Oklahoma
Oklahoma State wrestling rolls past OU in Bedlam, remains undefeated ahead of Iowa clash
John Smith talks about Oklahoma State wrestling win vs. Iowa State
Oklahoma State wrestling coach John Smith talks about win vs. Iowa State
STILLWATER — Call it the Three Falls of Bedlam.
The Oklahoma State wrestling team opened Sunday’s Bedlam dual with three straight falls — one of the technical variety, and two of the flat-on-your-back kind — to ignite a dominant 34-9 victory over OU.
“The first three matches… it’s been awhile since I’ve seen that, just wham, bam, bam,” OSU coach John Smith said. “That’s the way to start. We’re 10 minutes into the dual and three matches are down.”
And just like that, it became crystal clear that the second-ranked Cowboys (14-0) were on their way to a 19th straight win over their Sooner rivals in a nearly full Gallagher-Iba Arena, only supplying a little extra juice to next week’s showdown with Iowa.
“It does a lot for a team, for sure,” said OSU redshirt freshman 141-pounder Tagen Jamison. “The energy the rest of the week for a dual like that, it’s gonna be great. It’s gonna be really helpful in practice, training-wise. I don’t think there’s a better week for us to end this week and go into next week wrestling Iowa.”
OSU needed less than a minute to score its first points, when 125-pound redshirt freshman Troy Spratley pinned OU freshman Conrad Hendriksen 1:03 into the match.
OSU super-senior Daton Fix, ranked third at 133 pounds, followed with a 21-5 technical fall early in the third period, and Jamison found himself taking the mat much earlier than he expected.
“Usually I have like 15 minutes to go through my routine,” the eighth-ranked 141-pounder said. “When Troy came running in the locker room, I was like, ‘Oh crap.’ So I had to hurry up and throw my singlet on and run out there, because I knew Daton was gonna run the score up pretty quick, too.”
The rushed preparation didn’t slow Jamison, who turned an early takedown into a pin just 54 seconds into the match.
The Cowboys added a major decision at 157 pounds, then two more technical falls in the upper weights.
OSU’s Teague Travis, ranked No. 11 at 157, used a second-period takedown and nearfall to build his lead on the way to an 11-1 win over Jared Hill. Travis wrestled his final high school season at Stillwater, and is quite familiar with Hill, a Broken Arrow product.
“I wrestled him multiple times my senior year of high school — wrestled him in the state finals, actually,” Travis said. “So I knew kind of what to expect. I knew that I was gonna have to be aggressive and score a lot of points. And I knew toward the end of the match that the points would be there, my shots would be there.”
At 184, OSU’s second-ranked senior Dustin Plott picked up a 19-4 technical fall.
A battle of former Tuttle Tigers at 197 went the way of OSU’s Luke Surber, who scored early and often in a 17-2 technical fall over Carson Berryhill — who weighed in at 184 but moved up to wrestle in place of sixth-ranked Stephen Buchanan.
Overall, the Cowboys recorded 21 takedowns to just two for OU.
Bright moments were rare for the Sooners, but they won a trio of tightly contested matches. At 149 pounds, OU’s Willie McDougald used a first-period takedown for a 5-2 win, and at 174, Tate Picklo scored a takedown with :09 on the overtime clock for a 5-2 sudden-victory win.
And the Sooners added a thrilling 2-1 decision at heavyweight when Josh Heindselman scored a late reversal and barely managed to ride out OSU’s Konner Doucet over the final 30 seconds for the win.
That wrapped up the regular season for the Sooners until the Big 12 Championships at the BOK Center in Tulsa on March 9-10.
The Cowboys close with the looming visit from No. 4 Iowa at 2 p.m. next Sunday at GIA.
“I think it just shows that we’re starting to get to the end of the season and into postseason, that we’re getting better every single dual and every single week,” Travis said. “We’re doing the right things and we just need to keep doing what we’re doing, and not make things bigger than they need to be.
“Keep sticking to the process.”
Bedlam wrestling results
Sunday at Gallagher-Iba Arena, Stillwater
OSU 34, OU 9
- 125: Troy Spratley, OSU, pinned Conrad Hendrksen, 1:03
- 133: Daton Fix, OSU, tech. fall, Gave Vidlak, 21-5 (5:33)
- 141: Tagen Jamison, OSU, pinned Carter Schmidt, 0:54
- 149: Willie McDougald, OU, dec. Jordan Williams, 5-2
- 157: Teague Travis, OSU, major dec. Jared Hill, 11-1
- 165: Izzak Olejnik, OSU, dec. Cael Carlson, 7-2
- 174: Tate Picklo, OU, dec. Brayden Thompson, 5-2 SV
- 184: Dustin Plott, OSU, tech. fall Giuseppe Hoose, 19-4 (5:50)
- 197: Luke Surber, OSU, tech. Fall Carson Berryhill, 17-2 (4:19)
- HWT: Josh Heinselman, OU, dec. Konner Doucet, 2-1
Oklahoma isn’t done yet.
The Sooners’ bats kept them in the Atlanta Regional with an emphatic showing in the Atlanta Regional on Sunday.
Deiten LaChance’s grand slam highlighted OU’s eight-run fourth inning, which turned Sunday’s contest against No. 2-overall seed Georgia Tech on its head.
Prior to the fourth, it looked as if it was going to be the Yellow Jackets’ night.
The hosts plated five runs in the third inning to take a 7-2 lead, and a call went against OU in the bottom of the third.
How to Watch Oklahoma vs. Georgia Tech in the Atlanta Regonal Final
- When: Monday, June 1
- Time: 2 p.m.
- Channel: ESPNU
Trey Gambill had snaked a single through the Georgia Tech infield to plate a run and cut the lead down with two outs, but just before the pitch was thrown, the third base umpire raised his arm to indicate there had been a pitch clock violation.
Lucky to have just gotten out of the situation with a ball, Yellow Jacket pitcher Jackson Blakely struck Gambill out, which understandably did not go over well in Oklahoma’s dugout.
The setback only galvanized Skip Johnson’s Sooners, however.
OU responded by sending 11 batters to the plate in the bottom of the fourth, and the Sooners took a 10-8 lead.
It was an advantage they never relented.
Oklahoma added an insurance run in the seventh and four more in the eighth to ensure that the Sooners would head back to the team hotel with a decisive Game 7 of the Atlanta Regional on the mind.
Johnson will have a big choice to make in who starts the do-or-die contest on Monday afternoon (2 p.m., ESPNU).
In OU’s first game against The Citadel on Sunday, Johnson rolled with freshman Nick Wesloski.
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He pitched seven innings to get the Sooners into Sunday night’s contest against Georgia Tech. Oklahoma’s big offensive showing against the Bulldogs meant that Johnson could make any choice necessary in relief, so he threw Reid Hensley and Jaden Barfield for an inning each to seal the win.
Against the Yellow Jackets, OU started Cameron Johnson. He faced just three batters, allowing two runs on two hits, before Oklahoma turned to Jackson Cleveland.
Cleveland tossed three innings in relief. OU also used two innings of Gavyn Jones and LJ Mercurius picked up a save by pitching four innings on Sunday night.
The winner between Monday’s battle will meet 15-seed Kansas in next weekend’s Super Regionals. Georgia Tech would host the Jayhawks with a win, whereas the Sooners would head to Lawrence next weekend if they are able to oust the top seed left in the NCAA Tournament.
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Brent Venables got Oklahoma back to the College Football Playoff in 2025, and while the season was a massive success, merely making the 12-team field isn’t good enough for anyone in Norman — Venables included.
The Sooners enter 2026 with something that has been missing on both sides of the ball for a few years: continuity.
OU returns its starting quarterback, John Mateer, for the first time since Dillon Gabriel started Venables’ first two seasons as head coach.
Offensive coordinator Ben Arbuckle is back, and while Venables lost cornerbacks coach Jay Valai to the Buffalo Bills, Venables has everyone else back on his staff and he’s the architect of the defense.
The schedule will be tough again, but expectations are high for Venables’ fifth team at Oklahoma.
Here are three areas the Sooners need to improve to get back in the national championship picture.
Run the Ball
Venables hasn’t shied away from OU’s issues running the football.
He’s put improvement in the rushing attack at the forefront all throughout the offseason, from working to sharpen the mentality of the offense to bringing in pieces like right tackle E’Marion Harris and a virtually new tight end room to help the cause.
More consistency on the ground will take pressure off Mateer’s shoulders.
It will not only allow OU to control the clock and give its defense a rest, but it will also open up the passing game downfield if the second and third levels of opposing defenses truly have to worry about bottling up the run and the pass.
The inability to run the ball was the Sooners’ most glaring issue in 2025, so there is plenty of room for improvement this fall.
Limit Mateer’s Turnovers
At times, Mateer had to do everything for OU’s offense in 2025.
There were memorable moments, but Mateer also had a handful of head-scratching mistakes.
He threw a career-high 11 interceptions a year ago, and his downturn in turnovers in November coincided with the Sooners’ employing conservative game plans.
His worst moment came in the loss to Texas, where he threw three picks, but that performance came 17 days after thumb surgery, where he clearly was unable to throw the ball downfield with real accuracy.
But he threw a pick in each of his first three games on questionable decisions, then he threw a nearly catastrophic pick against Tennessee when the Sooners were just trying to milk the clock late.
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He tossed another three picks against LSU, and the pick six he threw against Alabama helped the Crimson Tide roar all the way back after digging a 17-point hole in the College Football Playoff.
Mateer’s freewheeling nature produced incredible moments, and that will lead to risky throws. The tradeoff in those moments is usually worth it, but he can cut down on his misfires elsewhere to find a balance between pushing the envelope and taking care of the football.
Avoid the Back-breaking Special Teams Plays
Oklahoma was excellent on special teams in 2025 for the most part.
Kicker Tate Sandell won the program’s first Lou Groza Award for his incredible season, and special teams played a big role in massive victories, like Isaiah Sategna’s first punt return in Tuscaloosa that set OU’s offense up deep in Alabama territory.
But the few special teams lapses were monumental.
Texas effectively put away the Red River Showdown by returning a punt for a touchdown, though Venables correctly pointed out a key block in the back that wasn’t called that helped spring the touchdown.
But in the Cotton Bowl, the call stood, and it’s the kind of play that cannot happen when lining up against the best competition on the schedule.
Then, in the CFP, punter Grayson Miller oddly dropped the football, leading to a blocked punt. Alabama was able to take that play and start clawing its way back into the contest.
Doug Deakin has done a phenomenal job with the Sooners’ special teams units, but there are still improvements to be made in 2026.
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