Rece Davis would never play Oklahoma, Texas again if he were Mike Gundy

Mike Gundy has a chance to do something that every team in the Big 12 wishes it could this season: beat both Oklahoma and Texas. With the Sooners and Longhorns leaving for the SEC, they’ve been a source of ire for the teams remaining in the conference.

Oklahoma State already took out Oklahoma in the last Bedlam with a 27-24 victory in Stillwater, only the fourth win for Gundy in his coaching career against the Sooners. As ESPN analyst Rece Davis explained, that was really the first of two wins for Gundy after the Cowboys took out BYU on Saturday to make the Big 12 Championship Game, preventing OU from getting in.

OSU will take on Texas in that game after not playing the Longhorns in the regular season. If Gundy wins that game, Davis believes he should go out on top and refuse to play Oklahoma or Texas again for the rest of his career.

“He sent Oklahoma away twice this year,” the ESPN analyst said on the College GameDay podcast. “He sent them away by beating them. Now he’s in position to knock them out of the Big 12 Championship Game and it looks as if he’s opened the door to let them back in. The Sooners have once again vexed Gundy and taken something away from him. They were down to BYU 24-6 and then he took it away from Oklahoma again. So he has not only taken his team to the Big 12 Championship Game. He has bounced Oklahoma twice.

“He ended the Caleb Williams/Lincoln Riley era at Oklahoma by sending them away. He’s ended their Big 12 era and taken a championship opportunity away and now there is one more mountain to climb. If he does that — I want Bedlam to continue — but if I were the man with the mullet wearing the orange on the sidelines, I would never play either of them again.”

From 2013-23, Oklahoma State has the second-most wins of any Big 12 team behind, of course, Oklahoma. With the Sooners and Longhorns leaving the conference, it would seem that Gundy and the Cowboys are primed to take the reigns as the top team.

Gundy’s history against Oklahoma is well-known to fans of both teams. He was just 2-14 prior to 2021, often plagued to fall short in Bedlam, like in 2018 when the Cowboys went for the win but failed the two-point conversion to lose 48-47.

The coach has now won two of the past three contests against OU. As for Texas, well, he’s had the Longhorns’ number for a while. After losing the first five contests of his career against the Longhorns, he is 9-4 against them since 2010. That includes winning each of the past two games since Steve Sarkisian took over in 2021.

Gundy’s total record against Texas is 9-9, with this game being the one to decide whether he can finish potentially end his career with more wins than losses. If he pulls it off, Davis would advise him to make sure it’s his last, barring a Playoff game.

“I’d play anybody else,” he said. “I’d go play Georgia and Alabama and Notre Dame. Anybody in the world except those two so you can lord it over them for the rest of your life. Because heaven knows he’s taken enough stuff from Oklahoma people for his record against them and he’s been part of the staff when they coughed up ridiculously against Texas. Vince Young, I think they were up 35-7 and got beat.

“So if he can get that, it’s not only press conference gold. I would thoroughly advise him to refuse to play them in any bowl game that’s not a Playoff game. Any other time that you don’t have to play them, never play them again. Just walk away and lord it over them for the rest of your life.”

Kickoff for the Big 12 Championship is set for 11 a.m. CT on Saturday at AT&T Stadium in Arlington.