beat a loaded OU team. The Sooners finished 3-7, as well.

But the streak was over, and for a night, the Cowboys were kings.