The 2013 Bedlam football game was memorable for multiple reasons. The extreme cold, Jalen Saunders’ punt return, Grant Bothun’s touchdown pass on the fake field goal, Blake Bell’s final drive, and Eric Striker’s scoop and score are all parts of the magic that happened in Stillwater that December afternoon.
Saunders dashed 64 yards on a punt return to tie the game at 7-7 near the end of the first quarter. It was the second consecutive year he had made an impact on the game as a punt returner.
The two teams would swap field goals in the second quarter to enter the break tied at 10-10 and then Grant Bothun hit Michael Hunnicutt on an 8-yard pass to tie the game again at 17-17 in the third quarter. Hunnicutt then gave Oklahoma its first lead of the game with a 39-yard field goal in the first few minutes of the fourth but it wouldn’t last as OSU regained the lead at 24-20 with just 1:46 remaining on the clock.
That’s when Bell went to work, directing a 66-yard touchdown drive that was capped by a 7-yard touchdown pass to Jalen Saunders with 19 ticks left on the clock. The Sooners poured some salt in the wounds when Eric Striker picked up a backwards lateral and scored a final touchdown with the clock at zeros.
Oklahoma’s 33-24 win over Oklahoma State set the stage for the Sooners to play Alabama in the Sugar Bowl.