John Holcomb Recalls 2002 Cowboys Bedlam Win

The Last Bedlam football matchup but the Big 12 era is happening this weekend.

News On 6 Sports Director John Holcomb will be calling the game for the Cowboys on the radio, something that he's done for more than 20 years. Ahead of the big game, he talked to us about the excitement of the first Bedlam game that he called back in 2002.

Getting The Call

"The first, I've been fortunate this will be the 20th game, I will have been able to be a part of the OSU broadcast, the 20th Bedlam game and my first one was in 2002. And, of course, I wish they would have pulled the upset in Norman in 2001. And then in '02. The only reason I was on the broadcast was because longtime color man Tom Dorado did a fabulous job during his time there had gone with the basketball team, Eddie Sutton's Cowboys were in the Great Alaska shootout. And so he went up there.

Dave Hunziker in his second year on the play-by-play man was in the booth, obviously. And so they asked me to do it. And I'm just a little bit petrified, because I knew the magnitude of the game, but I wanted to get some things right. And I didn't know a lot of details about either team.

Getting Insight From A Cowboy

"I knew, generally speaking, quite a bit, but I went into a video room, they let me into one of the video rooms where the player study tendencies and cut-ups and all that kind of thing. And so on that Monday of Bedlam week, I sat in front of a computer.

I'm watching some of it and about five minutes later, Ben Buie starting center, terrific offensive lineman for OSU from Broken Arrow came in. I said

I said: 'Bet you need to watch, I'll get out of your way.

He said: 'No, you can stay here and watch with me.'

And I replied: 'Really?'

He said: Yeah, sure.

So we sit there and we watch and a lot of what we watched was Oklahoma's massively talented defensive line, Tommy Harris, Dusty Dvoracek, those guys. And Ben is picking up on something and he points out to me,

He says 'They play high' meaning they kind of stand up a little bit more, you know, so I picked up on that.

And I thought, here's a bit of insight, information. I'm gonna wear this out during the broadcast, and I must have said that defensive lines playing high you know, I don't know 50 times during the broadcast in you know.

A Memorable Day For OK State

"The Cowboys go on to win. That's the Josh Fields, super Rashaum Woods. 'He's still open game.'

OSU you built up a big lead and then here came the Sooners charging back but once you held them off to win by 10. And I just remember that I couldn't believe we got through it. I couldn't believe that.

I was able to be a part of it. And I was looking forward to the next one whenever it was going to be"