Thanksgiving weekend football will once again have a local flavor this coming season. The Big 12 Conference announced Monday the annual Bedlam game between Oklahoma and Oklahoma State will be played Nov. 24 at Owen Field.

The game had been slated for Oct. 27, but was shifted for television coverage reasons.

The 2007 season marks the third consecutive and seventh time in the last nine years the game has been played on the Saturday after Thanksgiving.

In the recently announced cycle of Big 12 football schedules for the 2008-15 seasons, this contest will be the regular-season finale for both programs.

OU coach Bob Stoops has been a proponent of having an open week Thanksgiving weekend. The belief was it would give his team extra time to prepare if they were the south representative in the Big 12 championship game.

But after playing for the conference title five times in the last seven seasons, his stance has changed.

“I’ve looked over our history and have adjusted my thinking a little bit,” he said. “We’ve played in five of those games during our eight years here and the only one we didn’t win had an open week before we went to play. Of the four we’ve won three went directly from our last regular season game to the championship game. If that’s what works best for us, I’m all for it.”

Both OU and OSU will have an open date Oct. 27.

To Stoops, getting an open date was the best part of the deal. When the schedule was first announced, the Sooners didn’t have one.

“It’s important to get a bye week somewhere during the regular season,” he said. “Before we made this change, we didn’t have a bye for this year so this one may come at a pretty good time for us.”

OU’s week off will come after playing at Iowa State Oct. 20 and prior to facing Texas A&M Nov. 3 at Owen Field.

The kickoff time for Bedlam hasn’t been announced, nor have any start times been set for any games this coming season.

But the shift to Thanksgiving weekend guarantees the game will be televised by either ABC or Fox Sports Net.

John Shinn

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