Oklahoma State football can 'storm the field' of big-time college football with a Bedlam win

Win this Bragging Rights Bowl, win the school's first legit outright conference title, and the celebration will spill out of Boone Pickens Stadium and far past The Strip. Win this game, and Saturday night will be forever remembered where OSU colors fly.

But win this game, and it won't be just the Boone Pickens turf that is stormed. Win this game, and State will have crashed the party of big-time college football.

OSU will have gone from pretender to achiever. The Cowboys will have taken the step that Wisconsin took in 1993, when it won the Big Ten for the first time in 31 years. The step Oregon took in 1994, when it won the Pac-10 for the first time in 37 years.

Now both Oregon and Wisconsin are Rose Bowl regulars. They don't dominate. They're not the big dogs in their leagues. But they stand in there scrapping most seasons.

And OU would like to keep the Cowboys from reaching similar status. Not for punitive sake, says Bob Stoops. Not because of Bedlam hatred.

“That's negative motivation,” Stoops said. “It's not a positive force. Players don't care about that. It's what's your carrot.”

The Sooners' carrot is their own Big 12 title. Their own Fiesta Bowl berth. Stoops says OU isn't trying to keep its foot on OSU. OU is trying to keep its foot on everyone.

“We've won too much to care about that,” Stoops said. “There's always going to be somebody” challenging.

But why can't that somebody be OSU? Why can't the Cowboys occasionally knock the Sooners and Longhorns from Big 12 supremacy?

The Cowboys have been slowly building. Some say going back to the Les Miles days. Heck, I'd say going back to the Bob Simmons days, with a few detours.

They've reached the field. Time to rush it.

“You gotta win,” said OSU offensive coordinator Todd Monken. “You gotta kick the door down. Until you do it, you're just a nice team.”