NORMAN — Bedlam football is supposed to happen one day each year instead of for three months.

This is that day. The last Saturday in November, when Oklahoma and Oklahoma State have an annual date to determine who will hold Bedlam bragging rights for the next 365 days.

But the state's two Big 12 Conference teams have given a whole new meaning to BCS. Along with Bowl Championship Series, in Oklahoma it could also stand for Bedlam's Chaotic Season.

"A place or situation of noisy uproar and confusion," is one of Mr. Webster's definitions for "bedlam." Another is "a lunatic asylum; madhouse."

All or some of the above apply to the way the 2009 season has gone for the Bedlam Brothers and their fans. Confusion has reigned at times in both programs to the point that it has tested the sanity of coaches, players and supporters.

Several people played roles in undermining a grand preseason Bedlam plan. Back in August, the dream scenario shared by both sides was to have OU and OSU sporting 11-0 records entering the 11:30 a.m. contest.

What we wound up with is an OU team that's 6-5 overall and 4-3 in the Big 12, hosting an OSU team that will roll into Memorial Stadium standing 9-2, 6-1, with a chance to make some noise in the original BCS.

BYU linebacker Coleby Clawson, Texas cornerback Aaron Williams, do-gooder Deion Sanders, several unbending NCAA officials and whomever is behind the fickle finger of fate all contributed to a season of chaos.

Clawson's tackle injured OU quarterback Sam Bradford's shoulder in the season opener. Williams' hit in the Red River Shootout ended the 2008 Heisman Trophy winner's year after Bradford had played less than a combined two games.

Sanders, who as late as last Wednesday still declared himself innocent, was smack dab in the middle of the uproar surrounding OSU's Heisman Trophy candidate Dez Bryant, who was suspended for the season after just three games.

The NCAA harshly punished the Cowboys' All-American wide receiver for lying about his relationship with Sanders by benching him the final nine regular-season games and what could be a BCS bowl.

OU didn't escape the wrath of those heartless sleuths in Indianapolis. The NCAA ruled linebacker Mike Balogun ineligible for the entire season because of some murky details about when and where the Sooner senior's college career started.

That sadistic finger of fate was pointed at both teams. Not only was it fate that ruined Bradford's season, several key Sooners and Cowboys have missed considerable playing time with injuries. It started with All-American OU tight end Jermaine Gresham, who didn't even make it out of fall camp after blowing out a knee.

Noisy uproar? Confusion? Insanity? Yes, all those words associated with bedlam have played a part in making the setting for the 104th edition of this bitter in-state series one of the strangest in Bedlam history.

"Everything has come full circle," said OSU senior offensive tackle Noah Franklin.

The Bedlam role reversal features OU for the first time in modern history attempting to spoil OSU's hopes for a BCS bowl (Fiesta) bid. That was always OSU's role, like costing OU a shot at the 2001 national title and giving Bob Stoops one of only two losses the Sooners' coach has experienced at home while compiling a remarkable 65-2 record on Owen Field.

"I have also hoped for it," Franklin said of the role reversal. "But I didn't know that it would actually come to be. I'm more than pleased that it has."

A season ago, OSU was in the familiar situation of attempting to shatter OU's run at a third straight Big 12 title and the fourth appearance in the BCS title game under Stoops. The Sooners prevailed, 61-41, in a wild affair at OSU's Boone Pickens Stadium.

"Last year, they had everything going for them and we didn't have that much going for us like we do now," OSU receiver Justin Blackmon said. "Winning the Bedlam game can turn around everything. So I'm sure they are looking at it, if they win they can take us out of a BCS bowl and maybe put themselves in a (better) bowl."

Not surprisingly, nary a single soul on the OU team or in the Sooner Nation likes the idea of changing Bedlam places with OSU. That's why the Sooners, even though they are missing seven starters, enter today's Bedlam Brunch confident that they won't let the Cowboys come into their house and break the nation's longest active home winning streak of 29 straight.

"I still think a smart person would pick us to win this (Bedlam) game," OU linebacker Travis Lewis said after last week's demoralizing 41-13 loss at Texas Tech. "We're at home, we're a good team and we've got Oklahoma State coming in. So we'll go out with a bang."

Lewis was sort of correct. OU has been a good and sometimes great team at times, but almost exclusively at home. The Sooners are 5-0 at Memorial Stadium, but only 1-5 away from home.

That's why, although being a smart person has nothing to do with it, I'll predict that an uproar will occur and chaos will ensue when OU's 31-28 win drives mad OSU supporters around the Bedlam bend.