Berry Tramel

Thoughts from The Oklahoman Sports Columnist Berry Tramel

Bedlam coaching tree: Mike Gundy vs. Bob Stoops December 01, 2011 | Comment on this article

Bob Stoops’ coaching tree gained new life on Wednesday. Mike Leach got back in the game, hired out at Washington State, an outpost that makes Lubbock look like Midtown Manhattan. Stoops needed Leach back in. Stoops had taken a hit in recent years with the firings of Leach (Tech), Mark Mangino (Kansas),... Read More

College football: Week 14 predictions December 01, 2011 Week 14 of college football brings a combination of regular-season finales and conference championship games. Let’s get to it. Oklahoma at Oklahoma State: Sooners 42-41. All signs point to OSU. Except OU always seems to pull out Bedlam. West Virginia at South Florida: Mountaineers 28-10. Hard to believe that... Read More

Bedlam football: Time to pick a winner December 01, 2011 I’ve been analyzing the Bedlam game for several weeks now. OU had the edge early, but I’ve given OSU the edge in recent weeks. So now it’s time to pick a winner and go with it. * OSU has the better team. The Cowboys have played better this season. They’ve lost one fewer game against remarkably similar... Read More

Power Lunch Chat Recap November 30, 2011 Power Lunch: Chat with Berry Tramel Read More

OU football: Finally, the secret behind all the injuries November 30, 2011 A reader sent me on a mission. Would I ask Bob Stoops if he had considered activities like mixed martial arts and tumbling to help his football players avoid injury? Considering the rash of injuries the Sooners have experienced in recent years, I thought it was interesting. Exactly what have the Sooners done to... Read More

OSU football: Is there pressure on Mike Gundy in Bedlam November 30, 2011 Thurman Thomas was in Tulsa awhile back and said what a lot of Oklahoma State Cowboys feels. That it is time to “beat OU.” Mike Gundy has a ready answer for his old backfield mate. “You should have asked him how many times he beat ‘em,” Gundy said. Then Gundy smiled, knowing he was damning himself,... Read More

OSU football: Mike Gundy makes like Walter Mondale

November 29, 2011 During his acceptance speech at the 1984 Democratic National Convention, presidential nominee Walter Mondale famously said, “Let’s tell the truth. It must be done, it must be done. Mr. Reagan will raise taxes, and so will I. He won’t tell you. I just did.” Mondale’s honesty was refreshing. A... Read More

OSU football: Gundy sometimes startled by his brother November 29, 2011 Mike Gundy says he’s sometimes startled during Bedlam football games. A play will carry over to the OU sideline, he will follow the action and suddenly, there’s his brother. And Mike Gundy will think, “What’s he doing over there?” Of course, Cale Gundy is coaching OU running backs. He’s been on Bob... Read More

OU football: Will Bedlam be a Baylor repeat? November 29, 2011 Baylor burned the Sooner defensive backs with deep balls. Now OU plays at Oklahoma State, which has a quarterback (Brandon Weeden) who throws a mean deep pass and a flanker (Justin Blackmon) who’s been known to catch a long ball or two. So why will things be different for the Sooners in Stillwater? Bob Stoops... Read More

Syracuse basketball: Jim Boeheim must go November 28, 2011 Jim Boeheim has reversed field. Gone from calling Bernie Fine’s accusers “liars” to issuing a statement saying he’s “shocked” at the most recent revelations about his Syracuse assistant coach and supporting the school’s decision to fire Fine. It’s not enough. Syracuse must fire Boeheim, too. The... Read More

OSU football: Could Cowboys overtake Alabama? November 28, 2011 Is there any chance that Oklahoma State, with a Bedlam victory, could jump Alabama and reach the Big Bowl? It appears not. The experts seem to agree that barring a total pollster revolt, the Cowboys will remain behind Alabama. Now, it could get interesting if OSU wins Bedlam and Virginia Tech loses the ACC title... Read More

OSU football: Can the Big 12 title be shared? November 28, 2011 Mike Gundy agrees with Bob Stoops. Whoever wins Bedlam is the Big 12 champion. Period. “I tend to agree with that,” Gundy said Monday. “I think you have one champion … if you end up with one team with one loss, or three teams with two losses. “You have a round robin format. Everybody has competed... Read More

Big 12 football: Bring back Mike Leach November 27, 2011 Kansas fired Turner Gill on Sunday, agreeing to pay off an overmatched coach who lasted just two years on the job. Don’t ask me where KU is getting the money. But do ask me who I hope gets the job. Mike Leach. Leach’s name was trotted out Sunday by Kansas City Star columnist Sam Mellinger, and while I... Read More

Bedlam football: Fiesta Bowl or bust November 27, 2011 As we reach December, the bowl picture has become more clear. The Bedlam winner almost surely is headed for the Fiesta Bowl, and the Bedlam loser is likely headed for something outside the BCS. The four at-large berths to the BCS seem set: Houston, Alabama, Michigan and Stanford. All but Houston have concluded... Read More

Bedlam football: A week out, who wins Bedlam? November 25, 2011 We’re only a week away from Bedlam, so after analyzing this game for much of the season, we’re getting the clearest of pictures on these teams. And the picture we got from last week was, both are flawed. OSU failed to maintain the standard of performance it had produced for 10 straight games, getting up 37-31... Read More

Big 12 football: Travel blog to Ames & Waco November 25, 2011 I have found something better than a college football game. Two college football games. A Friday night OSU-Iowa State, coupled with a 7 p.m. Saturday kickoff for OU-Baylor, gave me the chance to get to both games. So on the trip, I was in five states; traveled on two airplanes, three cars and a hotel shuttle;... Read More

Happy Thanksgiving: An ode to Ace Gutowsky November 24, 2011 As I write this, the Detroit Lions are about to play the Green Bay Packers, the 72nd Thanksgiving game in Lions history. And that’s as good a time as any to remind Oklahomans about one of forgotten heroes, Ace Gutowsky. Gutowsky was a Kingfisher schoolboy star who went on to Oklahoma City University when the... Read More

College football: Week 13 predictions November 24, 2011 Prediction time for college football’s Week 13: Iowa State at Oklahoma: Sooners 49-21. The Cyclones have beaten OU once in the last 50 years. Of course, Baylor had beaten OU zero times in the last 500 years. Houston at Tulsa: Cougars 41-31. TU has transformed itself into a tough-defense, ground-oriented... Read More

Power Lunch: Chat with Berry Tramel November 23, 2011 Power Lunch: Chat with Berry Tramel 1 Show / Hide Archive Comments The following comments are archived from the original publication of this post Don on Nov 23, 2011 @ 3:46 pm I see OSU favored in OU game by -3,how do you see it? Read More

OU football: Fans resent Bob Stoops’ salary November 23, 2011 I got a voice mail today. Guy called from the 918 area code while I was chatting live with one of my managing editors and chatting online with readers. So I let the call go. I went back and listened. The caller commented on my column about Brody Eldridge, who had tweeted that the Sooner program had... Read More