Mike Gundy on Trace Ford transferring to Oklahoma: 'Nothing surprises me anymore'

Oklahoma defensive lineman Trace Ford did something unusual this offseason, transferring to the Sooners from bitter rival Oklahoma State. Speaking about the move at Big 12 Media Days on Wednesday, his former head coach Mike Gundy didn’t have a lot to say.

Mostly, though, he was unperturbed by the idea of a rival-to-rival transfer. In the current paradigm of college football, Gundy wasn’t surprised that one of his players might be a Sooner a year later.

“Nothing surprises me anymore in college football,” Gundy said. “Hopefully he’s healthy and can finish his career strong.”

Ford had missed the final four games of the 2022 season with an injury after starting the first nine. He played four years at Oklahoma State before making his transfer to Oklahoma this offseason. He had also missed the 2021 season due to injury.

2023 might be the last year for Oklahoma and Oklahoma State barbs for a while

When Oklahoma leaves the Big 12 for the SEC ahead of the 2024 football season, an age-old rivalry will leave with it: the Bedlam Game. And as Gundy sees it, the blame for the contemporary end of the rivalry falls solely on the shoulders of the school bailing.

Oklahoma State has no designs on leaving the league or upsetting the apple cart in any way, Gundy said at Big 12 Media Days on Wednesday. Oklahoma decided to leave the league on their own and had to understand the ramifications of the decision, Gundy said to Action Network’s Brett McMurphy.

“When Oklahoma decided to leave the Big 12 they chose to end Bedlam. It’s a one-sided deal. People were trying to decide what happened and what needs to happen to make it go on. They kept pushing Oklahoma State into it. We didn’t have jack to do with that. They left the conference, Bedlam goes with it,” Gundy said.

As for getting it back on the schedule as a non-conference game, Gundy was skeptical. The SEC could potentially go to a nine-game conference schedule, further limiting Oklahoma’s out-of-conference scheduling possibilities.

And with Oklahoma State locked in with non-conference games for more than a decade, there’s not a ton of space to try and shoehorn a game in.

“The SEC eventually will go to a nine-game schedule, I’m sure Oklahoma has a Power 5 team they’re playing every year. We would have a difficult time matching up with them in non-conference,” Gundy said. “We’re scheduled out through ’37. We’re not responsible to change what we do because they left the conference. It’s real simple. They chose to get into the SEC. That’s the choice they made.”